Why Democracy needs Academic Freedom: Politicisation, Polarisation, and Radicalisation in the Contemporary University > Journal

This article examines the relationship between democracy and academic freedom amid increasing politicisation, polarisation, and radicalisation (PPR) in contemporary universities. It refers the assumption that democracy and academic freedom are mutually constitutive principles grounded in open inquiry, pluralism, and the protection of dissent. Thus, it argues that as academic freedom erodes, universities’ capacity to sustain democratic culture and critical deliberation is weakened. The study develops a theoretical framework linking democracy and academic freedom through three ideal-typical models of the university: “the ivory tower,” “the engaged university,” and “the university of excellence”. These models are used to analyse how universities are reshaped under conditions of ideological tension, uncertainty, and intensifying PPR. Empirically, the article focuses on European and North American universities, with particular attention to responses to pro-Palestinian campus activism following the 2024 war in Gaza. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork in Poland, the United States, and the United Kingdom, alongside critical discourse analysis, it examines institutional and community responses. The article identifies that PPR increasingly instrumentalises academic freedom and reshapes democratic practices within academia. As campuses shift toward spaces of conformity or confrontation rather than open deliberation and mutual learning, these dynamics have broader implications for democracy as a lived, participatory practice beyond the university.

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Conceptual framework

Empirical findings and analysis: Universities admits socio-political pressures

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