Digital resources in the Social Sciences and Humanities OpenEdition Our platforms OpenEdition Books OpenEdition Journals Hypotheses Calenda Libraries OpenEdition Freemium Follow us

Verschlagwortet: academic freedom

Academic Freedom / MECAM

Understanding the Evolution and Challenges of Academic Freedom in Germany: Insights from André Bank

In this conversation, German political scientist and authoritarianism researcher André Bank speaks with Julius Dihstelhoff, MECAM’s Academic Coordinator, about the current state of academic freedom in Germany. Banks reflects on how historical developments of academic freedom have shaped the present landscape of higher education and emphasizes the importance of safeguarding these freedoms to foster a dynamic and diverse academic environment. He also addresses the ongoing challenges faced by scholars and institutions, including political pressures and social changes that impact academic discourse and inquiry.

Academic Freedom / MECAM

Academic Freedom in Tunisia: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Challenges

In this conversation, Emna Beltaief, Vice President of the Université de Tunis, speaks with Julius Dihstelhoff, MECAM’s Academic Coordinator, on the state of academic freedom in Tunisia. They explore the historical trajectory from the Bourguiba and Ben Ali regimes to the post-2011 era, discussing the persistent tensions between academic freedom and political pressures.  Emna Beltaïef emphasizes the urgent need to protect academic spaces from political interference to ensure a thriving, critical academic environment.

Issues / re:constitution

EU Values and the EU’s Rule of Law Action: What Place for Academic Freedom?

By Olga Ceran. Academic freedom, enshrined in Article 13 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR), has not been discussed extensively in the EU legal literature. What brought it into the spotlight of EU law was the democratic backsliding in Hungary. The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the so-called Lex CEU case, concerning the amendment to the Hungarian Higher Education Act, was the first judicial pronouncement on academic freedom in EU law. These developments confirm in practice what has already been pointed out in the literature: rule of law, democracy, and academic freedom are intertwined. Nevertheless, what this means for EU action remains underexplored. While the EU’s toolbox for the protection of democracy and the rule of law has grown in recent years and has been widely discussed, academic freedom is not explicitly a part thereof and there is no specific instrument for its protection.

re:constitution

Contextualizing and Conceptualizing Debates about Academic Freedom in Europe

By Anna L. Ahlers. After participating in the re:constitution seminar in Ljubljana, Slovenia in November 2021 and, also crucially, while working with colleagues in China, I cannot help but feel extremely lucky and privileged to be able to work under the academic circumstances that I do. They appear to be  so much easier to deal with than the ones I learned about in my interactions with academics from China, Hungary, Slovenia, Turkey, and other countries.

Academic Freedom / re:constitution

“Resisting Multiple Pressures – Perspectives on Academic Freedom in Europe” – Side Note on the re:constitution Seminar

By László Detre. re:constitution is a joint program of the Forum Transregionale Studien and Democracy Reporting International, funded by the Stiftung Mercator. Re:constitution awards fellowships, inspires and organizes topical seminars, and offers fact-based analysis on and around the rule of law and democracy in the European Union.

Academic Freedom / Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

On the Margins of the University: Academics in the Face of Power in post-2016 Turkey

By Alihan Mestci. Culture is a battle that “has not yet been won” – this has been iterated on numerous occasions by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ever since late 2016, the year of the July 15th coup attempt. The state of emergency has given a legal blank check for thousands of dismissals in the civil service as well as for the criminalization and marginalization of dissenting voices from the media and civil society.

Academic Freedom / Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

Threats to Academic Freedom — A Comment

By David Armitage. Threats to academic freedom are now proliferating and accelerating in almost every part of the world. What could once be detected and resisted within specific local or national settings now increasingly appears to be part of a global movement to constrain, abridge, or abolish one of humanity’s oldest and most enduring positive freedoms.

Academic Freedom / Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

What Kind of Academic Freedom and for Whom? Karl Jaspers’ Idea of the University

By Sandra Richter. The history of the university and the history of academic freedom are intertwined but not identical. In certain historical situations they have even differed radically – whether it be for political, economic, or administrative reasons, or because of personal failure.