Date: 19 February 2026
Time: 17:00 (GMT+2 / Athens, Greece)

The third session of the new DemLab Webinar Series will be held on 19 February 2026 at 17:00 (GMT+2). We are pleased to welcome Mike Wilkinson from the London School of Economics, who will present his research on ‘Constitutionalism, neo-imperialism and the authoritarian challenge in Europe’.

Marta Bucholc from the University of Warsaw will serve as discussant.

The event is free and open to the academic community, but you need to register* here: https://authgr.zoom.us/meeting/register/ghUzD98yRqGSk7_je6ZB4A

Abstract: This presentation offers some sceptical reflections on the possibility of tackling the authoritarian challenge in and through the European Union; reflections which go both to the dominant juristic elements of legalism and constitutionalism, as well as to their specific European treatment. It begins by offering a historicization of the interplay of law, politics and society in the rise of European constitutionalism and decline of European democracy. It then examines the historical role of ‘Europeanism’ less as an antidote to nationalist ideology than as replicating imperialist features of the nation and repressing democratic ones, before considering the connection between projects of European constitutionalism and a neo-imperialist mindset. Finally, it focuses on the emergence of what is commonly labelled ‘authoritarian populism’ at the end of the Cold War in both Western and Eastern Europe.

A few words about the speaker: Mike Wilkinson is Professor of Law at LSE. He has held visiting professorships at Cornell University, Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Keio University, Tokyo. His publications include The Cambridge Handbook on the Material Constitution (CUP 2023, ed. with Marco Goldoni) and Authoritarian Liberalism and the Transformation of Modern Europe (OUP, 2021).

*Please note: you must be signed in to your Zoom account (using the same email you registered with) to join this meeting.

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