Academic Freedom and Democratic Backsliding in Latin America

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Background and Rationale
Across Latin America, academic freedom and university autonomy are under increasing threat as part of broader patterns of democratic backsliding. Authoritarian tendencies, politicized control of institutions, attacks on science, and the commodification of higher education converge to erode the capacity of universities to serve as spaces of critical inquiry and democratic engagement. This panel examines these dynamics through comparative case studies, offering grounded evidence of how structural, political and ideological processes compromise academic freedom, while also identifying possible avenues of resistance and policy response.
Cross-Cutting Issues
• Democratic Backsliding and Academic Freedom: The weakening of democratic institutions directly correlates with attempts to silence or control academic production.
• Political Capture and Mercantilization: Market logics and partisan interference reduce autonomy and reinforce exclusionary practices.
• Denialism and Science in Crisis: Climate and scientific denialism function as tools to delegitimize research, constrain academic actors, and justify anti-democratic governance.
• Regional Implications: While focused on Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, the cases highlight structural risks across the continent, underscoring the need for regional and global advocacy.
Panel Presentations
1. Mercantilización, Credencialismo y Captura Política: Barreras para la Libertad Académica en Paraguay
Presenter: Gustavo Sentrini (FLACSO, Paraguay)
2. Libertad Académica y Negacionismo Climático en Brasil y Argentina
Presenter: Maria Fernanda Assis
3. Climate Denialism and Academic Freedom in the United States
Presenter: Jose Henrique Bortolucci (MARANTA, Brazil)
Moderator: Camilla Croso (Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas)
Commentator: Carol Anne Spreen (New York University & The Alternatives Project – TAP) – offering critical commentary on all three studies and drawing parallels with current challenges to academic freedom in the United States.
Expected Outcomes
• Deepened understanding of the intersection between democratic backsliding and academic freedom in Latin America.
• Comparative insights into how structural barriers, political capture, and denialism converge in undermining higher education.
• Cross-regional perspectives connecting Latin America and the United States, identifying lessons for global advocacy.
• Identification of strategies for academic, civil society, and policy actors to strengthen academic freedom as a cornerstone of democracy.

Sub Unit

• 21st Century Educational Alternatives: Confronting Racial Capitalism, Patriarchy, Militarism, and the Climate Crisis

Organizer

• Camilla Croso, Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas

Chair

• Carol Anne Spreen, New York Univesity

Individual Presentations

• Commodification, Credentialism and Political Capture: Barriers for Academic Freedom in Paraguay - Gustavo Setrini, FLACSO Paraguay

• Academic Freedom and Climate Denialism in Brazil and Argentina - Maria Fernanda Silva Assis, Federal University of Minas Gerais

• Scientific Denialism and the Erosion of Academic Freedom in the Americas - Jose Henrique Bortoluci, Maranta