In this conversation with RevDem editor Kasia Krzyżanowska, Orlando Scarcello discusses his newest book Radical Constitutional Pluralism in Europe (Routledge 2022). He elaborates on the descriptive nature of the theory of constitutional pluralism, stresses the inevitability of constitutional conflicts in the EU, and ponders on the political side of these Continue Reading
A life for power? Viktor Orbán’s long affair with Hungary
Do the familiar tropes of anti-tyrannical literature explain anything about what happened and is still happening in contemporary Hungary, a country that has changed so profoundly not only as compared to its post-1989 realities but from its 2010 self too?
The Curse of the Margin? Central Europe before and after Communism
In conversation with RevDem assistant editor Lucie Hunter, Dr. Aliaksei Kazharski discusses his newest book Central Europe Thirty Years after the Fall of Communism: A Return to the Margin? (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022, 2022).
Danielle Allen on Power-Sharing Liberalism
In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Danielle Allen – author of the new book “Justice by Means of Democracy” – discusses her proposal of a power-sharing liberalism and explains why she calls herself a “eudaemonist democratic pragmatist”; shows why it is essential to foster a connected society and measure that society by the principle of “difference without domination”; reflects on what a paradigm change in political economy could look like and which model of citizenship would be most suitable for our times.
Accession Through War? Ukraine and the EU: In Conversation with Roman Petrov
In this podcast, Oliver Garner speaks to Professor Roman Petrov on this subject of “accession through war”. Professor Petrov is the Jean Monney Chair in EU Law and Head of the Centre of Excellence in EU Studies at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He is currently a British Academy Research Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
The Curse of Russian Imperialism: Martin Schulze Wessel on Imperial Optics, False Dichotomies, and the Need to Reconsider East European History
In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Martin Schulze Wessel – author of the new book Der Fluch des Imperiums. Die Ukraine, Polen und der Irrweg in der Russischen Geschichte (Imperial Curse. Ukraine, Poland, and the False Paths in Russian History) – traces the ideas that have shaped Russian imperialism and reflects on their devastating contemporary force; explores key moments in the parallel and entangled histories of Poland and Ukraine and how those histories have been shaped by Russian imperialism across the centuries; dissects what he calls Germany’s “imperialism of a second order” and emphasizes the urgent need to revise Russia-centric interpretations of East European history.
Can the Center Hold? Thomas Biebricher on the International Crisis of Conservatism
In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Thomas Biebricher – author of the new book “Mitte/Rechts: Die international Krise des Konservatismus” (Center/Right: The International Crisis of Conservatism) – discusses conservatism’s various types and how each relates to the political center and to authoritarianism; illuminates the contemporary crisis of the center right in three major European countries; explains what has driven the culturalization of politics and the redrawing of enemy images, and why the authoritarian right has been a prime beneficiary of those trends; and reflects on how his approach and special emphases relate and add to other contributions to the ongoing debate on the present state and future prospects of liberal democracy.
A Paranational World — Naturalization, Fiction and Edges of Nationality
In conversation with RevDem editor Kasia Krzyżanowska, Dr. Stephanie DeGooyer discusses her recent publication Before Borders: A Legal and Literary History of Naturalization (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022). Stephanie DeGooyer, PhD is assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research examines intersections between law and Continue Reading
Informal Power in Hungary and Poland: In Conversation with Edit Zgut-Przybylska
Formal Rule of Law backsliding in Hungary and Poland has been well-publicized. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg of a system of informal power connections that are undermining the Rule of Law and democracy. In this RevDem Rule of Law podcast Oliver Garner discusses this informal power with Edit Zgut-Przybylska.
The Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought: George Steinmetz on French Sociology and the Overseas Empire
In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, George Steinmetz – author of the major new monograph “The Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought. French Sociology and the Overseas Empire” – sketches the manifold entanglements of French sociology with the French Empire and colonialism; discusses the key ideas and innovations that have emerged in this context; dissects how indigenous scholars fared within the vast network of French institutions over time; illuminates his own approach to intellectual history he calls a historical socio-analysis of the social sciences; and reflect on how contemporary agendas of decolonization could be made more convincing and fruitful, not least by drawing on what French sociologists of colonialism have “partially and tentatively foreseen.”