Dr. Václav STETKA: “Illiberal Actors Copy Each Other’s Practices” (watch video or read)

12.09.2024 (Caucasian Journal). Our guest today is Dr. Václav ŠTĚTKA from Czechia, Associate Professor in Comparative Political Communication at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom.  His new book discusses the increasing trend of illiberalism, polarization, and declining trust in mass media in Central and Eastern Europe. 

How applicable are these trends to Georgia? Which European experiences can be particularly helpful here? Watch or read the expert's responses below.

▶ ქართულად: The video subtitled in Georgian is here. The Georgian text version is here.

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The full text version of the interview is below:

Dr. VÁCLAV ŠTĚTKA: “ILLIBERAL ACTORS COPY EACH OTHER’S PRACTICES”  

Alexander KAFFKA, editor-in-chief of CJ: Hello and welcome to Caucasian Journal video interviews. Our guest today is Dr. Václav ŠTĚTKA from Czechia, Associate Professor in Comparative Political Communication at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. His new book published this year discusses the rise of illiberalism, polarization, and declining trust in political elites and mainstream media, focusing on Central and Eastern Europe. That sounds very relevant to our situation, but let's see… Welcome Václav, we have been looking forward to this discussion!

Václav ŠTĚTKA: Hello, and thank you very much for the invitation. I’m honored to be your guest.  

AK: One of your book's main conclusions is that “the illiberal public sphere does not show any signs of weakening at a global scale”. To better understand this I must ask you to introduce to our audience what is an illiberal public sphere, and how does it correlate with mass media and polarization?  

Professor Andreas TAKIS: “A State Religion Is Problematic for Both Church and State”

09.09.2024 (Caucasian Journal). Last month, Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party proposed to strengthen the constitutional status of the Orthodox Church and declare Orthodox Christianity as the state religion. Currently, Georgia's constitution recognizes the country as a secular state, although Orthodoxy is the largest and historically dominant religion. 

The current narrative of the ruling party attempts to fold the status of the church and the status of the government into the same institutional box, as custodians of family and traditional values. The opposition is asking whether EU membership aspirations can be squared with the ambition of establishing a “state religion.” One could counter this question: “Look at Greece and Cyprus,” where there is a state religion. 

To address this question most competently, Caucasian Journal sought the expertise of Professor Andreas TAKIS, Professor of Jurisprudence at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. Notably, Professor Takis previously served as the Deputy Ombudsman in Greece, a role closely tied to the defense of individual civil rights. His experience in this position allows him to speak to the tension between the church's moral authority and the state's power, and vice versa.

The interview was conducted by Dr. Ilya ROUBANIS, Government Affairs Consultant and Area Studies Analyst, and “our man in Greece”. Ilya and Andreas discussed the relevance of the Greek experience as context to conceptualize the political significance of the proposal before Georgians.

Ilya ROUBANIS: The incumbent Georgian ruling party is campaigning for re-election on a promise to raise the status of the Georgian church within the Constitution, thereby creating a “state religion.” As Greece already has a “state religion” and is an EU member state this would be a useful comparison. So, what is the relationship between the Orthodox Church and the state in Greece? How did this connection come up?