As Europe and the United States prepare themselves to see a rise of far-right and illiberal parties gaining a large part of the votes at the June and then November 2024 elections, Marlene Laruelle explores the grassroots reasons for this rise of illiberalism. Moving beyond the usual explanation by electoral politics and populist rhetoric, she engages with the deeper transformations of our societies in terms of their relationship to time and space, socioeconomic transformations, the impact of media ecosystems, the polarization of values and culturalization of citizenship, as well as the rise of illiberal grassroots cultures. The existence of such culture contributes to the mainstreaming of illiberalism and therefore to a new cultural normal that may over time facilitate the legitimization of illiberal political projects and policies.

About the speaker

Marlene Laruelle, Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at George Washington University, Director of the Illiberalism Studies Program. She is the editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Illiberalism.