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Understanding 21st-Century Authoritarianism
In discussions that focused on religion in post-communist Europe, preventing and prosecuting genocide, and the threat of authoritarianism, the speakers called for vigilance, responsibility, and civic action.
CLOCKWISE: This year’s Nanovic Forum speakers: Myroslav Marynovych, Lord Alton of Liverpool, and Anne Applebaum (right) in discussion with Nanovic Faculty Fellow Diane Desierto (left).
The Nanovic Forum is one of the Nanovic Institute’s longest running signature events. Originally established as the “Distinguished European Lecture” in 2004, the Forum is the particular gift of Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic. The Forum is an opportunity to bring Europe’s political, intellectual, and cultural leaders to Notre Dame to explore, discuss, and debate the most pressing questions facing Europe today, and to do so directly with the university’s students snd faculty.
Although typically an annual event, the atypical circumstances of pandemic warranted a double invitation: Myroslav Marynovych, the Ukrainian social and political activist and vice-rector for university mission at the Ukrainian Catholic University, and Lord Alton of Liverpool, British parliamentarian and human rights campaigner. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Institute issued a third invitation to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist Anne Applebaum in April. In discussions that focused on religion in post-communist Europe, preventing and prosecuting genocide, and the threat of authoritarianism, the Forum speakers echoed each other with inspiring calls for vigilance, responsibility, and civic action.
The threat posed to the democratic world order by the growth of authoritarianism loomed large over Nanovic Institute events for much of the past year. Forum speakers unpacked what 20th and 21st century authoritarian regimes look like and how they gain and sustain their hold on power. Anne Applebaum’s conversation with Professor of Law and Nanovic Faculty Fellow Diane Desierto explored the lure of authoritarianism and, as she puts it in her latest book, the consequent “twilight of democracy.” Applebaum focused largely on Russia’s war on Ukraine but also discussed political polarization and the appeal of rightwing radicalism in the 21st century. She suggested that the roots of the extreme and destructive political radicalism – that of both leaders like Vladimir Putin and ordinary citizens – lie in an acute disappointment with the status quo and the pace of social change, and in a “restorative nostalgia” whereby they “remember or misremember a world they grew up in as better, calmer, quieter, or easier to understand than the present.”
The Forum speakers also discussed the ways in which the democratic world order, carefully constructed in the decades following the Second World War, has been taken for granted by its beneficiaries and undermined by those who would gain from its destruction. Lord Alton was particularly critical of the way in which democratic nations, including the UK, had continued to play “a macabre game of pass-the-parcel” when it came to enforcing the UN Genocide Convention and acknowledging the genocidal nature of atrocities committed in Bosnia, Cambodia, China, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tigray, and other places. This political ambivalence, he insisted, has paved the way for authoritarian regimes to render useless the international structures put in place after the Holocaust to prevent or respond to genocide. Lord Alton used the example of China’s membership on the UN Human Rights Council, despite ample evidence of the state’s brutal treatment of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang, and said “the watchdog and the burglar have assumed the same identity.”
All three speakers infused their discussions with calls to action that, despite their sobering subject matters, allowed them to leave their audiences on a hopeful note. Characteristically optimistic, Marynovych expressed his belief that there is a Christian answer to current global challenges. He quoted from “Longing for the Truth that Makes Us Free,” a document written jointly by an interdenominational group of Ukrainian Christians, which reads: “The spiritual weapon in this struggle … is Christ’s Word of Truth, man’s personal testimony and man’s readiness to sacrifice.” Lord Alton called on any students among his audience considering a career in policymaking to “return to the fray” by committing to vocal and dogged advocacy, while Applebaum called on her audience to get involved in politics, activism, and civic organization, and to vote.
Perhaps the most dynamic element of the Nanovic Forum is the way in which it allows visiting leaders to connect the Notre Dame community to Europe through deep discussion, reflection, and conversation. For example, Lord Alton shared his expertise and inspiration with law and Master of Global Affairs students in a class taught by Diane Desierto. Anne Applebaum engaged with Nanovic faculty fellows over lunch where she discussed Russia’s war on Ukrainian agriculture and the lure of authoritarianism. Each of the visitors had opportunities to engage with students over coffee and meals, creating memories, generating ideas, and inspiring action.
The Nanovic Institute also launched a suite of materials designed to share the Forum lectures with a wide audience, including event briefs, videos, and photo galleries. These are available on the Events page of the Nanovic Institute website. ◆
