Liberal democracy has many opponents, even these days in what were once thought of as consolidated democracies. But its opponents come in a variety of forms, which defenses of liberal democracy should reflect. This is the premise of the new Horizon 2020/UKRI jointly-funded Neo-Authoritarianisms in Europe and the Liberal Democratic Response (AUTHLIB) project, which brings a consortium of European partners together to study how liberal democracies can respond to their challengers.

Eight institutions from across Europe form the consortium led by the CEU Democracy Institute: University of Oxford, Sciences Po, Charles University, Scuola Normale Superiore, SWPS University, The Transatlantic Foundation and the University of Vienna. The study aims to capture the dynamics of ideological change in the European Union as a whole, focusing in particular on seven countries: Poland, France, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, UK and Austria.

The overall aim of the project is to provide policy makers with a toolbox to improve support for liberal democracy.

This is the first time CEU plays the role of the coordinator in a large scale collaborative Horizon Europe project, the new funding cycle of the European Commission. The lead researcher is Zsolt Enyedi, DI Research Affiliate and Professor at the Political Science Department. The 3 million Euro grant contains several empirical and theoretical projects at mapping the varieties of illiberal challenges across Europe.