Democracy Disrupted. The Politics of Global Protest

19th March, 2015
10.30 – 12.00, Thursday

Collegium Civitas
PKiN, Pl. Defilad 1
room 1222

In his newest book Ivan Krastev discusses the relationship between protest and democracy. Is protest a better instrument than elections for keeping elites accountable? Does the last wave of protests signal a radical change in the way politics will be practiced? Or are the protests all around the world simply a spectacular but ultimately insignificant eruption of public anger? Is it the technology, the economics, the mass psychology or just the zeitgeist that's caused this global explosion of revolt? Will it be the empowering energy of the protests or the conservative backlash against them that will shape the future of democratic politics?

Ivan Krastev is a political scientist, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna (IWM) and a founding board member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. He is author of Democracy Disrupted. The Politics of Global Protest (2014) (Demokracja: przepraszamy za usterki (2015)) and In Mistrust We Trust: Can Democracy Survive When We Don’t Trust Our Leaders? (2013)

Questions about the seminar & the project: mateusz.falkowski@gmail.com
RSVP: pl-info@pl.boell.org

Listen to Iwan Krastev  at TED.