Past Events

	Title	Date	Type	Speakers
	Nationalism and Reproductive Rights in Post-Transitional Societies	Tue, 07.10.2025, 18:00	Lecture	Ludger Hagedorn Marta Bucholc	Nationalism and Reproductive Rights in Post-Transitional Societies Tue, 07.10.2025, 18:00 Speakers: Ludger Hagedorn Marta Bucholc Series: Lecture In many countries that have recently gone through political transitions, nationalism has re-emerged as a powerful force. Nationalist politics cast women’s and minorities’ rights as threats to the nation’s survival, tying them to fears of migration, low birth rates, or religious tradition. Marta Bucholc argued that reproductive rights are a central arena where the future of democracy and equality is being decided. Read more
Nationalism and Reproductive Rights in Post-Transitional Societies Tue, 07.10.2025, 18:00 Speakers: Ludger Hagedorn Marta Bucholc Series: Lecture In many countries that have recently gone through political transitions, nationalism has re-emerged as a powerful force. Nationalist politics cast women’s and minorities’ rights as threats to the nation’s survival, tying them to fears of migration, low birth rates, or religious tradition. Marta Bucholc argued that reproductive rights are a central arena where the future of democracy and equality is being decided. Read more
	Poles by Choice: How Returnees, Migrants, and Refugees Are Shaping the New Poland	Mon, 06.10.2025, 17:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Taras Fedirko Ula Idzikowska	Poles by Choice: How Returnees, Migrants, and Refugees Are Shaping the New Poland Fellows' Colloquium with Ula Idzikowska Mon, 06.10.2025, 17:00 Speakers: Taras Fedirko Ula Idzikowska Series: Seminars and Colloquia In this Fellow's Colloquium, Ula Idzikowska will presented initial findings from her research on Poland’s redefinition as a destination country, also reflecting on the ways in which political discourse has instrumentalized migration within populist rhetoric. Read more
Poles by Choice: How Returnees, Migrants, and Refugees Are Shaping the New Poland Fellows' Colloquium with Ula Idzikowska Mon, 06.10.2025, 17:00 Speakers: Taras Fedirko Ula Idzikowska Series: Seminars and Colloquia In this Fellow's Colloquium, Ula Idzikowska will presented initial findings from her research on Poland’s redefinition as a destination country, also reflecting on the ways in which political discourse has instrumentalized migration within populist rhetoric. Read more
	Inequality and Knowledge Production: Gender and Race in European Academia	Mon, 29.09.2025, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Bruna Cristina Jaquetto Pereira Misha Glenny	Inequality and Knowledge Production: Gender and Race in European Academia Fellows' Colloquium with Bruna Cristina Jaquetto Pereira Mon, 29.09.2025, 16:00 Speakers: Bruna Cristina Jaquetto Pereira Misha Glenny Series: Seminars and Colloquia European universities have long been at the forefront of producing groundbreaking science, theories, and concepts that shape our understanding of the world. In this talk, Bruna Cristina Jaquetto Pereira examined how European academia sustains pervasive hierarchies that determine who participates in, benefits from, and is recognized as capable or deserving of taking part in knowledge production. Read more
Inequality and Knowledge Production: Gender and Race in European Academia Fellows' Colloquium with Bruna Cristina Jaquetto Pereira Mon, 29.09.2025, 16:00 Speakers: Bruna Cristina Jaquetto Pereira Misha Glenny Series: Seminars and Colloquia European universities have long been at the forefront of producing groundbreaking science, theories, and concepts that shape our understanding of the world. In this talk, Bruna Cristina Jaquetto Pereira examined how European academia sustains pervasive hierarchies that determine who participates in, benefits from, and is recognized as capable or deserving of taking part in knowledge production. Read more
	Who Can Speak? Reflections on Social Movements and Their Limits	Sat, 27.09.2025, 19:30	Festivals	Ivan KrastevDidier Eribon	Who Can Speak? Reflections on Social Movements and Their Limits Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 Sat, 27.09.2025, 19:30 Speakers: Ivan KrastevDidier Eribon Series: Festivals At the Vienna Humanities Festival 2025, renowned French sociologist Didier Eribon returned to the themes of his latest book The Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman. Reflecting on the political invisibility of the elderly and others excluded from mobilization, he examined the deeper question of who gets to speak in the public sphere. Read more
Who Can Speak? Reflections on Social Movements and Their Limits Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 Sat, 27.09.2025, 19:30 Speakers: Ivan KrastevDidier Eribon Series: Festivals At the Vienna Humanities Festival 2025, renowned French sociologist Didier Eribon returned to the themes of his latest book The Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman. Reflecting on the political invisibility of the elderly and others excluded from mobilization, he examined the deeper question of who gets to speak in the public sphere. Read more
	Central Europe and the Birth of Modern Sovereignty	Fri, 26.09.2025, 18:30	Festivals	Natasha Wheatley, Matti Bunzl	Central Europe and the Birth of Modern Sovereignty Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 Fri, 26.09.2025, 18:30 Speakers: Natasha Wheatley, Matti Bunzl Series: Festivals In her keynote lecture at the Vienna Humanities Festival 2025, American historian Natasha Wheatley presented insights from her acclaimed book The Life and Death of States, exploring how the Habsburg Empire’s legal legacy shaped modern sovereignty and offered a model for new states to claim legitimacy in Central Europe and beyond. Read more
Central Europe and the Birth of Modern Sovereignty Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 Fri, 26.09.2025, 18:30 Speakers: Natasha Wheatley, Matti Bunzl Series: Festivals In her keynote lecture at the Vienna Humanities Festival 2025, American historian Natasha Wheatley presented insights from her acclaimed book The Life and Death of States, exploring how the Habsburg Empire’s legal legacy shaped modern sovereignty and offered a model for new states to claim legitimacy in Central Europe and beyond. Read more
	Love Troubles: How Love Drives Transformation	Thu, 25.09.2025, 19:00	Festivals	Federica Gregoratto, Dessy Gavrilova	Love Troubles: How Love Drives Transformation Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 Thu, 25.09.2025, 19:00 Speakers: Federica Gregoratto, Dessy Gavrilova Series: Festivals In her talk at the Vienna Humanities Festival 2025, philosopher Federica Gregoratto explored how love has been conceptualized throughout Western philosophy—from Plato and Hegel to the Frankfurt School, Simone de Beauvoir, and Audre Lorde. Drawing on this tradition, she offered an original perspective on how eros shapes individual freedom and social transformation in the context of contemporary power struggles. Read more
Love Troubles: How Love Drives Transformation Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 Thu, 25.09.2025, 19:00 Speakers: Federica Gregoratto, Dessy Gavrilova Series: Festivals In her talk at the Vienna Humanities Festival 2025, philosopher Federica Gregoratto explored how love has been conceptualized throughout Western philosophy—from Plato and Hegel to the Frankfurt School, Simone de Beauvoir, and Audre Lorde. Drawing on this tradition, she offered an original perspective on how eros shapes individual freedom and social transformation in the context of contemporary power struggles. Read more
	Der Bauernkrieg 1525	Wed, 24.09.2025, 18:30	Festivals	Misha GlennyLyndal Roper	Der Bauernkrieg 1525 Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 Wed, 24.09.2025, 18:30 Speakers: Misha GlennyLyndal Roper Series: Festivals Die erste Keynote Lecture im Rahmen des Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 hielt die Historikerin Lyndal Roper über das politische Erbe des Deutschen Bauernkriegs. Nach eingehender Recherche aller verfügbaren Archivquellen beleuchtete Roper die wirkliche Tragweite dieser dramatischen Ereignisse. Dem Vortrag folgte eine Diskussion mit IWM Rektor Misha Glenny. Read more
Der Bauernkrieg 1525 Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 Wed, 24.09.2025, 18:30 Speakers: Misha GlennyLyndal Roper Series: Festivals Die erste Keynote Lecture im Rahmen des Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 hielt die Historikerin Lyndal Roper über das politische Erbe des Deutschen Bauernkriegs. Nach eingehender Recherche aller verfügbaren Archivquellen beleuchtete Roper die wirkliche Tragweite dieser dramatischen Ereignisse. Dem Vortrag folgte eine Diskussion mit IWM Rektor Misha Glenny. Read more
	Streaming Illiberalism: Alternative Digital Ecosystems and Democratic Erosion in Central and Eastern Europe	Mon, 22.09.2025, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Misha Glenny Václav Štětka	Streaming Illiberalism: Alternative Digital Ecosystems and Democratic Erosion in Central and Eastern Europe Fellows' Colloquium with Václav Štětka Mon, 22.09.2025, 16:00 Speakers: Misha Glenny Václav Štětka Series: Seminars and Colloquia In this Fellow's Colloquium Václav Štětka addressed the growing prominence of right-wing media ecosystems built around online influencers and amplified by platforms like TikTok and YouTube. The presentation examined how this environment will affect democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on the Czech Republic ahead of the 2025 elections, and explored the disruptive role of global digital platforms through the lens of platform capitalism. Read more
Streaming Illiberalism: Alternative Digital Ecosystems and Democratic Erosion in Central and Eastern Europe Fellows' Colloquium with Václav Štětka Mon, 22.09.2025, 16:00 Speakers: Misha Glenny Václav Štětka Series: Seminars and Colloquia In this Fellow's Colloquium Václav Štětka addressed the growing prominence of right-wing media ecosystems built around online influencers and amplified by platforms like TikTok and YouTube. The presentation examined how this environment will affect democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on the Czech Republic ahead of the 2025 elections, and explored the disruptive role of global digital platforms through the lens of platform capitalism. Read more
	Emancypantki: The Forgotten Herstory of Poland’s Suffragists	Mon, 15.09.2025, 17:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Ivan Krastev Katarzyna Wężyk	Emancypantki: The Forgotten Herstory of Poland’s Suffragists Fellows' Colloquium with Katarzyna Wężyk Mon, 15.09.2025, 17:00 Speakers: Ivan Krastev Katarzyna Wężyk Series: Seminars and Colloquia In this Fellow's Colloquium Katarzyna Wężyk examined the lives of women’s rights activists who fought for suffrage and broader emancipation in a nation that did not yet exist, navigating the archetype of the “Polish mother” rooted in patriotism and Catholicism. Many of these women defied gender norms through unorthodox lives and intellectual pursuits, moving from Romantic ideals to Positivist calls for independence and finally to suffrage demands. Read more
Emancypantki: The Forgotten Herstory of Poland’s Suffragists Fellows' Colloquium with Katarzyna Wężyk Mon, 15.09.2025, 17:00 Speakers: Ivan Krastev Katarzyna Wężyk Series: Seminars and Colloquia In this Fellow's Colloquium Katarzyna Wężyk examined the lives of women’s rights activists who fought for suffrage and broader emancipation in a nation that did not yet exist, navigating the archetype of the “Polish mother” rooted in patriotism and Catholicism. Many of these women defied gender norms through unorthodox lives and intellectual pursuits, moving from Romantic ideals to Positivist calls for independence and finally to suffrage demands. Read more
	Small and Middle Powers on the Geopolitical Stage	Tue, 09.09.2025, 13:30 - Tue, 09.09.2025, 18:30	Conferences and Workshops	Ivan Krastev James C. O'Brien	Small and Middle Powers on the Geopolitical Stage Geopolitical Workshop with James C. O’Brien Tue, 09.09.2025, 13:30 - Tue, 09.09.2025, 18:30 Speakers: Ivan Krastev James C. O'Brien Series: Conferences and Workshops James C. O’Brien moderated the Geopolitical Workshop on strategies for small and middle powers to gain geopolitical significance, focusing on their assets, weaknesses, and UN Security Council ambitions. The discussion stress-tested current approaches and explored opportunities, co-chaired by IWM Albert Hirschman Permanent Fellow Ivan Krastev. Read more
Small and Middle Powers on the Geopolitical Stage Geopolitical Workshop with James C. O’Brien Tue, 09.09.2025, 13:30 - Tue, 09.09.2025, 18:30 Speakers: Ivan Krastev James C. O'Brien Series: Conferences and Workshops James C. O’Brien moderated the Geopolitical Workshop on strategies for small and middle powers to gain geopolitical significance, focusing on their assets, weaknesses, and UN Security Council ambitions. The discussion stress-tested current approaches and explored opportunities, co-chaired by IWM Albert Hirschman Permanent Fellow Ivan Krastev. Read more