On the Quest for Legal Unicorns Against Authoritarians - Monthly Lecture with Solmaz Khorsand

Antidemocrats all over the world have learned to consolidate their power through the law: smoothly, gradually, and, above all, legally. To fight them on this front, it is therefore necessary to take a closer look at a professional group that is not necessarily known for its rebellious spirit: jurists. To resist autocratic legalism, that is weaponizing the law for its own goals, it is important to find those who can counter authoritarians in this arena. Legal professionals face significant challenges. They must have the tools needed to expose how antidemocratic parties exploit laws to cement their power. Equally, there is an urgent necessity to simplify the arcane language of law for ordinary citizens so that everyone understands that a coup in democracies is not carried out with tanks, gunfire, and a totalitarian ideology, but with an idiosyncratic interpretation of the constitution. In some circumstances, legal professionals and scholars can preempt autocrats with the means of law but don’t necessarily use this instrument. In her lecture, journalist Solmaz Khorsand goes on a quest to find legal warriors (and in some cases more legal unicorns) who are prepared to defend the rule of law by anticipating the worst and showing the places of legal resistance – even the most humble. Solmaz Khorsand is a journalist, podcaster, and book author. She has worked for Wiener Zeitung, Die Zeit, derStandard.at, Datum, and Republik, among others. Khorsand's work ranges from essays on Austrian domestic politics to reports from Belarus and election coverage from Iran. Her essay Die iranische Verwandlung (The Iranian Transformation) contributed to her being awarded the Vienna Journalist Prize 2018 for her work. Her books include untertan. Von braven und rebellischen Lemmingen (Leykam, 2024) and Pathos (Kremayr & Scheriau, 2021). IWM Rector Misha Glenny will moderate the lecture.