“We find a correlation between the role of anti-pluralist parties and declining academic freedom”

According to your analysis, academic freedom in Germany declined between 2014 and 2024. Can you contextualize this development for our readers?

In the 2025 Update of the Academic Freedom Index, we identify 34 countries and territories that experienced a significant and substantial decline in academic freedom – as well as Germany and Austria, which show statistically significant, but not substantially meaningful declines in academic freedom. The result for Germany is not surprising. The German constitution protects academic freedom and the country’s Academic Freedom Index score, which captures the de facto situation, remains high as well. At the same time, there was a public outcry last year over alleged plans of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to cut funding for academics who had publicly expressed their opinions on the conflict in Gaza, or who had criticized how university leadership and police had handled pro-Palestinian demonstrations on university campuses. These events likely played a role in lowering Germany’s score on the Academic Freedom Index, as the index values are based on expert assessments.

To reverse this trend, it is essential to protect academic freedom in Germany by ensuring institutional autonomy for universities and safeguarding academics from political pressures.

It is not only in Germany that academic freedom has fallen over the last ten years; as you mentioned, data from 34 countries and territories show statistically and substantially significant declines. Conversely, there are just eight countries in which there has been a significant increase in academic freedom over the same period. Are there cross-national developments that can explain this global trend of declining academic freedom?

Our research shows that decline and growth episodes in academic freedom are not limited to specific regions or regime types. Interesting to note, we find a correlation between the role of anti-pluralist parties and declining academic freedom. Countries where anti-pluralist parties hold a large share of seats in the legislature tend to have lower levels of academic freedom. However, this trend is only evident when anti-pluralist parties are in government, and not merely in opposition.

In short, our research suggests that anti-pluralist parties in power act as a key driver of academic freedom declines. Importantly, while anti-pluralist parties in opposition may not directly affect academic freedom, their electoral success may still pose a threat to free science. As their electoral success increases, so does their likelihood of gaining access to government in the future, thereby potentially leading to detrimental effects on academic freedom.

In your current analysis, you also took a closer look at three countries in the context of case studies: Argentina, Poland and the United States. What was the reason for this selection and what can be learned from these three case studies?

The 2025 Update highlights the link between anti-pluralist parties and declines in academic freedom. We decided to select three countries – Argentina, Poland, and the Unites States – to illustrate how these parties, once in power, undermine academic freedom. Based on these examples we point out that anti-pluralist politicians use similar tactics across different country contexts, namely restrictive legislation, aggressive rhetoric, and politically motivated withdrawal of funding.

Argentina is a recent addition to the list of decliners, with a sharp reduction of academic freedom that coincides with the victory of President Milei in the 2024 elections. As a new decliner, this clear connection warrants deeper investigation for the future of academic freedom in the country.

In the U.S., the decline in academic freedom has been gradual, but recent government actions contributed to a sharp escalation. These efforts threaten institutional autonomy, academic exchange, and freedom of research. Given the global influence of U.S. universities, any erosion of academic freedom there will have far-reaching consequences, including here in Europe. For this reason, the U.S. case requires close attention.

Poland offers another clear but also hopeful example. After the PiS government gained power in 2015, academic freedom declined substantially. The government introduced controls over academic research and teaching and promoted conservative values over cultural pluralism. More recently, however, the new Polish government led by Donald Tusk took measures to improve academic freedom. This example highlights that academic freedom declines are reversible.