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.
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