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TAUBE CENTRE ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Democracy and Trust in Times of Changing World Order

TAUBE CENTRE ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Democracy and Trust in Times of Changing World Order

8-9 June 2026, Faculty of International and Political Studies, Reymonta 4, room 207
Conference with the participation of Taube Centre Fellows, Taube Centre Board and Guests

Democracy and Trust in Times of Changing World Order

8 JUNE (MONDAY)

9:00–9:30 WELCOME COFFEE

9:30–9:45 OFFICIAL OPENING

  • Piotr Bajor – Dean of the Faculty of International and Political Studies
  • Shana Penn  – Taube Philanthropies Executive Director
  • Paweł Laidler – Taube Centre Director

9:45–10:15 Tad Taube. In memoriam

  • Shana Penn and Paweł Laidler

10:15–11:15  KEYNOTE I

  • Alexander Dukalskis (University College Dublin): The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics

11:15–13:00 PANEL I

Authoritarian populism, trust and international cooperation

CHAIR: Magdalena Góra (Jagiellonian University)

  • Helene Sjursen (Oslo University): Strategic Autonomy and authoritarian populism
  • Lucia Frigo (Royal Holloway) The Unpredictable Leaders’ Intelligence cooperation: UK-US intelligence sharing under Trump’s second mandate
  • Marianna Lovato (Jagiellonian University, Tallinn University): Paying the price of authoritarian populism: Trump 2.0 and international solidarity towards Ukraine

13:00–14:30 LUNCH

14:30–16:30 PANEL II

Populism, Institutional Transformation, and Democratic Resilience in Central and Eastern Europe

CHAIR: Zdzisław Mach (Jagiellonian University)

  • Marta Żerkowska-Balas (SWPS University): Why Can't We Just “Go Back”? Trapped Democracy and the Populist Appeal
  • Stanley Bill (University of Cambridge): Debates over Democracy: Interchanging Narratives of De- and Re-Democratization in Poland
  • Ben Stanley (SWPS University): Postliberalism, post-illiberalism: attitudes in Poland after the Good Change
  • Paulina Lenik (Jagiellonian University): The Cultural Consolidation of PiS Voters: Understanding the Electoral Base of Populism in Poland

9 JUNE 2026 TUESDAY

9:30–10:00   WELCOME COFFEE

10:00–11:45 PANEL III

Challenges of Democracy in the Balkan Region

CHAIR: Natasza Styczyńska (Jagiellonian University)

  • Aleksandra Dragojlov (Kaunas University of Technology): Democratic Resilience and the Fight Against Corruption: Symbols of the Anti-Government Protests and their Representation in the Serbian Media
  • Aleksandra Zdeb (University of the National Education Commission in Kraków): Consociationalism and its Unintended Consequences in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. Appetite for Destruction?
  • Adam Fagan (King’s College London): Fair is foul, and foul is fair? Examining Support for Different Understandings of Fairness Among Judicial Practitioners in the Western Balkans

11:45–12:45 KEYNOTE II

  • Jan Kubik (Rutgers University): Why are Polish and Czech populisms so different? Divergent Historical Roots of today’s political cultures

 

12:45–13:00

SUMMARY AND WRAP-UP

  • Paweł Laidler/Zdzisław Mach
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Conference Programme