Welcome back to Making Sense of EU! This is already the fifth episode of the series's second season.

As a reminder, as part of the RED-SPINEL research project, the season is dedicated to exploring the challenges liberal democracy is facing in the European Union.

Our understanding of who we are, how we perceive others, and what our sense of belonging might be all depend on the stories we tell ourselves. In a context marked by polarization and even disinformation; dissensus surrounding these common stories can have far-reaching consequences.

To help us make sense of the stories being told about European democracies and their corollary values, we welcome professors François Foret & Maximilian Conrad.  

François Foret is professor of Political Science and president of the Institut d'études européennes (IEE) at the Université libre de Bruxelles. His research interests include European integration; identity and memory; symbolic legitimization of political orders; interaction between religion and politics; and comparative politics. Maximilian Conrad is a Professor at the University of Iceland - Háskóli Íslands. He is also the Principal Investigator of RECLAIM, a fellow Horizon-funded project on "Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in Europe". His research interests include: European integration, German politics, and political theory, particularly issues connected to democracy, communication, civil society, and the public sphere. Ongoing research includes work on the implications of post-truth politics for liberal democracy in Europe.

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