What’s illiberalism? Currently, many responses, reactions, alternatives to or attacks against the liberal scripts as well as many different political phenomena are said to be “illiberal”. At SCRIPTS, we had the wonderful possibility to discuss the theoretical roots of this complex concept and the present, various research perspectives on it.

In a pulsating discussion with Katharina Bluhm (Principal Investigator at SCRIPTS and Professor of Sociology at the Eastern Europe Institute at the Freie Universität Berlin), Anja Hennig (Postdoctoral Lecturer and Researcher at the Faculty of Cultural Studies, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder), and Mihai Varga (Senior Research Fellow in Sociology at the Eastern Europe Institute, Freie Universität Berlin), Marlene Laruelle (Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Science and Director of the Illiberalism Studies Program at Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University) presented at SCRIPTS her new publication: The Oxford Handbook of Illiberalism, whose seven parts offer not only an overview of its different defining aspects—like the entanglements with liberalism, globalization, and an always more disordered and ideologized world—but also the possibility for all scholars working on this topic to develop their research starting from an accurate, updated, and steady scientific base. 

Confirming this, several professors, researchers, and students from various research fields joined the SCRIPTS event held on June 4^th, both in presence and online. Their inputs—spacing from international relations to political theory and philosophy—created an inspiring interdisciplinary debate about illiberalism, a highly critical topic whose analysis is proving to be central for the understanding of the increasingly challenging state of our world.