A panel discussion with Ivan Vejvoda, Hanna Shelest, Karolina Wigura, Ilir Deda, & Kadri Liik

‘Defending democracy against the rise of authoritarianism’ is a challenge that is both urgent and live across Europe today.  We are used to considering Northern Ireland’s democracy as being ‘fragile’ but we have still to comprehend the challenges to that which come from outside and above us, rather than within or beneath us.  This panel seeks to take experience and evidence from democracies old and new that have faced the consequences of overt efforts to destroy the democratic pillars: Austria, Poland, Estonia, Kosovo and Ukraine. The discussion will be between a visiting group from ‘Europe’s Futures: Ideas for Action’ - a network of prominent academics, activists and journalists engaged as fellows under the auspices of the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna.  In asking ‘what to preserve in times of crisis and how’, the Fellows will be drawing upon vivid examples of lived experience as well as intellectual analysis.

After an initial conversation between the Fellows, members of the invited audience from academic, diplomatic, political and civil society in Northern Ireland will be encouraged to respond and to ask questions.  We hope a constructive dialogue will ensue.  The panel has been convened by Professor Katy Hayward, a current Europe’s Future Fellow and Mitchell Fellow, and will be chaired by Professor Alister Miskimmon, a Fellow of the Mitchell Institute and expert in European security and strategy.

Panellist biographies

Photo credit: Ian O'Neill, QUB.