Mid-Term Conference

6-8 Feb 2019 |Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna

Program

Sessions

James D. Hunter, The Culture Wars Today

Olena Kostenko, Sonja Luehrmann, Caroline Hill, Pro-life in Russia: abortion and assisted procreation Presenters

Kristina Stoeckl & Caroline Hill, Transnational norm mobilization: UN, Council of Europe, World Congress of Families

Kristina Stoeckl & Dmitry Uzlaner, Secularization and Postsecular Society Presenters

Andrey Shishkov, Kristina Stoeckl, Aristotle Papanikolaou, Orthodox Political Theologies and “Conservative Ecumenism”

Dmitry Uzlaner & Mikhail Suslov, Russian Conservatism and (the End of) the Pro-Orthodox Consensus in Russia Presenters

Round-up session Where to go from here? Moderator: Julia Mourão Permoser

Public Panel Discussion "European Culture Wars?"

The “culture wars” were for a long time associated with struggles between social progressives and social conservatives in the United States, where they crystallized around issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. During the last decade, the culture wars appear to have also taken root in Europe, with Russia having become a main champion of traditional values over and against liberal democracy and human rights and with populist right parties like Italy’s Lega or Austrian’s FPÖ discovering themselves as champions of the traditional family. The public panel discussion in the framework of the conference invites four renowned authors and experts to debate their visions of what is happening in Europe today.

Panelists:

James Davison Hunter (University of Virginia), author of “Culture Wars. The Struggle to Define America“
Olivier Roy (European University Institute Florence), author of “Holy Ignorance. When Religion and Culture Part Ways”
Susanna Mancini (University of Bologna & John Hopkins University), law-professor and co-editor of “The Conscience Wars”
Ivan Vejvoda (IWM, Institut für die Wissenschaft vom Menschen, Vienna), head of the „Europe’s Futures“-Program

Program Mid-Term Conference

Press

Announcement of the event

Der Standard: US-Soziologe Hunter: "Trump gab Losern eine Stimme"

Wertedebatten: Neue Allianzen und alte Konfliktthemen

Media

While in Vienna as part of the event "European Culture Wars?", James Davison Hunter was interviewed on the public broadcasting system’s Radio FM4 on his perspective on America’s current culture wars.

Part 1: ‘Culture Wars,’ History

Part 2: ‘Culture Wars’ Always Precede Shooting Wars

Part 3: Today’s Culture War in the USA

Part 4: On Abortion and Violence

Part 5: James Davison Hunter on Trump and the Failure of Politics