Illiberalism in some CEE states 

On-Line Workshop, 25 Nov, 14.00-16.00 Warsaw Time

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE – IN MEMORY OF PROF. STANISŁAW CZEPITA

Workshop description

The post-Soviet countries of the CEE region share a similar history that created identity and value preferences that could accommodate illiberal constitutionalism. These states have already experienced liberal constitutionalism, and some of them became the Member States of the European Union. Nevertheless, illiberal constitutionalism has emerged so far only in Hungary and Poland. Although other countries in the CEE region that are Member States of the EU have exhibited certain patterns of illiberalism, governing majorities have not transformed their respective constitutional systems into illiberal constitutionalism. The distinctive factor of illiberal remodeling seems to be a charismatic leader who is willing to revert the existing constitutionalism into its illiberal version and attracts support for this project. While the creation of the Hungarian and Polish illiberal constitutionalism has been a gradual and peaceful process in the last decade, which lately seems to produce illiberalism, the patterns of illiberalism could also be detected in other states of the CEE region. In the last couple of decades, illiberalism as a thin ideology, which challenges different dimensions of liberalism, has emerged. In Hungary and Poland, illiberalism is intertwined with the regime and connects the political and legal arena but to a different extent. In other CEE states, it does not seem to be the case so far; illiberalism, in the possible form of illiberal ideas in society, exclusion, and actions against the EU, appears independently from constitutional and political regimes.

Paper presentation:

Timea Drinóczi – Visiting Professor, Faculty of Law, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Agnieszka Bień-Kacała – Associate Professor at Institute of Legal Sciences University of Szczecin, Poland

Chair:

Monika Florczak-Wątor – Professor at the Constitutional Law Department of the Jagiellonian University, Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Constitutional Studies at the Jagiellonian University, Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program „Society of the Future” at the Doctoral School in Social Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Poland

Discussants:

Agne Juskeviciute-Viliene – Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University, Lithuania

Darina Malová – Full Professor of Political Science, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia and since 2017 she has been serving as an Adjunct Professor at Bologna University, Italy

Jolita Miliuvienė – PhD, researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Public Law at the Law School, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania, Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania

Jan Petrov – Junior Research Fellow in Law, University of Oxford, The Queen’s College, UK

Marieta Safta– Professor Hab. Ph.D. at the Faculty of Law within the Titu Maiorescu University of Bucharest, and Member of the Doctoral School of Law within the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania, First Assistant Magistrate at the Constitutional Court of Romania

Max Steuer – Assistant Professor at the Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, India, and at the Department of Political Science, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia