From Statecraft to Soulcraft: How Non-Liberal Regimes Rule Through the Good Life

Liberals keep making a mistake about the post-liberal turn. The usual story is that national-conservative projects are driven mainly by the ugly goods of politics: patronage, resentment, and cynical leaders gaming a public. But that can’t account for why these projects feel vital to supporters, or why they endure.

In this Danube Institute debate, Alexandre Lefebvre (University of Sydney) draws on his widely discussed Noema essay "From Statecraft to Soulcraft" to propose a different lens: ruling through the good life. Many post-liberal movements are not only anti-liberal. They are positive and teleological, and increasingly willing to use institutions, incentives, and cultural power to cultivate particular virtues, attachments, and habits of feeling. Hungary is a useful case because it is unusually explicit about the civic and moral excellences it wants to promote - and about the policy tools it uses to do so.

Speakers:

• Alexandre Lefebvre, Professor, University of Sydney, Visiting Fellow, Danube Institute
• Eric Hendriks, Visiting Fellow, Danube Institute
• Philip Pilkington, Senior Research Fellow, Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
• Ralph Schoellhammer, Head of the Center for Applied History and International Relations Theory, MCC
• moderator: Calum T.M. Nicholson, Research Director, Danube Institute

Details:

Date & time: Wednesday, January 28, 2026, 5:30 P.M.
Venue: Lónyay-Hatvany Villa, 1 Csónak Street, 1015 Budapest (Entrance; Aranybástya Restaurant)
Gate opens: 5:00 P.M.
Language: English

Participation is free; however, due to limited seating, pre-registration is required.