The interdisciplinary conference “Democracy Under Pressure: Conditions of the Authoritarian Turn Yesterday and Today” will take place at WU Vienna from 24–26 May 2027. Bringing together socioeconomics, law, political economy, and related fields, the conference examines the conditions underlying contemporary authoritarian turns and the challenges they pose to democratic governance.
The conference explores key threats to democratic governance and analyzes which socioeconomic, legal, and institutional responses could strengthen democratic resilience. It engages with the work of Friedrich Hayek, Karl Polanyi, Hans Kelsen, and Carl Schmitt, whose competing accounts of economic and constitutional order provide an analytical framework for examining contemporary challenges.
Confirmed keynote speakers are Katharina Pistor (Columbia University) and Quinn Slobodian (Boston University).
The Call for Papers welcomes individual abstracts and proposals for complete panels from scholars working in socioeconomics, law, political economy, constitutional theory, political science, economic sociology, history, and related fields. Submissions are welcome from scholars at all career stages and from all regions, including the Global South.
Deadline: 15 October 2026.
Further information, including the conference themes and submission guidelines, is available on the conference website.