CFP: Character Assassination, Illiberalism, and the Erosion of Civic Rights

Deadline: February 15, 2023

On June 21-23, the University of Amsterdam and VU University in collaboration with CARP (the Research Lab for Character Assassination and Reputation Politics) and the Illiberalism Studies Program will host the interdisciplinary conference “Character Assassination, Illiberalism, and the Erosion of Civic Rights”. We invite all scholars of Slavic, East European Studies and Eurasian Studies to submit an abstract.

Liberal democracies face multiple external challenges from autocracies across the world, as well as internal challenges from populist politicians, nativism, and the normalization of incivility in media and political discourses. Character assassination (CA) often accompanies these political and social conflicts, especially when unresolved ideological and moral issues are involved. Social conflicts become aggravated when moral issues intermix with political and economic factors. Factions then resort to persuasive attacks on character to delegitimize and disempower their opponents. This increased polarization and aggressiveness of elite rhetoric likely foster voters’ cynicism and discontent with politics as usual. The increasing gap between liberal elites and the disgruntled electorate, in turn, likely provides even more fertile ground for intra-elite conflict, and paves the way for illiberal conceptions of the democratic order.

Illiberalism is an emerging concept in political science and political philosophy that remains to be tested by different disciplines and approaches, such as political psychology, communication studies, rhetoric, and history. According to one leading definition, “Illiberalism is a new ideological universe that, even if doctrinally fluid and context based, is to some degree coherent. It represents a backlash against today’s liberalism in all its varied scripts—political, economic, cultural, geopolitical, civilizational—often in the name of democratic principles and by winning popular support. It proposes solutions that are majoritarian, nation-centric or sovereigntist, favoring traditional hierarchies, conservative values, and some forms of cultural homogeneity.” (Laruelle, “Illiberalism: a conceptual introduction,” East European Politics). Defined more broadly, illiberalism “refers to a set of social, political, cultural, legal, and mental phenomena associated with the waning of individual liberty (personal freedom) as an everyday experience” and is “not an ideology or regime type,” but is “compatible with the political rituals of a competitive democracy.” (Sajó, Uitz, and Holmes, Routledge Handbook of Illiberalism, xxi). The erosion of civic rights that is one of the cornerstones of illiberalism is not limited to current-day democracies, but can also be witnessed in various historical societies. In the Roman Republic, the rise of “great men” with military backing such as Sulla, Caesar, and Octavian led to proscriptions and flagrant transgressions of the checks and balances built into the political system. During the radical phase of the French Revolution known as the “Reign of Terror” (1793-94), Robespierre and other revolutionaries employing liberal rhetoric nevertheless reestablished a form of absolute authority which gave the state all the power at the expense of the individual citizen. Beyond illustrating that the dynamics of authoritarianism and illiberalism are not limited to modernity, these examples provide additional insights to understand current-day cases, helping us move towards a more integrated theoretical framework. Yet, the interplay between political, sociological, communicational, psychological, and historical approaches to the understanding of current-day and historical dynamics of illiberalism remains extremely rare.

This conference seeks to explore current-day illiberal tendencies as well as historical societies where emerging strong men and dictators manipulated the political system and undermined the rights of the people. In particular, it focuses on practices of character assassination in these highly unstable and polarized environments. We invite scholars to submit research and works in progress which will discuss the drivers of illiberalism and the erosion of civic rights in ages of conflicting ideologies from a variety of disciplinary and cultural angles. We welcome both theoretical work and case studies. Authors of selected best papers will be invited to submit their work to Journal of Illiberalism Studies.