Andreas Schedler – Do We Have a Duty to Polarize? @weareceu

Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

The conference “Democracy, Illiberal Alternatives, and Culture Wars,” was co-organized by CEU Department of Political Science and Georgetown University (May 19, 2025 | Vienna)

Liberal democratic institutions and values face significant challenges today. Political polarization, declining trust, the erosion of fundamental democratic norms, and the rise of strongman leaders have weakened the post-war consensus. The increasing focus of electoral competition and media discourse on cultural issues has intensified political conflicts and constrained rational deliberation.

To better understand these developments and the appeal of illiberal alternatives, the workshop highlighted recent scholarship on democracy and autocratization. Presentations examined trends in democratic quality, explored recent developments in gender politics, and analyzed how religious identities intersected with modern nationalism and nativism. Special attention was given to the spread of populist governance and the role of culture wars in democratic backsliding.

Speaker:
Andreas Schedler,
Senior Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute

Central European University is an institution of advanced research and teaching, dedicated to socially and morally responsible intellectual inquiry.

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Andreas Schedler – Do We Have a Duty to Polarize?

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