The Annual International Editors’ Roundtable was established in 2018. This year it was held at the Josephinum and at the IWM under the leadership of Rector Misha Glenny and Permanent Fellow Ivan Krastev. The event brings together a small group of editors, freelance writers, and academics from the most prestigious publications worldwide with diverse political orientations, among them: FAZ, New Statesmen, Süddeutsche, NZZ, Die Presse, The Guardian, FT, Die Zeit, Gazeta Wyborcza, Telex.hu, Politico, Der Standard, NYT. The Roundtable aims to nurture relationships and offer new voices that can promote new ideas for a multilingual, global audience. It aspires to counteract attempts to isolate countries, regions, and ideas both politically and intellectually.
The event kicked off on the 29th of September with conversations about new intellectual trends in Europe and the US as well as new ways of framing the most pressing intellectual issues of our times, among the themes: the parallels with the Yugoslav Wars and the Russo-Ukrainian War, the 2023 Polish elections, and the influence of Artificial Intelligence over journalism and the publishing industry. On the 30th of September, the conversations continued in the morning and were followed by the opening of the Vienna Humanities Festival weekend.
Roundtable Part 1
9:30–11:00 Morning Session 1
11:30-12:30 Morning Session 2
13:30-15:00 Afternoon Session 1
15:30-17:00 Afternoon Session 2
Morning Sessions 1 & 2: Yugoslav Lessons for Ukraine
(Mod: TBC)
Until February 2022, the most recent war directly experienced on European soil was the Yugoslav war. The objective of this session was twofold: on the one hand, to seek parallels and differences between Ukraine and Yugoslavian situations, especially the relevance of tribunal experiences and the impact on global politics and on people’s lives. On the other hand, to analyze the conceptualization of both wars in the media’s opinion pages: what are the contact points? What are the foci? Are they the same or do they differ?
Afternoon Sessions 1: Libertarian Authoritarianism
(Speaker: O. Nachtwey; Mod: Toby Mundy)
Sociologist Oliver Nachtwey introduced and explained the paradigm of Libertarian Authoritarianism stemming from his book, written with Carolin Amlinger, Gekränkte Freiheit. Aspekte des libertären Autoritarismus.
Afternoon Sessions 2: AI and the Future of Writing
(Mod: M. Glenny)
The advent of Artificial Intelligence in the sphere of creative and academic writing has created concerns in the publishing world. This session served as a reflection on the connections between A.I. and writing and more specifically what technological advancements mean for journalism: opportunity or fatality?
