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Reimagining democracy to address authoritarianism and violent extremism

Exploring the role of citizenship and human rights education to combat rising extremism. Part of the Cities partnership Programme.

13 September 2022

 

This Cities' Partnerships Programme project will organise two seminars, one in Paris and one in London.

Our aim is to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from UCL and Paris to address one of the key issues of our time that has a poignant relevance in the two capital cities that have witnessed mass terrorist attacks and also new forms of contestation of the mainstream political process by grassroots movements (Gilets Jaunes and Extinction Rebellion) and by new political parties (Rassemblement national and Brexit party) that are not committed to international standards of democracy and human rights.

The political impasse of Brexit in the UK and the mass disrupting mobilisation of the non-party-affiliated ‘Gilets Jaunes’ across France are two symptoms of liberal democracy being in crisis. The crisis of liberal democracy has opened up space for radical authoritarian populists. The alarming level of support for far-right parties and movements, in the UK and France, that are antipathetic to a cosmopolitan and human rights-based liberal democracy, is mirrored across Europe. 

Area

Education

UCL lead