October 24, 2017
Constitutionalism is an unfinished and imperfect project that can be manipulated to contribute to the closing of minds and societies, according to CEU University Professor Andras Sajo, who founded the Department of Legal Studies at CEU and served as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights for a decade. Sajo spoke as part of the Rethinking Open Society lecture series at CEU hosted by President and Rector Michael Ignatieff on October 17, delivering a lecture entitled “Constitutionalism in Closing Societies.”
October 10, 2017
Video of Tim Crane - Religion in the Open Society, October 3, 2017
September 26, 2017
Video of Michael Ignatieff - Open Society and The Ordinary Virtues
September 25, 2017
CEU President and Rector Michael Ignatieff opened the second season of CEU’s Rethinking Open Society series September 18 with a talk based on his latest book, “The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World,” published by Harvard University Press the same day. Tolerance, forgiveness, trust, and resilience are essential for a free and open society, but these ordinary virtues can conflict with universalist human rights, Ignatieff said.
June 12, 2017
The world is more anxious, more claustrophobic and more interconnected than ever, said Robert D. Kaplan, author and senior advisor of the Eurasia Group, speaking at CEU May 31 as part of the Rethinking Open Society series. Altering regional dynamics as a result, Kaplan said.
June 6, 2017
When it comes to politics, talk is not cheap, said Erica Benner, a fellow at CEU's Institute for Advanced Study and at Yale's Department of Political Science. “It's a mistake to think that political communications don't matter. Speech matters,” Benner said at her May 25 lecture “Beyond Demagoguery?
June 6, 2017
Liberal democracy has been more successful than other types of government by many measures, meaning it should prevail, according to Stephen Walt, professor of international affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, speaking at CEU at a President’s Seminar May 29, part of the Rethinking Open Society series. Walt, known as a realist, outlined the recent failures related to liberal democracy and open society, and listed a set of remedies.
June 2, 2017
History is characterized by the clash of hierarchies and networks, said Niall Ferguson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, speaking at CEU on May 22 as part of the Rethinking Open Society series. Hierarchies are vertical systems, while the “network” stands for the horizontal, interpersonal connections organically forming in societies. The hierarchy is now globally challenged by the network, but it’s too early to say which one will dominate, Ferguson said.
April 7, 2017
With its stance on migration, Central Europe is back in the limelight, said Jacques Rupnik, professor and director of research of the Centre de Recherches Internationales at Sciences Po, at CEU on March 30 as part of the Rethinking Open Society series. Europe should not compromise on its principles, but has to make them adaptable in Central Europe as well, Rupnik said.
February 6, 2017
Debtor-creditor tension has created conditions conducive to democratic backsliding and populism, according to Dorothee Bohle, Chair in Social and Political Change at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute, speaking as part of CEU's Re-thinking Open Society project.







