Ruling By Cheating: Governance in Illiberal Democracy

Tuesday, 26 April 2022, online at 6pm Sydney time

Speaker: Professor András Sajó

On this occasion, András Sajó,* will be joining us for a discussion about his recent book, Ruling By Cheating: Governance in Illiberal Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2021). The book centres on analysing the constitutional system of illiberal democracies and illiberal phenomena in ‘mature democracies’ that are justified in the name of ‘the will of the people’, to explain that this drift to mild despotism is not authoritarianism, but an abuse of constitutionalism.

Illiberal governments claim that they are as democratic and constitutional as any other. They also claim that they are more popular and therefore more genuine because their rule is based on conservative, plebeian and ‘patriotic’ constitutional and rule of law values rather than the values that liberals espouse. However, this book shows that these claims are deeply deceptive – an abuse of constitutionalism and the rule of law, not a different conception of these ideas.

The discussion panel for this webinar will be leaders of our research project, Honorary Associate Professor Adam Czarnota and Professor Martin Krygier, with guest panellist Professor Rosalind Dixon, all of the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

The event is free, but registration is essential to gain access to this webinar.

This session is co-hosted by the CEU Democracy Institute and our project, with the Network for Interdisciplinary Studies of Law.

*András Sajó is University Professor at Central European University and a former vice-president-judge at the European Court of Human Rights. He holds an honorary doctorate from the European University Institute and visiting professorships at Cardozo Law School, University of Chicago Law School, NYU Law School, and Harvard Law School. His recent publications include Constitutional Sentiments (2011) and, with Renáta Uitz, The Constitution of Freedom (2017).