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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20260505T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20260505T180000
DTSTAMP:20260420T115457Z
CREATED:20251204T091258Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260420T115457Z
UID:2491-1777996800-1778004000@brias.be
SUMMARY:Public Lecture – Big Ideas for Democracy: Tània Verge
DESCRIPTION:Register here\nWhen We Are Not in the Room:  Designing Feminist Institutional Change for Resilience and Reactivation \nFeminist institutionalism has long shown that feminist institutional change is rarely one-shot\, given the “genderedness” of organisations/institutions (Benschop & Verloo\, 2006)\, the “nested newness” of reform efforts (Mackay\, 2014)\, and multiple forms of resistance (Tildesley\, Lombardo & Verge\, 2022). Recent work argues that inclusive reforms tend to follow cycles of repetition through which change is sedimented (Cianetti\, 2024). This resonates with Benschop & Verloo’s metaphor of “Sisyphus’ sisters” – organising so each restart begins from a slightly stronger position –\, with Mackay’s (2014) memory-keepers who periodically force recollection\, and with Sara Ahmed’s (2017: 12) insight that “repetition is the scene of a feminist instruction.”  \nThe Catalan case offers unusually clear evidence that while feminist insider activists in executive office can rewrite the gendered rules of the game and effectively implement transformative state feminism\, much feminist change remains deeply embodied – dependent on insider feminist activists’ presence at veto and coordination nodes\, with sufficient expertise and overlapping membership in the feminist movement. Nearly two years on\, following a change of administration\, drift is very visible: new formal and informal gendered rules thin out or are abandoned\, coordination venues are downgraded\, veto power is not exercised\, and technocratic “add-women-and-stir” mainstreaming is back.   \nFrom a dual practitioner-academic perspective as former Minister of Equality and Feminisms\, Government of Catalonia (2021–2024) and feminist institutionalist scholar\, this paper reflects on the extent to which feminist governance can be designed to endure in the absence of feminist insider activists or be relaunched swiftly when they are back in the room. In doing so\, I discuss the gendered legacies seeded\, including: entrenchment across venues and duplicated authority to counter “remembering the old”; memory infrastructures to counter “forgetting the new”; and broadened legitimacy coalitions/audiences to ease the “liability of newness” and embed new feminist logics of appropriateness. This reflection is particularly relevant amid the global dismantling\, backsliding\, and watering-down of feminist policies across governments – whether far-right or centre-left executives – as well as universities and other institutional arenas.  \nBio\nTània Verge is a Full Professor of Politics and Gender at the Department of Political and Social Sciences\, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF\, Barcelona)\, where she led the Equality Unit between 2014 and 2021 and coordinated the Minor in Gender Studies. Between May 2021 and August 2024\, she served as Minister of Equality and Feminisms of the Government of Catalonia\, and between May 2024 and February 2026 she was an MP in the Parliament of Catalonia. Her main area of research is gender and politics\, with a focus on how political parties and parliaments are shaped by gender dynamics and on resistance to the adoption and implementation of equalities policies. Her consultancy and governmental practice have also given her new insights into the possibilities and limitations of feminist institutional redesign.
URL:https://brias.be/event/public-lecture-big-ideas-for-democracy-tania-verge/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20260511T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20260511T130000
DTSTAMP:20260427T091517Z
CREATED:20260115T114539Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260427T091517Z
UID:2900-1778493600-1778504400@brias.be
SUMMARY:Public Lecture – Big Ideas for Democracy: Petra Ahrens
DESCRIPTION:Register here\nThe international norm of Gender-Sensitive Parliaments: Navigating Inequality and Inclusion in Democracies under Pressure\nBio\nPetra Ahrens is Academy of Finland Research Fellow at Tampere University\, Finland. Her research focuses on gender policies and politics in the European Union and its institutions\, gender equality in Germany\, gender-sensitive parliaments\, and transnational civil society. Alongside articles\, she is the author of Actors\, Institutions\, and the Making of EU Gender Equality Programs (Palgrave Macmillan\, 2018)\, co-editor\, with Lise Rolandsen Agustín\, of Gendering the European Parliament. Structures\, Policies\, and Practices (Rowman & Littlefield / ECPR Press\, 2019)\, and co-editor\, with Anna Elomäki and Johanna Kantola\, of European Parliament’s Political Groups in Turbulent Times (Palgrave Macmillan\, 2022).  \nThis event will also feature a roundtable discussion with politicians: \n\nKathleen Depoorter (N-VA)\nHannelore Goeman (Vooruit)\nNadia Naji (Groen)\nVincent Van Peteghem (cd&v)\nEva De Bleeker (Anders.)\nLine De Witte (PVDA)
URL:https://brias.be/event/public-lecture-big-ideas-for-democracy-petra-ahrens/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20260526T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20260526T180000
DTSTAMP:20260420T101814Z
CREATED:20251204T091346Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260420T101814Z
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SUMMARY:Public Lecture – Big Ideas for Democracy: Péter Krekó
DESCRIPTION:Register here\nInformational Autocracies and State-Sponsored Disinformation – On the Possibilities and Limits of Institutionalized Brainwashing\nAbstract\nIn today’s information landscape\, the rise of “spin dictatorships” or informational autocracies shows how state actors\, economic elites\, and digital platforms cooperate to sustain mass persuasion. Instead of relying mainly on repression\, these regimes manage information\, engineer public discourse\, and cultivate perceived legitimacy while preserving a façade of democratic competition. Using advanced digital tools\, they influence public opinion through sophisticated media control and polarization. Despite institutional differences\, the psychological and communicative dynamics of persuasion often converge in different political systems: fragmented media\, partisan echo chambers\, and identity-based mobilization create fertile ground for disinformation.\nGoing beyond a supply-side view of propaganda\, the presentation highlights the demand for deceit. Citizens are not merely passive recipients; many actively embrace narratives that affirm group identities and grievances. In polarized contexts\, information is filtered through loyalty more than accuracy\, reinforcing motivated reasoning. This perspective challenges the democracy-autocracy divide. Informational autocraces emerge fromk democracies when political actors normalize disinformation and erode epistemic standards. Hungary illustrates how media capture and centralized resources can turn political competition into a persuasion machine\, while the United States shows how polarization and market-driven media logics can produce similar distortions without centralized control.\nThe presentation concludes by arguing for a reconceptualization of dictatorship and democracy in the digital age and discussing the general possible cpounterstrategies.   As technological infrastructures increasingly mediate political reality\, the key question is not whether a regime represses dissent\, but how it structures the informational environment in which citizens form beliefs and how much democracies can survive in such an environment.\n\nBio\nPéter Krekó is a behavioral scientist and disinformation expert whose research examines the psychological drivers of belief in disinformation\, its political and institutional consequences\, the dynamics of state-sponsored disinformation\, and effective counterstrategies. He holds a PhD from Eötvös Loránd University\, where he is an Associate Professor and leads the Disinformation and Artificial Intelligence Research Lab. His doctoral dissertation focused on the psychological underpinnings of conspiracy theories.\nHe is a Research Affiliate at the CEU Democracy Institute and a Senior Fellow at the CEU Institute for Advanced Study. He has also been an Engaging Central Europe Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Previously\, he was a PopBack Fellow at the University of Cambridge\, a guest researcher at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna\, a Fellow at iASK Kőszeg\, and an Associate Fellow at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center. He has served as a Fulbright Visiting Professor at Indiana University and as a Policy Leader Fellow at the European University Institute.\nKrekó is the owner and director of the Political Capital Institute and leads Hungary’s disinformation hub (HDMO-Lakmusz)\, supported by the European Commission under the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) hosted at the European University Institute.
URL:https://brias.be/event/public-lecture-big-ideas-for-democracy-peter-krako/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
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