Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin: Threats to Academic Freedom - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Workshop 2020/2021 | Fellow Forum

Threats to Academic Freedom - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

21.–22. Oktober 2020

Academic freedom is, like freedom of expression, a fundamental principle of intellectual practice which is under threat today in many places. This workshop aims at developing a comparative understanding of how governments, security establishments, and big economic interests have moved to restrict academic freedom using a wide array of constitutional, legal, political and financial tools. Restrictions imposed on academic freedom have been shaping public spaces and academic institutions across the world, in liberal democracies and authoritarian regimes as well as in the so-called illiberal democracies. Comparative and connected study of these restrictions has barely begun, despite their accelerating urgency and proliferation. The workshop will also explore the particular relationship between academic freedom and freedom of expression: the first is a liberty attached specifically to Academia, whereas the second is an established human right.

This workshop will take place virtually.