Webinar: Rising Autocrats and ‘Freedom Fighters’

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Venue:Webinar

The Miami-Florida Jean Monnet Center of Excellence would like to share this upcoming webinar organized by the Center for European Studies at the University of Florida and co-sponsored by the Centers for European Studies at the University of North Carolina Chapell Hill, and the University of Pittsburgh.

This virtual event on "Rising Autocrats and ‘Freedom Fighters’: How the Populist Radical Right in Germany and Europe Responds to the Corona Pandemic" features Marcel Lewandowsky, DAAD Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Florida.

The Corona crisis is the “hour of the executive”: European countries are taking measures to regulate public life and prevent the spread of the disease. On the one hand, these seem to be unfavorable conditions for populist radical right parties. On the other, they present themselves in many countries as the voice of those who see the interventions as an inadequate restriction of their freedom or even believe in a conspiracy of the elites. This presentation will discuss how populist parties adjust their programs in the pandemic, shed light on common narratives, assess their electoral support, and pay special regard to the case of the AfD (Alternative for Germany party) in Germany.

Marcel Lewandowsky is DAAD Visiting Assistant Professor at the Center for European Studies at the University of Florida. His research and teaching focuses on comparative politics with special regard to parties and party systems, populism in Europe and the political system of Germany. He received his doctoral degree in 2013 with a study on German regional election campaigns from the University of Bonn, Germany. From 2012 to 2013, he was a lecturer at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, whereas from 2013 until summer 2019, Prof. Lewandowsky worked as a lecturer at the University of the Federal Armed Forces, Hamburg. Prior to his application at the University of Florida, he served as a professor pro tempore at the NRW School of Governance of the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Moderated by Michael Webb, PhD Student in Political Science at the University of Florida.

Co-sponsored by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and the University of Pittsburgh European Studies Center.

To view flyer and to register, click here

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