Kick-off Event of the Jean Monnet Project “From Fictional to Functioning Democracy Developing Concepts and Strategies for an Inclusive and Participatory Europe” (FIFUDEM)
with a keynote speech by Ivan KRASTEV (Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia)
Liberal democracy appears to be at risk – both in Europe and abroad. New forms of façade democracies spread in Europe, framed by biased political communication through ideological misinformation, hate speech and tribalism. Authoritarian politicians try to turn Europe into an arena, where metaphorically speaking leaders of tribes are fighting each other by any tools to cement their own positions. As a result, so-called stabilocracies epitomise superficial stability and simulate pluralism and peace. In parallel with the rise of xenophobia, populism and radicalisation, liberal democratic principles such as checks and balances are gradually eroding.
Moreover, the lack of a common public sphere is challenging European integration processes. Decreasing press freedom and increasing mistrust in traditional media pave the way for populists that rely on oligarchic media networks and use the effects of so-called ‘filter bubbles’ and ‘echo chambers’ on social media. Instead of exchanging different opinions in a reflected manner, mostly one-sided, individualized excerpts of the complex social reality find their way to the surface. Biased (social) media thus creates but a mere individual fiction, the façade of a homogeneous world corresponding to the viewers’ perceptions.
As part of the IDM and DRC Jean Monnet Project “From Fictional to Functioning Democracy (FIFUDEM)”, the conference brings up the problem of fictional democracy – a new form of façade democracy that produces illiberal fictions of democracy. It aims at creating new visions for actively committed citizenship in a functioning democracy, embedded in a common and inclusive European Union. In order to achieve this, academics and researchers specialised in EU matters, as well as civil society activists, stakeholders and practitioners and EU representatives are invited to develop strategies of strengthening active and participatory citizenship and functioning political communication methodologies.
Confirmed attendees include amongst others Ivan KRASTEV, Gerda FÜRICHT-FIEGL (Danube University Krems), Dominika HAJDU (Globsec Policy Institute, Bratislava), Gertraud ILLMEIER (Interkulturelles Zentrum, Vienna), Ulrike LUNACEK (State Secretary for Art and Culture in the Federal Ministry for the Civil Service and Sports; Former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Vienna), Lukas MANDL (Member of the European Parliament, Brussels), Katarína MATHERNOVÁ (European Commission, Brussels), Hedvig MORVAI (Erste Foundation, Vienna), Toni PAVLOSKI (Deputy Director of the Directorate for the European Union at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Skopje), Ivanka POPOVIC (Rector of the University of Belgrade, President of the Danube Rectors’ Conference), Wojciech PRZYBYLSKI (Editor-in-chief of Visegrad Insight and chairman of Res Publica Foundation in Warsaw), Martin SELMAYR (Representative of the European Commission in Austria), Mihai Răzvan UNGUREANU (University of Bucharest, former Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister, Romania), Kristina VOKO (Country Director Albania at Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), Tirana), Vuk VELEBIT (Political analyst (Talas.rs) & civic activist, Belgrade) and Erhard BUSEK (IDM Vienna).
Program and further details: www.idm.at
