The Civil Sphere and Authoritarian Trends in Democracies Conference
The conference titled "The Civil Sphere and Authoritarian Trends in Democracies" was held as part of the 2023-2024 cycle "Past and Present of Authoritarianism in Latin America," coordinated by Dr. Nelson Arteaga Botello at FLACSO Mexico. On Monday, June 3, the event commenced with opening remarks by Liliana Martínez from FLACSO Mexico, followed by a welcome from Gloria Del Castillo Alemán, the Director General of FLACSO Mexico. Nelson Arteaga then introduced the themes of the conference, discussing the civil sphere, authoritarianism, and democracy.
The first panel, moderated by Evelyn Mejía Carrasco, from Universidad de Antioquia, began with a presentation by Celso Villegas of Kenyon College, who addressed the transition from civil power to social power, highlighting the populist performance and the charismatic erosion of the civil sphere. His talk was complemented by commentary from Juan Camilo Portela of the Universidad de Ontario. Following this, Jeffrey Alexander, from Yale University explored the shift from the civil sphere to authoritarianism, discussing how the othering tactics of political parties can lead to dictatorship. His insights were further discussed by Ámbar Varela from UAM I.
In the afternoon, the second panel, moderated by Ligia Tavera Fenollosa of FLACSO Mexico, featured Carlo Tognato, a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale University. He delivered a compelling talk on denouncing double standards in civil play, with Maya Aguiluz-Ibargüen from CIIH-UNAM providing commentary. The panel concluded with Peter Kivisto from Augustana College, who shared lessons on how to be a modern autocrat, derived from civil sphere theory, with commentary from Alejandra Armesto of FLACSO Mexico.
The conference continued on Tuesday, June 4, with a morning session in which Jeffrey Alexander presented on the concept of office obligation as a civil virtue and its implications for the crisis of American democracy. This session was moderated by Santiago Carassale from FLACSO Mexico. The event concluded at 1:00 PM with closing remarks by Nelson Arteaga.
