Exploring Academic Freedom in 2023: Silent Majority, Repressed Minority, and Critical Knowledge Making

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 4:55 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Power Vacuums: The Construction and Critique of Knowledge Production in the Academy (Table 38)

Abstract

The last decade has been a period of democratic decline worldwide. The upsurge of illiberalism, increasing number of right-wing, conservative and nationalist parties in power are observed during recent democratic decline in combination or independently in various countries. In countries experiencing decline in democracy, the ruling regime consolidates power over public institutions and many public policies are changed further bringing transformations to many non-state institutions, including higher education.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ The friction between political pressure and academic freedom offers a unique opportunity to observe how democratically declining governments are changing higher education. This study explores how does the democratic decline, rise of nationalism, populism and illiberalism manifest itself in changes of academic freedoms, specifically in critical scholarly fields.

Author

• Zahra Jafarova, University of Toronto - OISE