The Great Regression? Contemporary Europe from a Historical Perspective I & II

Speaker: Prof. Ozan Zeybek

Organizer: Master of Cultural Studies (MCS) Programme

Enquiry: [email protected]

In recent years, we have increasingly witnessed the rise of “authoritarian or reactionary populism” in different parts of the world, as signified in the events and trends such as Brexit, immigration crisis and “democratic fatigue” in Europe, as well as the ascent to power of the following political leaders: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Narendra Damodardas Modi, and Rodrigo Duterte etc. Does that mean “the great regression” is coming near, and the contemporary global context is somewhat comparable to the historical circumstances in the early 20th century? How can we understand the current situation in Europe in view of the current political changes? Would something like Fascism reoccur in contemporary Europe? These two lectures will address the above questions from an ecological perspective, focusing on the limits of welfare states, democracies and the financial system. The lectures will try to link climate change, soaring debts, unfulfilled promises of democracy with the rise of authoritarianism.

Biography of the speaker:

Sezai Ozan Zeybek is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Bilgi University, Istanbul. As a geographer, he studies “trivial” places, “insignificant” people and “dead” times. He follows up the stories of stray dogs, babies, or men who kill time in coffee shops day after day. All along, he scrutinizes space-time conceptions of, mainly, capitalism. Recently, he has started to work on issues around ecology with a focus on industrial meat production. Additionally, he is interested in formations of militarism and different constructions of manhood. He has a blog in Turkish where he posts non-academic, seemingly “out-of-agenda” articles: http://ozanoyunbozan.blogspot.com/