Illiberalism Studies Program
@illsp.bsky.social
Illiberalism Studies Program at @ieres-gwu.bsky.social at GW. Studying the different faces of illiberal politics and thought in today’s world Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of GW University
New piece! Marlene Laruelle draws out five takeaways from the field of illiberalism studies, showing how illiberalism grows through everyday life, shared values, and the internal contradictions of liberalism. Check it out!
Five Lessons from the Study of Illiberalism illiberalism.org |
Marlene Laruelle draw out five takeaways from the field of illiberalism studies, showing how illiberalism grows through everyday life, shared values, and the internal contradictions of liberalism.
illiberalism.org
New interview! Matt Sleat discusses post-liberals' conception of the common good and their political aims, post-liberalism's conflation of liberalism and modernity, and a liberal path forward. Check it out!
Interview: Matt Sleat on Post-liberalism and the Common Good, Modernity, and Liberal Perfectionism
Matt Sleat discusses post-liberals' conception of the common good and their political aims, post-liberalism's conflation of liberalism and modernity, and a liberal path forward.
post-liberalism.org
Reminder that there is still time to submit your proposals for our conference on the return of religion to politics! Check out the full call for papers at the link here: tinyurl.com/54rbr9xj Travel and accommodation covered!
Illiberalism Studies Program@illsp.bsky.social · last mo.Call for Papers! The Journal of Illiberalism Studies is actively seeking paper proposals for a conference and special issue on Theopolitics. Proposals due July 31. Travel and accommodation will be covered. Details here: tinyurl.com/54rbr9xj
New piece! Paul Vacca explores how science fiction provides the basis for Elon Musk's unique approach to acquiring evermore political and economic power.
Elon Musk and SpaceX’s Futurist Coup | illiberalism.org
Paul Vacca explores how science fiction provides the basis for Elon Musk's unique approach to acquiring evermore political and economic power.
illiberalism.org
Our director, Marlene Laruelle, has a new piece in Persuasion! She probes what a genuine renewal of liberalism would look like, arguing that reconstruction needs to be meaningful and must answer to something if it is going to succeed. Check it out!
Liberalism, Heal Thyself
Any path forward for the movement starts with hard questions.
persuasion.community
New interview! Matt Sleat discusses post-liberals' conception of the common good and their political aims, post-liberalism's conflation of liberalism and modernity, and a liberal path forward. Check it out! @mattsleat.bsky.social
Matt Sleat on Post-liberalism and the Common Good, Modernity, and Liberal Perfectionism illiberalism.org |
Matt Sleat discusses post-liberals' conception of the common good and their political aims, post-liberalism's conflation of liberalism and modernity, and a liberal path forward.
illiberalism.org
New piece! Marlene Laruelle thinks through what a left-wing post-liberalism might look like, concluding that it begins by recentering three kinds of public commons. Check it out!
What If Postliberalism Were on the Left?
By Marlene Laruelle
post-liberalism.org
Erin Lockwood rethinks the demise of a rule-based order that never really existed 🔥🔥🔥 "I offer two provocations: first, that what we refer to as the “liberal international order” was itself an America-first agenda and second, that Trump’s foreign policy is better understood as ... “Trump First”"
Illiberalism Studies Program@illsp.bsky.social · 4w agoNew piece! Erin Lockwood on the vulnerabilities of the liberal international order, what characterizes America's "Trump first" foreign policy, and the unpredictability of what comes next. Check it out! @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social @reijer.bsky.social
New piece! Erin Lockwood on the vulnerabilities of the liberal international order, what characterizes America's "Trump first" foreign policy, and the unpredictability of what comes next. Check it out! @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social @reijer.bsky.social
Trump-First Foreign Policy and the Liberal International Order That Never Was illiberalism.org |
Erin Lockwood on the vulnerabilities of the liberal international order, what characterizes America's "Trump first" foreign policy, and the unpredictability of what comes next.
illiberalism.org
Very happy to have contributed to this swell volume for @illsp.bsky.social www.illiberalism.org/frontiers-of...
Frontiers of American Reaction Volume I: Myths, MAGA, the Tech Right, and Liberalism Today | illiberalism.org
The Illiberalism Studies Program presents this short collection of essays from our “Frontiers of American Reaction” series. These essays, published between 2022 and 2026, take stock of the cultural, p...
illiberalism.org
Check out our new book, Frontiers of American Reaction Vol. 1! This ebook collects essays written from 2022 to 2026 and takes on themes ranging from myths and MAGA to the tech right and liberalism. Download it for free now! www.illiberalism.org/frontiers-of...
Call for Papers! The Journal of Illiberalism Studies is actively seeking paper proposals for a conference and special issue on Theopolitics. Proposals due July 31. Travel and accommodation will be covered. Details here: tinyurl.com/54rbr9xj
New piece! @elizajfisher.bsky.social looks at the writing of Alfred Kentigern Siewers to understand the Reactive Orthodoxy movement and its vision of America.
Coal and Censers: Weaponized Nostalgia for a Constructed Past in Orthodox Appalachia | illiberalism.org
Eliza Fisher looks at the writing of Alfred Kentigern Siewers to understand the Reactive Orthodoxy movement and its vision of America.
illiberalism.org
New interview! Arnaud Miranda on Neo-Reactionary Thought, its Origins, and its Tensions Within MAGA.
Arnaud Miranda on Neo-Reactionary Thought, its Origins, and its Tensions Within MAGA | illiberalism.org
Arnaud Miranda on Neo-Reactionary Thought, its Origins, and its Tensions Within MAGA.
illiberalism.org
New piece! @alirizataskale.bsky.social on SpaceX's questionable valuation, and how science fiction is being materialized as a transformation of empire.
Materialized Science Fiction and the Remaking of Empire illiberalism.org |
Ali Rıza Taşkale on SpaceX's questionable valuation, and how science fiction is being materialized as a transformation of empire.
illiberalism.org
New piece! Sarah Rodriguez-Louette looks at the rise of astrology within the MAGA movement online and how it bolsters support for Trump's war in Iran.
The Sky, the Throne, and the War: The Political Astrology of the Trump Era | illiberalism.org
Sarah Rodriguez-Louette looks at the rise of astrology within the MAGA movement online and how it bolsters support for Trump's war in Iran.
illiberalism.org
Our director, Marlene Laruelle, was interviewed by @populismstudies.bsky.social, where she argued that liberalism is no longer the only game in town and that illiberalism, not populism, is the better concept for understanding our current moment. Give it a read!
Prof. Laruelle: Liberalism Is No Longer the Only Game in Town as It Was for the Past Four Decades - ECPS
Giving an interview to the European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS), Professor Marlene Laruelle, Full Professor in the Department of Political Science at
populismstudies.org
New piece! @beni-kovacs.bsky.social on the national conservative vision casting the EU as a decaying liberal empire that informs Trump’s foreign policy approach and its anti-European turn. www.illiberalism.org/the-ideologi...
The Ideological Roots of MAGA’s Anti-European Offensive | illiberalism.org
Beni Kovacs on the national conservative vision casting the EU as a decaying liberal empire that informs Trump’s foreign policy approach and its anti-European turn.
illiberalism.org
New piece! @raphdemiasmorisset.bsky.social on the New Right’s technological turn conditionally embracing AI as a geopolitical imperative and a tool for reshaping society—revealing a deeper coherence between illiberal politics and digital capitalism.
New Right Technological Agenda(s): Deregulating AI and Digital Capitalism for Illiberal Purposes | illiberalism.org
Raphaël Demias-Morisset on the New Right’s technological turn conditionally embracing AI as a geopolitical imperative and a tool for reshaping society—revealing a deeper coherence between illiberal po...
illiberalism.org
In case you missed it, the video of our event with Osita Nwanevu on his book, The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding, is now available! Check it out! @lkatfield.bsky.social
The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding
YouTube video by Illiberalism Studies Program
youtube.com
New piece! @joelschnapp.bsky.social analyzes Trump's eschatological rhetoric and how it is now being used against him by many of his former allies and supporters.
Trump, Iran, and the Eschatological Reversal | illiberalism.org
Joël E. Schnapp analyzes Trump's eschatological rhetoric and how it is now being used against him by many of his former allies and supporters.
illiberalism.org
A new issue of the Journal of Illiberalism Studies #JIS is out now! This special issue (in partnership with @ceri-sciencespo.bsky.social) brings together research on narratives, actors, and institutions shaping illiberal politics across global contexts. Thread below!
JIS Spring 2026 | illiberalism.org
Journal of Illiberalism Studies | Volume 6 No. 1 (Spring 2026)
illiberalism.org
New piece! Colin Flint on the Trump Administration's foreign policy approach and its overarching rejection of the liberal internationalism of the post-Cold War order.
Trumpian Foreign Policy and a Moment of Geopolitical Flux | illiberalism.org
Colin Flint on the Trump Administration's foreign policy approach and its overarching rejection of the liberal internationalism of the post-Cold War order.
illiberalism.org
New piece! A photo investigation by @grandcontinent.bsky.social looking at the use of religious symbolism by Trump and his administration. www.illiberalism.org/trump-and-th...
Trump and the Messiah: The Iconography of an American Heresy | illiberalism.org
A photo investigation by Le Grand Continent looking at the use of religious symbolism by Trump and his administration.
illiberalism.org
New interview! @shikhadalmia.bsky.social ( @ismapolicy.bsky.social @theunpopulist.net ) discusses libertarianism, the evolution of American liberal thought, and the conditions under which a new political coalition might take shape.
Shikha Dalmia on Libertarianism and the Possibility of an American Liberal Political Coalition | illiberalism.org
Shikha Dalmia on Libertarianism and the Possibility of an American Liberal Political Coalition.
illiberalism.org
New piece! Giovanni Orsina investigates the nature of Giorgia Meloni's political project and evaluates her time in power.
The Meloni Model Does Not Exist | illiberalism.org
Giovanni Orsina investigates the nature of Giorgia Meloni's political project and evaluates her time in power.
illiberalism.org
New piece! Matthew McManus reviews Samuel Moyn's Gerontocracy in America, praising its core claims and prescriptions and lingering on its existential themes. Check it out! @ieres-gwu.bsky.social @mattpolprof.bsky.social @samuelmoyn.bsky.social
Human, All Too Human: A Review of Samuel Moyn’s Gerontocracy in America illiberalism.org |
Matthew McManus reviews Samuel Moyn's Gerontocracy in America, praising its core claims and prescriptions and lingering on its existential themes.
illiberalism.org
Our director, Marlene Laruelle, recently launched a Substack titled Vivatopia: Lived Ideologies and Political Futures. Check out her latest post on "technosolutionism" in China and the West! @ieres-gwu.bsky.social
Socialism with a Robot's Face: Technosolutionism and the Future of Democratic Politics
The CCP’s green-intelligence synthesis is not simply a Chinese project. It is an intensified version of a broader political temptation: treating social and moral problems as systems to be optimized.
laruelle.substack.com
Reminder to join us this Thursday, May 11, for a discussion with Osita Nwanevu about his timely new book on American democracy, past and present. Register here: tinyurl.com/58r2frj3 @lkatfield.bsky.social
Illiberalism Studies Program@illsp.bsky.social · 3mo agoJoin us on May 14 for a discussion with Osita Nwanevu at @ieres-gwu.bsky.social. He will present his book, The Right of the People, and discuss American democracy and economic reform. He will be in discussion with @lkatfield.bsky.social. Don't miss it! Register here: tinyurl.com/ymddvze4
Join us on May 14 for a discussion with Osita Nwanevu at @ieres-gwu.bsky.social. He will present his book, The Right of the People, and discuss American democracy and economic reform. He will be in discussion with @lkatfield.bsky.social. Don't miss it! Register here: tinyurl.com/ymddvze4