Master’s and Research Seminar on History, Politics and Culture in Central Europe (HPCEM) 2026–2027: Authoritarianism and Populism in Central Europe

The ‘History, Politics and Culture of Central Europe (HPCEM)’ research seminar takes a multidisciplinary approach encompassing history, political science, sociology, geography and cultural history. For the 2026–2027 academic year, the seminar will focus on the theme ‘Authoritarianism and Populism in Central Europe’. At a time when numerous political movements are challenging certain democratic and humanist values, in Central Europe as elsewhere, the aim will be to reflect on the ideological origins, practices and developments of these movements and those that preceded them in the 20th century. This seminar aims to explore the diversity of these movements and regimes, their methods of exercising power, the logic behind their mobilisation, and the dynamics of accommodation or resistance within the societies concerned. The seminar will address imperial, nationalist, communist, fascist, fascist-leaning, (neo-)conservative and illiberal projects. 

Programme for the 1^st semester

- Session 1 : Tuesday 29 September 2026 from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm at INALCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris 13th arrondissement), Room 4.06 (with the option to attend via videoconference)

• Introductory session

- Session 2 : Tuesday 6 October 2026 from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm at Inalco (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris 13th arrondissement), Room 4.06 (with the option to attend via videoconference)

• Audrey Kichelewski (Inalco, CREE): Poland between the two world wars: from ‘guided’ democracy to fascist-style authoritarianism

- Session 3: Tuesday 13 October 2026 from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm at INALCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris 13th arrondissement), Room 4.06 (with the option to attend via videoconference)

• Valentin Behr (research fellow at CESSP-CNRS): The conservative intellectual milieu in Poland

- Session 4 :&Tuesday 20 October 2026 from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm at Inalco (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris 13th arrondissement), Room 4.06 (with the option to join via videoconference)

• Snježana Banović (lecturer at the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Arts) : Cultural policy and the theatre in Croatia under the fascist regime (1941–1945) and during the totalitarian period (1945–1949)

- Session 5: Tuesday 3 November 2026 from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm at INALCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris 13th arrondissement), Room 4.06 (with the option to attend via videoconference)

• Andjela Radonjic (PhD student in Slavic Studies, Eur’ORBEM – Sorbonne University): The Sphinx with the head of Janus : on testimonies from Yugoslav communist camps

- Session 6 : Tuesday 17 November 2026 from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm at INALCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris 13th arrondissement), Room 4.06 (with the option to attend via videoconference)

• Laurent Coumel (Inalco, CREE): The patriotic-populist underpinnings of environmental mobilisations at the end of the Soviet era in Russia and Latvia

- Session 7: Tuesday 24 November 2026, from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm at Inalco (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris 13th arrondissement), Room 4.06 (with the option to join via videoconference)

• Mārtiņš Kaprāns (Senior Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia): Searching for New Enemies : Immigration and Electoral Politics in Latvia

- Session 8: Tuesday 1 ^December 2026 from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm at INALCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris 13th arrondissement), Lecture Theatre 4 (with the option to join via videoconference)

• Ivan Jablonka (Professor of Contemporary History, Sorbonne Paris-Nord University): Reconstructing a family history spanning Poland and France

- Session 9: Tuesday 15 December 2026 from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm at Inalco (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris 13th arrondissement), Room 4.06 (with the option to attend via videoconference)

• Irina Gridan (Inalco, CREE): Popular Mobilisations and Legitimation in Communist Romania

Co-ordination

• Katerina Kesa (Inalco, CREE)
• Audrey Kichelewski (INALCO, CREE)
• Eric Le Bourhis (Inalco, CREE)

Contacts

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