Geo-political Shifts, Freedom and Disaster: the University in a new Spatio-temporal Era

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The post-Cold War era spurred an extensive internationalization and cross-border cooperation in higher education and research in Europe and beyond. In Europe, the European Higher Education Area was launched in 1999 and the European Research Area in 2000 with the aim of creating a common European space for higher education and research enabling knowledge (and workforce) to move freely across borders. Universities outside Europe – from North America to Asia – have similarly pursued global partnerships and collaborative research initiatives to enhance their standing and influence in the global knowledge economy. The promise of connectivity was also powered by the rapid digitalization of societies and education, envisioning digital technologies as conduits of shared values and a means to enhance mutual understanding across national and regional borders. This was perhaps most vividly manifested in the slogan of the Finnish technology giant NOKIA coined in 1992 “Connecting people.”

Meanwhile, the 2016 U.S. elections, the Brexit referendum, and various crises in the EU have fueled growing backlashes against globalization and multilateralism, leading to a shift in the geopolitics of higher education and research. Digital tools and social media have surprisingly served and even driven these divisive and nationalistic outcomes through e.g. manipulation of news, data harvesting, filter bubbles and other practices. This changing landscape has been marked by the rise of illiberal ideologies, democratic backsliding, nationalism, populism, territorial conflicts, and an increased focus on security politics (Author, 2023, 2024; Author & Co-author, 2026; Author & Author, 2022; Douglass, 2021; Marginson, 2022; Author & Co-author, 2023; van der Wende, 2020, 2024). This destabilization has led to a growing willingness among politicians and governments to influence, intervene in, or restrict the autonomy of universities and researchers (Author, 2023; Douglass, 2021). As a result, recent decades have seen a decline in academic freedom and university autonomy across countries with diverse political and democratic systems (Author, 2023, 2024; De Gennaro, Hofmeister, & Lüfter, 2022; Douglass, 2021; Hazelkorn, Locke, Coates, & de Wit, 2022; Lyer, Saliba, & Spannagel, 2023; Marini & Oleksiyenko, 2022; Niemczyk & Rónay, 2023; Ren & Li, 2013; Slowey & Taylor, 2024). Simultaneously, the worsening state of our planet and the growing inequalities among humans, as well as between humans and other species, have further undermined the perceived value and relevance of academic research (Chakrabarty, 2021; Haraway, 2016; Tsing, 2005; Author, 2024; Stein, 2022). Once a cornerstone of policy-making, academic knowledge now appears increasingly implicated in these poly-crises and powerless to change the course. Even more troubling, this knowledge is being weaponized to sow doubt about the boundaries between scientific knowledge production on one hand and fake news and conspiracy theories on the other hand, including the questioning of the reality of the Earth’s deteriorating condition, further undermining efforts to address these urgent challenges in order to ensure the survival of the planet and people.

This panel examines a shift from the knowledge economy, which defined the first two decades of the new millennium, into a new era marked by a re-politicization of higher education and research, alongside the profound and increasingly negative impact of human activity on the planet’s environment and climate. Emphasizing different aspects of this unsettling development, this era has been named 'the Anthropocene' (Crutzen, 2010), 'the Plantationocene' (Haraway & Tsing, 2019), 'the Chthulucene' (Haraway, 2016) or 'the Capitalocene' (Moore, 2016), among others. Joining this ongoing discussion, we introduce the term ‘the Politicocene’ to encapsulate the deepening entanglement of politics with education, science, and the multiple, overlapping crises—ranging from the erosion of democracy to the escalating ecological emergencies—that define our current era.

In this Politicocene, the lines between political agendas and academic inquiry are increasingly blurred, with political forces shaping and sometimes distorting the direction of research, the autonomy of educational institutions, and the public’s trust in scientific knowledge. This new era is characterized by the co-optation of educational and scientific domains by political interests, which in turn exacerbate the poly-crises we face: the undermining of democratic institutions, the intensification of climate change, and the deepening of social and environmental inequalities. This is further complicated by the growing public consensus about the modern/colonial roots of the university, including the acknowledgement that the modern/colonial cost of maintaining the universal epistemic relevance of Western knowledge has been the denial of the value – and even the existence – of other knowledge systems, which have been systematically ignored, repressed, and sometimes entirely erased (Author, 2024; see also Grosfoguel, 2013). By framing this era as the Politicocene, we aim to highlight the urgent need to critically examine and address the ways in which political dynamics and historical legacies are influencing and often compromising the ability of higher education and science to contribute effectively to addressing these global challenges.

The panel will feature four papers. These papers are based on three different ongoing comparative research projects anchored in qualitative data and methods. Two projects are based in a European context and includes Eastern, Western and Central European countries. The third project is based in the US. The papers will contribute with original findings from the research projects and draw on policy documents, such as treaties, policy agendas and strategies, at both national and federal levels. They also include interviews and parliamentary debates.

The papers will be followed by a discussion by Professor Riyad Shahjahan who is known for his philosophical and interdisciplinary critique of global higher education.

Sub Unit

• Globalization & Education SIG

Organizers

• Katja Brøgger, Aarhus University

• Nelli Piattoeva, Tampere University

Chair

• Iveta Silova, Arizona State University

Individual Presentations

• Academic Freedom in the Politicocene: Erosion and co-optation in a European perspective - Katja Brøgger, Aarhus University; Ester Zangrandi, Aarhus University, DPU

• The Geopolitics of the Bologna Process. Framings of Russia's 'Withdrawal' by Russian Academics - Nelli Piattoeva, Tampere University

• Higher Education beyond the Anthropocene - Iveta Silova, Arizona State University

• Rising Nationalisms and Euroscepticism in European Higher Education: Poland and the UK in Perspective - hannah moscovitz, Aarhus University, DPU; Rasmus Rasmussen Harsbo, Aarhus University

Discussant

• Riyad A Shahjahan, Michigan State University