Public Engagement

 IN CZECH -  Facets of Resilience conference, 22 November 2022, Prague, from 2:08:43 

The Far-Right Frontier: Unveiling Extremism in Eastern Europe, with Prof. Lenka BuštíkováListen to this episode from Loosely Eastern Europe on Spotify. I am delighted and honored to welcome Prof. Lenka Buštíková to the podcast. Professor Buštíková holds a PhD in political science from Duke University and MA degrees from Charles University, Central European University and Harvard University. She is an Associate Professor in European Union and Comparative East European Politics at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on party politics, voting behavior, clientelism, and state capacity, with special reference to Eastern Europe. Her book, Extreme Reactions: Radical Right Mobilization in Eastern Europe (Cambridge University Press), demonstrates that far-right parties mobilize against politically ascendant minorities. In this episode, we first address the thesis of Extreme Reactions and if xenophobia is somehow entrenched in the people rather than economic accommodations for ethnic minorities spurring racist sentiment. We then talk about how the fall of communism in 1989 and 1991 laid the foundations for ultranationalist slogans and sentiment in the 1990s. We talk about the differences between the Slovakian far-Right and the Ukrainian far-Right. We talk about the place men and masculinity has when it comes to the appeal of these parties. Lastly, we address the threat of Fico conjoining forces with extremist Right groups in Slovakia in order to win a majority coalition. A great episode and a crucially important topic. I hope you benefit from Prof. Buštíková’s scholarship as much as I have. I couldn’t recommend her book Extreme Reactions more! Please check it out. P.S. The podcast from Ezra Klein we talk about is titled “The Men - and Boys - Are Not Alright” with Richard Reeves.