On 25 February, the Institute for Human Science (Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen – IWM) in Vienna organized a roundtable Liberalism in Crisis: Between Totalitarian Response and Progressive Dream as part of the Europe’s  Futures program in cooperation with the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, Skopje. The discussion was attended by IVO president Grigorij Mesežnikov, the fellow of the Europe‘s Futures program of IWM. 

Jacques Rupnik, the leading academic expert on the Central-European region and former advisor to Czech President Václav Havel, Director of Research at Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI), Professor at Science Po in Paris and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, delivered the opening speech Varieties of Populism: Sources, Challenges, Constraints. 

After the opening speech the participants focused on the current challenges to liberal democracy in Europe and the world. They pointed out inter alia  the peculiarities characteristic for development in the Central European region. In the discussion, IVO President explained the pre-election situation in Slovakia, the activities of the mainstream parties in competition with national populists and extremists, as well as the impact of the dispute over values ​​between liberals and conservatives on the overall state of the liberal-democratic camp.


Participants of the roundtable: Shalini Randeria (rector of IWM), Jacques Rupnik, Grigorij Mesežnikov, Ivan Vejvoda (director of the IWM Europe’s Futures program )  

Photo: IWM