This interactive seminar seeks to undertake a strategic reassessment of the contemporary Left and the broader progressive forces in a political conjuncture marked by authoritarian advances, a rightward shift of the political centre, and a deepening crisis of political representation. With particular attention to the European context, but grounded in a comparative and international perspective, the event examines the Left’s current strategic impasse across different political settings, identifying patterns of hegemonic defeat and an increasing difficulty in articulating viable strategies of renewal.
While core progressive principles, such as social justice and security, redistribution, equality, and welfare, continue to enjoy broad social support, the Left has struggled to translate these commitments into durable political mobilisation, organisational capacity, and hegemonic leadership. This difficulty cannot be reduced solely to unfavourable structural conditions. Rather, it reflects a broader and interconnected strategic crisis, including:
- an underdeveloped understanding of the relationship between hegemony and power,
- a persistent emphasis on institutional and electoral gains without corresponding social and cultural grounding,
- forms of inherent elitism and anti-populism that hinder meaningful engagement with popular constituencies,
- an inability to articulate persuasive counter-narratives to emboldened authoritarianism, nationalism, and xenophobia,
- a growing incapacity to re-articulate the Left’s hegemonic potential in ways that resonate with emerging social blocs and new political subjectivities.
The seminar approaches these challenges not as isolated ‘failures’, but as interconnected dimensions of a broader strategic impasse demanding renewed analytical clarity and political imagination. Drawing on theoretical reflection, selected case studies, and practitioners’ input, we aim to explore the conditions under which Left and progressive political formations could reshape and reposition themselves in ways that correspond to a coherent, compelling, and democratically transformative vision for the 21st century.
Central questions include: How can radical left and progressive forces move beyond defensive postures and reconstruct hegemonic projects capable of reshaping common sense? How can they penetrate new constituencies, create durable political attachments, and forge new hegemonic constellations under conditions of global authoritarian pressure? And how might the relationship between strategy, organisation, and democratic futures be rethought in light of these constraints?
Confirmed Οrganisers – Speakers – Chairs
Antonis Galanopoulos, Dr. Political Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Project Coordinator Eteron
Angelina Giannopoulou, PhD Candidate in Political Science, Sophia University Institute; Project Manager, transform! europe
Giorgos Katsambekis, Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Yannis Stavrakakis, Professor of Political Discourse Analysis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Boris Kanzleiter, Dr. Political History; Director of Brussels Regional Office of Rosa Luxembourg Foundation
Confirmed Speakers
Katy Brown, Research Fellow in Language and Social Justice, Manchester Metropolitan University
Jacopo Custodi, Research Fellow in Political Science, Scuola Normale Superiore
Costas Eleftheriou, Assistant Professor of Sociology of Organisations, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens; Coordinator of the Political Analysis Unit, ENA Institute of Alternative Policies
Paolo Gerbaudo, Senior Researcher of Political Science and Sociology, Complutense University Madrid
Viktoria Huegel, Dr. Political Theory, University of Vienna
Alexandros Kioupkiolis, Professor of Contemporary Political Theory, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Danai Koltsida, PhD Candidate in Political Science, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences; Senior Adviser, Transform! Europe
Roni Küppers, Lecturer in Politics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Nikos Nikisianis, Municipal Councillor, Municipality of Thessaloniki, with Πόλη Ανάποδα (The City Upside Down); member of the Organising Committee for the TIF park referendum.
Myrto Tsakatika, Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Glasgow Julia Wollenberg, Team Manager for International Politics, Die Linke
