Dissident strategies in response to growing illiberalism in the USA

In this project, students will explore lessons to be learned from Soviet dissidents, combining historical and advocacy approaches, drawing on the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Benjamin Nathans. In his book To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause, Nathans explains how dissidents of the late 1960s and early 1970s used the legal system to challenge the acts of the Soviet authorities. In this way, they sought to force the Soviet regime to uphold its constitutional free speech commitments. Supporting Index on Censorship’s longstanding advocacy for the right to free expression, the project will examine whether it is possible to apply these methods to contemporary America and to fighting the authoritarian patterns that have emerged. The project will be supervised by renowned journalist Martin Bright, Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex and Editor-at-Large of Index on Censorship.