The Illiberal Public Sphere: Media in Polarized Societies
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ySHWGIbuB9U
Quote: "illiberal public sphere, defined as a communicative space comprising both traditional and new media that promote and amplify illiberal actors, views, and attitudes" (Václav Štětka, & Mihelj, S., 2024, p.3). Quote: "Our approach to illiberalism is informed by existing conceptualizations... It foregrounds three distinctive features of illiberalism: its paradoxical relationship with liberalism, its dual character as both an ideology and a set of practices and institutional arrangements, and its dynamic, processual nature. First, illiberalism is paradoxically both opposed to and dependent on liberalism: it contributes to the erosion of liberal democratic institutions and undermines liberal values and attitudes but does so by relying on the very institutions and values it seeks to challenge. As Laruelle (2022) puts it: 'illiberalism […] represents a backlash against today's liberalism […] often in the name of democratic principles and thanks to them (by winning popular support)' (p.!305). Sajó and Uitz (2021) concur, arguing that illiberalism is 'associated with the waning of individual liberty', while at the same time being 'compatible with the political rituals of a competitive democracy' (p. xxiii). This central paradox of illiberalism is clearly apparent in the instrumental use of appeals to freedom of expression to legitimize different forms of hate speech that reject multiculturalism, gender equality, and minority rights (Fiss, 1996; Levin, 2010; Titley, 2020)" (Václav Štětka, & Mihelj, S., 2024, p.27). Quote: "we are living in an era that is perceived to be highly adversarial. This gets expressed through the rise of concepts such as political polarisation, which some argue is the result of increases in inequality, ontological insecurity, fragmentation, mediated homophily and the deterioration of public discourse (Borbáth, Hutter, and Leininger 2023). ... radical polarisation and the conflicts it engenders are threatening the very foundations of democracy itself as well as the civic and human rights that are inherent to it. A whole range of slick populist neofascist politicians across the world present a deeply racist and anti-democratic ideology in a very civilised and rational manner and they market themselves as critical democrats saying what “the people are thinking,” cherry-picking some liberal rights such as freedom of speech to advocate for the destruction and denial of others (Cammaerts 2020)" (Cammaerts, B., 2024, p.31). Further: http://trigg.gr/tag/PhenomnPolemic Bibliography: Cammaerts, B. (2024). 'Defending Democracy Against Populist Neo-Fascist Attacks: The Role and Problems of Public Sphere Theory'. Journal of the European Institute for Communication and Culture, 31(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2024.2310983 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13183222.2024.2310983 Václav Štětka, & Mihelj, S. (2024). 'The Illiberal Public Sphere'. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54489-7
