The Authoritarian (Re)Making of Space in Eastern Europe

Focus Week am Leuphana Institute for Advanced Studies (LIAS): Facing the Far-Right/ Zum Aufstieg der Rechten

Panel Discussion in English organised by Gary Hussey (LIAS fellow)

Panelists: tba

In this session, our speakers interrogate the spatial aspects of contemporary far right and authoritarian political projects. Hegemonic actors, both progressive and reactionary, invariably seek to remake the everyday spaces in which we live our lives. A reactionary ideological reconfiguration of space can be seen across a range of contemporary contexts in Europe and beyond. From Ankara to Budapest, we see the reordering of space to reflect and embed the interests and concerns of the established relations power at a range of scales - from large infrastructural projects at the national and city level, to the intensely micro-quotidian scale, as was recently attempted in Budapest, where the books available in local bookstore no longer contest the ideological narratives of the state. Given the imbrications of power, space, and the political such practices are often deeply contested. As recent social movements sought a reckoning with the histories of racism, slavery, and colonialism that continue to structure our present conjuncture, we witnessed intense struggles over controversial public monuments. Such moments of spatial contestation are tied to a politics of recognition - that is, who is to be rendered visible and invisible. As such, grappling with the spatial dynamics of contemporary far-right politics, rather than just focusing on political discourses (traditionally understood) is crucial for a critical rendering of the threat posed to democracy and the ongoing battle to expand the spheres of recognition and radical equality. Our speakers offer reflections on the spatiality of contemporary right-wing political projects in contexts of democratic backsliding and authoritarianism.