Amid autocratisation as a global megatrend, rights-based resistance to autocratic rule has become increasingly vital. It is also being reshaped by the very forces it challenges. Drawing on examples from settings of democratic erosion, as well as deeply entrenched autocracy, this paper argues that any adequate ethics of resistance to autocracy must acknowledge both the constrained agency of those who resist and the profound ethical dilemmas they confront within environments structured by authoritarian discourse and repression. In such contexts, individuals cannot reliably assess risks or foresee consequences, may be subject to arbitrary retaliation — including against family members or colleagues — and operate under conditions in which even private thought, refusal to lie, or minimal gestures of dissent can constitute meaningful acts of resistance.
About the Speaker
Eva Pils is Professor of Human Rights Law at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). She studied law, philosophy, and sinology in Heidelberg, London, and Beijing, and holds a PhD in Law from University College London. Her research focuses on autocratic conceptions and practices of governance, legal and political resistance, and the dynamics of complicity with autocratic practices.
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