Authoritarian, right-wing populist and fascist tendencies are currently gaining strength all over the world. But how do different instantiations of authoritarianism relate to each other?

It is clear that the idea of methodological nationalism cannot account for the mimetic resurfacing of memes, electoral strategies and administrative maneuvers in hitherto unconnected parts of the globe. But the well-rehearsed dialectic between the local and the global does not capture the phenomenon either: specific forms of authoritarianism are neither local phenomena that become interconnected only retrospectively, nor are they simply local manifestations of a global phenomenon. Rather, the heterogeneous emergencies of authoritarianism are transversal — they interact, inspire and challenge each other in complex ways, whilst maintaining their respective specific national and regional frontlines.

In conversation with Debaditya Bhattacharya (New Delhi), Gisela Catanzaro (Buenos Aires), Zeynep Gambetti (Istanbul), Eva von Redecker (Berlin) and Daniel Loick (Amsterdam), we will dive into these global entanglements, to see how best to analyse, cricitise and effectively respond to the threats of authoritarianism.