When the Center for Liberal Modernity was founded in 2017, the “illiberal counterrevolution” (Timothy Garton Ash) was already in full swing. But the force with which autocratic and illiberal currents have since picked up speed exceeds our fears. Our international conference “Rethinking Liberalism — Challenges to Liberalism in Turbulent Times” took place just days before Trump’s second inauguration, in the third year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and overshadowed by the electoral successes of right-wing populists across of Europe.
