Between 26 and 28 June 2024, an international conference entitled “Democratic backsliding in the era of permanent crises” took place in Rome, Italy. The conference, which was part of the SoS4Democracy project financed with a Horizon Europe grant, was organized by the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law Ljubljana and Roma Tre University from Rome. The conference addressed democratic backsliding in three thematic blocks:
- Illiberal systems, states of emergency, and the centralization of power
- lliberal systems and the suppression of opponents:
- Illiberal systems, resistance, and the rule of law.
Researchers from social sciences and humanities, practitioners, activists and students from 14 countries presented at the conference.
The conference programme also included a visit of Libera, a partner organization in the SoS4Democracy project, where participants could explore an exhibition space which investigates the mafia phenomenon and the connections between various forms of crime.
Keynote speakers at the conference were András Sajó, former Judge at the European Court of Human Rights (2009-17) and University Professor at CEU, and Catherine Dupré, professor at the University of Exeter Law School.
At the conference, Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law Ljubljana was represented by the following presentations:
- Vasja Badalič: (Il)liberal “defensive” imperialism: the rise of preventive warfare
- Iva Ramuš Cvetkovič:The crumbling of European democracy: a legal and criminological analysis of measures controlling the narrative regarding Israel-Palestine conflict
- Kristina Čufar & Hana Hawlina: Mein Kulturkampf: Attacking arts and the cultural sphere as a tool of Slovenian democratic backsliding during the Covid crisis
- Matjaž Jager: Inner emigration and lawyers in a wicked legal system
