Watchback - Discourse Series: 'Academic Freedom - Threats Within and Without'

In this engaging Discourse, Professor Michael Ignatieff and Ben Tonra MRIA discuss how academic freedom is not just a privilege of academics, but a key pillar of democracy itself.

As former President and Rector of the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest during the turbulent years 2016-2021, which saw the CEU’s expulsion from Hungary and re-establishment in Vienna, Professor Ignatieff was uniquely placed to lead this conversation on the importance of academic freedom and university autonomy in a functioning democracy. Ben Tonra MRIA, Professor of International Relations at University College Dublin's School of Politics and International Relations, challenged Professor Ignatieff on this important topic.