The Department of Public Policy brings you the Policy Talks Series as a way to engage critically with today's global and local issues. Our speakers range from policy practitioners and researchers to diplomats and agency leaders to NGO and social responsibility leaders. The events feature a talk, followed by a Q&A session, and a reception.
Drinks and snacks will be offered.
Overview
This presentation engages with the phenomenon of the rise of illiberal democracy in the EU by focusing on developments in the field of migration policy, and the underlying changing dynamics of migration politics. It traces the roots of the ongoing illiberal trend, underlining that attitudes to immigration are constitutive of the current socio-political divisions and identifies the key role the politicization of immigration plays in the rise of illiberal democracy. The presentation emphasizes that the illiberal trend is not only a concerning development in terms of liberalism and migrant rights but potentially for democracy itself.
About the speaker: Leila Hadj Abdou is a Policy Officer in the Department of Integration & Diversity of the City of Vienna (Austria), and a Part-Time Assistant Professor at the Migration Policy Center (European University Institute, Italy). Prior to her current appointments she held academic positions at the University of Sheffield (UK); the School for Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins University) in Washington D.C. (U.S), and the University of Vienna (AT). Leila holds a Ph.D. in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute. Her research fields include Migration Governance and European Union Politics.