Bibliographical note

Media and Illiberal Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe
Research seminar and roundtable, Loughborough University
9-10 November 2017

The region of Central and Eastern Europe has been recently experiencing significant democratic backsliding. The rise of authoritarian political parties and leaders to power in countries like Hungary or Poland has brought an unprecedented attack on key democratic institutions, including the media. Across the region, the growing appeal of right-wing political populism, channelled through many traditional news outlets as well as online platforms, has contributed to widening societal polarization, and enabled for rapidly increasing prominence of xenophobic, non-liberal and anti-European attitudes in the public sphere.
According to Jeffrey C.Isaac, “A specter is haunting Europe and the United States; the specter of illiberal democracy” (PublicSeminar, July 12, 2017). In Central and Eastern Europe, this spectre seems to be particularly prominent – after all, it was the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who has first explicitly invoked it in 2014, claiming with pride that his government has been building “an illiberal state, a non-liberal state” which replaces liberalism with nationalism as the core state ideology, and adopting an increasingly authoritarian style of governance.

Many observers argue that Poland has taken similar path after the last elections, emulating Orbán’s approach by attempting to paralyze the constitutional court and take control over the judiciary, by politicizing the civil service, or by turning the public service media into government mouthpiece. In other countries of the region, including Czech Republic and Slovakia, the journalistic autonomy is reportedly under threat from powerful business elites, or oligarchs, who have been purchasing news media outlets in order to promote and protect their business or political interests.

In light of these troubling tendencies, the main aim of the seminar will be to explore new ways of conceptualizing illiberal democracy in the context of the transforming CEE media landscapes, and to empirically examine the impact of emerging authoritarianism on media freedom and pluralism in the region – as well as to discuss whether and how can these tendencies can be halted.

The debates will be framed by – but not restricted to – questions such as:
- Is the current shift towards authoritarian populism in CEE merely part of the global populist wave, or are there any regional idiosyncrasies which deviate from the West?
- What are the consequences for media and the public sphere? Are the media merely victims of or rather culprits in the spreading of illiberal ideologies and attitudes in the region? What is the influence of social media, “fake news” and disinformation?
- What should be the role of the EU and other transnational actors in countering the process of illiberal backsliding in CEE?
- Where to find “islands of positive deviation”? Which institutions - courts, civil society, academia, or the media – are most likely to oppose the illiberal tendencies in the region?

Final programme

Thursday 9 November, 4:30 – 6pm, Brockington Building, room U005
Public Roundtable: Is there future for liberal democracy in Central and Eastern Europe?

Speakers:
András Bozoki, Central European University
Miklós Sükösd, University of Copenhagen
Seán Hanley, University College London
Moderator:
Václav Štětka, Loughborough University

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Friday 10 November, 9:00 – 4:30 pm, Hazlerigg Building
Seminar

9:15 Invitation & welcome from David Deacon (Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Lougborough), John Downey (Director of the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture Loughborough) & Vaclav Stetka (Department of Social Sciences / CRCC, Loughboroguh)
9:30 Opening remarks: András Bozoki (Central European University)
9:50 Panel 1: CEE democracy in uncharted waters: searching for a new conceptual framework
Panel Chair: Sabina Mihelj (Loughborough University)
Panelists:
Miklós Sükösd (University of Copenhagen): “The Key Role of Authoritarian Media and Communication Policies in Establishing and Maintaining Hybrid Regimes”
Aleks Szczerbiak (University of Sussex): “Is Poland really becoming illiberal democracy?”
Marius Dragomir (Central European University): “Illiberal Democracy and Media Capture”

11:15 Panel 2: Democratic backsliding in the Visegrad region
Panel Chair: Václav Štětka (Loughborough University)
Panelists:
Seán Hanley (University College London): “Route B to backsliding? What the technocratic populism of Andrej Babiš in Czechia tells us about patterns of democratic erosion in Central and Eastern Europe.”
Nikola Belakova (LSE): The exceptional case of Slovakia: “From illiberal democracy to an unlikely ‘pro-European island in the region’?”
Pawel Surowiec (Bournemouth University): “Pushing the boundries or breaking the boundries? Digital politics in 'illiberal democracy''
Peter Bajomi-Lázár (Budapest Business School): "Between Liberalism and Authoritarianism: Paradigm Shifts in Media & Politics in Hungary"

13:15 Panel 3: Lessons from South-Eastern Europe
Panel chair: TBC
Panellists:
Maja Šimunjak (Middlesex University London): “Authoritarianism, media and political leaders: The case of Croatia“
Daniel Smilov (Sofia University): “The politicisation of the media and the mediatisation of political parties“
Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova (Liverpool University): “Press freedom and democracy in Bulgaria: Journalists' perspectives“

14:45 Panel 4: Illiberal democracy beyond the EU
Panel chair: John Downey (Loughborough University)
Panelists:
Sally Broughton-Micova (University of East Anglia): “The illiberal managing of competition within liberalised markets”
Galina Miazhevich (Leicester University): “Fake news and fact-checking: the case of RT (Russia Today).”
Burce Celik (Loughborough University London): “Is Turkey an Illiberal Democracy? The case of Turkish communications governance”