Uncivil society in Central and Eastern Europe

What are the social origins of illiberal rule? This presentation investigates current theories about the roots of illiberal attitudes, specifically with regard to state-church relations, democracy, the economy, ethnic and sexual minorities. Using new experimental data from four Central European countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), the study finds that respondents overwhelmingly support for teaching Christianity in schools, dissatisfaction with democracy, economic paternalism, state regulation of ethnic relations, opposition to same-sex marriage.

The European Parliament’s engagement in international human rights: Achievements, limitations and prospects

Eamonn Noonan examines the European Parliament promotion of international human rights since 1979. How has this contributed to the development of EU law, policy and practice? What factors influenced the choice of priority themes and cases? What limitations mitigated the Parliament’s impact? At a time when invasion and coup attempts challenge the existence of democratic states, the near-term prospects for the Parliament’s human rights work will also be considered. The talk is based on an ongoing study of EP acts and proceedings.

Reparations and the search for justice: International law and the Anglo-German and Polish-German mixed arbitral tribunals (1919–c.1932)

The payment of reparations from the former Central Powers after World War I was among the most politically controversial parts of the Peace Treaties. An important part of these reparations, often overlooked in scholarship, was damage payments from the Central Powers to individual nationals of the Allied Powers. The Mixed Arbitral Tribunals (MATs) were tasked to decide such disputes over private damage claims advanced by Allied nationals or companies against former Central Powers governments.

A conversation with Dr Carolyn Browne, Director, Verification Division at Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

Carolyn Browne CMG studied for a DPhil in Bacterial Genetics at Linacre College before joining the UK Diplomatic Service in 1985. She served as the British Ambassador to Azerbaijan from 2007-11 and Kazakhstan from 2013 to 2018. She joined the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2019. She will be in conversation with Linacre Senior Tutor Jane Hoverd, about her career, her current role and the role of the OPCW.

Old stories in new ways: Using the TV documentary form to revisit national history

Prof. Kalyvas will discuss the incentives, challenges, dilemmas, and choices of translating abstract arguments into a visual form, using a national history narrative. The talk draws from his experience in co-authoring the seven-part TV documentary series “Disasters & Triumphs” which was broadcasted on Greek TV channel Skai, in January and February 2022.

Democracy, promotion and safeguarding after accession: Does the EU matter?

Democracy is one of the founding values of the European Union (EU) and a guiding principle in its external relations. In the course of the Eastern enlargement, the Union emerged as one of the major democracy promoters. However, the assaults on democratic institutions in some EU member states have undermined the assumption about the positive impact of EU membership on democratic consolidation and sparked a lively discussion whether the Union can safeguard democracy.
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