Sabina Mihelj and Maxim Alyukov Participated in ECREA Events in Ljubljana

At the end of September, Sabina Mihelj and Maxim Alyukov presented their research at ECREA conference and linked events in Ljubljana. At ECREA pre-conference “The Informational Influence of Autocracies Abroad” Sabina Mihelj presented their joint paper with Ana Stojiljkovic on the impact of China’s COVID-19 diplomacy in Serbia. At the same pre-conference, Maxim Alyukov presented his paper on disinformation discourse and motivated reasoning in authoritarian Russia.  

At the main ECREA conference, Sabina and Maxim presented their research at the panel Beyond populism: new perspectives on the role of communication in times of illiberalism. Sabina together with Václav Štětka presented their model for the study of illiberal public sphere. Maxim together with Gulnaz Sharafutdinova discussed the development of political psychology of authoritarianism as a separate research agenda. 

Finally, Sabina participated in a roundtable co-organised by The Peace Institute, ECREA conference, and the Slovenian Communication Association Media and the ‘illiberal turn’: enablers, victims, or channels of resistance?. The roundtable was linked with the publication of the latest book by Václav Štětka and Sabina Mihelj The Illiberal Public Sphere: Media in Polarized Societies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). The recording of the roundtable is available at Youtube: