European Choices on Protecting Academic Freedom: On the relationship between illiberal governments, liberal academics, and economic globalization

The threats and challenges to academic freedom all over the world are formidable. They vary in form, intensity, and continuity both in repressive and democractic political contexts. Yet all equally endanger education, production of knowledge and search for truth. There is an urgent need to address both the locally specific and the more general threats experienced in many regions of the Global South, but equally in many countries of the Global North, especially when these challenges go hand in hand with a more overarching systemic erosion of liberal democracy as in the United States currently. Without academic freedom, there is no democracy. And without active, critical discussion of these ideas, there is no freedom. To defend, and advance, the cause of academic freedom in the world, we need to strengthen our ties and keep our conversation going with a view to elaborating common visions and shared conceptual frameworks. Moreover, we need to be aware of the fragile connections between academic freedom and its socio-historically specific preconditions more than ever today. As scholars and academics we need to reflect on the changing perception of rights and responsibilities that we cherish but are also increasingly forced to defend.