As summer gave way to autumn, the third quarter of 2025 was marked by a rich mix of research outputs, methodological innovation, and public engagement across the AUTHLIB consortium. Our teams published new articles and a special journal issue, released interactive data tools, hosted citizen deliberation experiments, and prepared upcoming events to connect our findings with wider academic and policy audiences. For a snapshot of our work over July–September 2025, read our highlights below.
Special Issue
Pulling on work across the consortium, a new special issue of Politics and Governance titled “Illiberal Politics in Europe” has been published, co-edited by AUTHLIB researchers Zsolt Enyedi, Petra Guasti, Dean Schafer, and Bálint Mikola. The open-access volume examines how illiberal parties reshape institutions, discourse, and policies across Europe, and how democratic resilience can emerge in response.
All articles of the issue are available open-access and can be downloaded HERE.
Highlights from the AUTHLIB Consortium
The team, led by the Central European University, working on building and validating a multi-dimensional map of AUTHLIB’s resources focused on making project data more accessible and usable. Based on this work, the consortium is launching its AUTHLIB Interactive Dashboard, a ShinyApp-based tool that allows users to explore survey data, text analysis results, and Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES) indicators. Alongside this, the team published the AUTHLIB Codebook, offering detailed documentation of indicators and indices. To extend coverage of illiberal party policies, CEU also conducted an expert survey in Hungary, with findings to be published soon. Looking ahead, the team is preparing for the project’s closing conference in Budapest in January 2026.
The Sciences Po team, working on the ideological configurations of illiberalism, advanced on two major fronts. First, they published a paper summarizing CHES data collection that had been supported by AUTHLIB, among others. Second, they made progress on text data classification. This process has been complex, requiring multiple updates to their annotation approach in line with advances in large language models. The team recently adopted triangulation methods that combine the strengths of different AI systems, and they are now refining the annotations and restarting classification.
The Scuola Normale Superiore team consolidated the results of its research on the transnationalization and diffusion of far-right politics. An article appeared in the IDS Bulletin, and further manuscripts are under review at leading journals. Dissemination has been central this quarter: the team presented findings at the 2025 ECPR General Conference, the SISP Conference, and the AIS Conference. The team also co-organized a summer school on Democratic Backsliding and Political Conflict in late September with the European University Institute, bringing together international scholars and students to explore the multiple levels at which democratic backsliding can be studied.
In early September, Charles University researchers, together with local partners, hosted the AUTHLIB Forum of Ideological Opponents in Liberec. Around 40 citizens deliberated on local and national issues, testing how dialogue across divides can influence attitudes. Preliminary results show modest opinion shifts and shed light on the dynamics of polarization. Read the full report on the Forum HERE. Beyond the Forum of Ideological Opponents, the Charles University team has been busy with preparing for the AUTHLIB Forum of Practitioners of Democracy, to be held on October 10-11 in Prague. The Forum will bring together officials, civil society, and researchers, and will translate AUTHLIB’s findings into practical insights for strengthening democratic resilience.
