Democratic self-government and freedoms are under attack around the world. From the consolidation of an increasingly authoritarian and erratic administration in the USA to the Turkish Government’s open persecution of the political opposition, from Israel’s systematic annihilation and oppression of Palestinians to former Australian Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s threats against ‘woke’ school and university curricula, political systems globally have taken a markedly authoritarian turn. The post-Cold War triple promise of neo/liberal democratisation, prosperity and civil liberties, secured by US hegemony, is in tatters. This is not necessarily a surprise for progressives, who have long warned about the antinomies of the neoliberal political and economic order, especially how relentless economic competition produces economic and political inequality and ecological breakdown.

The rise of 21st-century authoritarian rule is global in scale. It has been unfolding across a variety of national contexts – affecting both the Global North and the Global South, ‘new’ and ‘old’ democracies as well as non-democratic states – as well as the international order itself, where even superficial legal commitments to sovereign equality are being abandoned in favour of openly despotic forms of international rule. The global scale of contemporary authoritarianism means that explanations that focus exclusively on national institutional contingencies, idiosyncrasies of political cultures or individual actors are inadequate. Rather, it is clear that global political economic phenomena, such as economic inequality, the inherent instability of finance, unchecked capitalist power, the relative decline of US and Western capitalisms, sluggish economic growth and climate breakdown, have been central to the empowerment of authoritarians around the world.

The rise of authoritarianism raises urgent intellectual and political questions for those trying to think about law and political economy from a progressive perspective. First, it is important to diagnose which aspects of neo/liberal legality helped create the fissures, dislocations and political opportunities that gave rise to contemporary authoritarianism. Secondly, it is essential to identify the new and old legal forms, arguments and institutions that authoritarian actors, be they governments or capitalists, use in order to suppress their opponents, to promote their interests and consolidate their rule. Undertaking these exercises enables us to understand the roots of our current predicament and devise effective political strategies and legal tactics for moving toward a more democratic and ecologically viable political and economic order.To this end, Australian Progressive Legal Studies invites submissions from across disciplines (law, political theory, international relations, philosophy, political economy) and jurisdictions that focus on the law and political economy of contemporary authoritarian rule. Potential topics may include:

• the role of law in enabling the rise of the far right, including a focus on the role of law in the construction and legitimisation of neo/liberal capitalism in the aftermath of the Great Recession (2007-2009);
• the circulation of legal arguments and visions within global far-right networks;
• the role of law firms, lawyers, judges and other legal actors as supporters and opponents of authoritarian rule;
• the gendered, racialised and sexual dimensions of authoritarian assaults against democratic freedoms, including the role of anti-trans movements and laws for contemporary authoritarians;
• the relationship between authoritarianism and (anti-)environmental laws and policies, especially energy and climate policies;
• the relationship between authoritarianism and social welfare law and policy;
• the legal rules and techniques mobilised by authoritarians across the world and, in particular, their degree of continuity with and rupture from neo/liberal forms of legality;
• successful mobilisations of law against authoritarianism by progressive movements and, in particular, whether these resemble or diverge from legal tactics used in earlier periods;
• authoritarian rule within workplaces, families or other ‘private’ contexts;
• the rise of authoritarian management on university campuses, especially in response to pro-Palestinian activism by university students and workers.

We are keen to receive abstracts not only from academics but also from practicing lawyers and progressives who have engaged with law as part of their political work and advocacy.

Our workshop will take place at the University of Queensland Law School, Brisbane, on the 8th and 9th of December 2025. Abstracts of no more than 300 words and a short bio of no more than 150 words should be submitted to Ntina Tzouvala (n.tzouvala@unsw.edu.au) by the 11th of July 2025. This will be primarily an in-person event, though online participation may be exceptionally available for presenters unable to attend in person. Due to budgetary limitations, we will only be able to offer limited financial support for domestic travel and, in so doing, we will prioritise precariously employed workers and PhD candidates.

Australian Progressive Legal Studies

Annual Workshop 2025

08-09 December 2025

University of Queensland, Brisbane