Hate crimes. Misinformation and conspiracy theories. Foiled white-supremacist plots. The signs of growing far-right extremism are all around us, and communities around the globe are struggling to understand how so many people are being radicalized and why they are increasingly attracted to violent movements. Cynthia Miller-Idriss shows how tomorrow’s far-right nationalists are being recruited in surprising places, from college campuses and mixed martial arts gyms to clothing stores, online gaming chat rooms, and YouTube cooking channels. She demonstrates how young people on the margins of our communities are targeted in these settings, and how the path to radicalization is a nuanced process of moving in and out of far-right scenes throughout adolescence and adulthood. Most importantly, she offers ideas about the role that all of us – from academics to parents to TV presenters – can work together to halt the march of extremism in the US, Europe, and around the world.

This is the First in a series of three talks titled “Challenges to Democracy:  Authoritarianism and Extremism in Europe and Beyond,” presented by the Cornell University Institute for European Studies (IES).

By spring 1992, the Berlin Wall had fallen as had the old Soviet Union.  Optimism was in the European political air.  In that exuberant moment, Cornell faculty founded the Institute  for European studies to analyze what everyone imagined would be a united and democratic Europe.  

Today, it is difficult to remember that moment.  Populism is embedded in the European political landscape and analysts speak of fascism and authoritarianism with the same fluidity as they spoke of democracy in the past.   We begin our 30th Anniversary year with three lectures focused upon contemporary challenges to European democracy.

Our three speakers will speak on political extremism, fascism and populism, and religious conflict and incorporation.  Their talks address these challenges on multiple levels and provide hopeful solutions for the future.  All three of our speakers are prominent academics and public intellectuals.  In the spirit of our 30th anniversary, all of our initial speakers began their Europe journey here at IES and Cornell as undergraduates or graduate students.   

Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss is a professor at the American University in Washington, DC, where she directs the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) in the Center for University Excellence (CUE). Dr. Miller-Idriss has testified before the U.S. Congress and regularly briefs policy, security, education and intelligence agencies in the U.S., the United Nations, and other countries on trends in domestic violent extremism and strategies for prevention and disengagement.
 
She appears regularly in the media as an expert source and political commentator, including recent appearances on CNN with Fareed Zakaria, PBS News Hour, MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews, The Today Show, and Good Morning America as well as in global media outlets in over a dozen countries. She is also a regular columnist for MSNBC. Her most recent book is Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right (Princeton University Press, 2020).

Please click on the button at the top of this page to register for this event.

After you register you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing a link you can follow to attend the program on February 3rd.

Challenges to Democracy:  Authoritarianism and Extremism in Europe and Beyond. (Lecture Series)
Future Events Dates/Times:
Feb 15th, 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm
Impossible Pluralism: Religious Minorities, Migrants and Unsettled European Democracy
Speaker: Elisabeth Becker

March 8th, 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm
From Populism to Fascism
Speaker: Federico Finchelstein

Departments
Institute for European Studies (IES)
Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
The Department of Sociology