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Is the Magic Lantern Still Shining?

11 November 2016, 12:00 am

magic-lantern

Event Information

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14 December 2016
A one-day seminar organised by the School of Slavonic and East European Studies and the European Institute to examine the rise of illiberal democracy and the contested legacies of 1956 and 1989 in Poland and Hungary.




When:
14 December 2016, 9am-5pm

Where:
UCL Main Quad Event Venue, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT

Register here.


2016 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Hungarian and Polish revolutions of 1956 that exposed the brutality of communist rule in Central Europe and led to the collapse of state socialism in 1989 and the establishment of liberal democracies throughout the region. SSEES will hold an International Seminar to commemorate these events and ask if the current rise of Illiberal democracy threatens their legacy?

The fall of communism in Poland and Hungary in 1989 was seen at the time as the fulfilment of the revolutionary protests that had first broken out on a massive scale in both countries in 1956. In Timothy Garton Ash's memorable phrasing, the magic lantern had lit the way for the (re)emergence of liberal democracy in Central Europe. In contrast, the current governments in both Poland and Hungary contend that the ideals of 1956 were not fully realized, sabotaged in the "revolutions" by the events of 1989, and are only now being finally implemented under their rule. Their opponents, meanwhile, view recent developments in both countries as a direct assault on liberal democracy and a betrayal of the ideals of 1956. The purpose of this seminar is to bring a range of experts together to discuss these competing views of the legacy of 1956 and the state of liberal democracy in Poland, Hungary and the wider region.

Guests include:
    •    Professor András Bozóki (Central European University, Budapest)
    •    Professor Timothy Garton Ash (University of Oxford)
    •    George Gomori (University of Cambridge)
    •    Professor Géza Jeszenszky (Corvinus University, Budapest)
    •    Professor R Daniel Kelemen (Rutgers University, New Jersey)
    •    Dr Paveł Koval (College of Europe, Natolin)
    •    Professor Jan Kubik (UCL SSEES)
    •    Professor Radosław Markowski (Polish Academy of Sciences)
    •    Professor Anita Prazmowska (London School of Economics)
    •    Professor Anne White (UCL SSEES)