Resilience targeting and the war on pluralist democracy

Abstract

Amidst intensifying authoritarian attacks on public education and academic freedom within university sectors across the globe, this paper asks how political geographers might contribute to analyzing and intervening in the political geographies of higher education. Bridging work on geographies of education with research in international relations and geography on hybrid warfare and resilience targeting, this paper argues for approaching higher education as vital infrastructure of pluralist democracy. Using examples from right-wing assaults on public higher education in Florida, this paper examines how movements striving to re-segregate American public life target both the infrastructure of higher education and higher education as infrastructure.