Democracy and the Market: Shifting Balances, Shifting Perspectives

What has happened to the wealth of nations – and to their sovereignty? In Europe and the US, the symbiosis of democratic political systems and a mixed capitalist economy has long been regarded as the best way to increase stability and prosperity. However, the nature of this symbiosis seems to be undergoing a radical change. What seems to be truly new is the extent to which processes of decision-making are dominated by markets, technocrats and non-democratic financial institutions.

This development raises a number of questions. If democratic policies are increasingly geared toward the demands of the markets, is this accidental or due to inherent features of democracy and/or markets? Will states and groups of states that deliberately released the force of the market be able to preserve their democratic nature and the values bound up with the very idea of democracy, or are we entering the era of so-called post-democracy? Has the market, in its turn, become a locus of political power in its own right or does it put pressure on the political sphere without modifying its nature? What kind of thing is a market at any rate? Does it make sense to attribute political power to something that operates completely anonymously and cannot be held accountable?

Confirmed speakers include:

Gareth Dale (Brunel University, UK)
Andrew Levine (University of Maryland, USA)
Frédéric Lordon (CNRS, France)
Katharina Pistor (Columbia University, USA)
Frank Vandenbroucke (KU Leuven, Belgium)
Philippe Van Parijs (UC Louvain, Belgium)

Organizing Committee

Prof. dr. Karin de Boer (KU Leuven)
Prof. dr. Antoon Braeckman (KU Leuven)
Dr. Lisa Herzog (University St. Gallen)
Dr. Matthias Lievens (KU Leuven)
Dr. Nicholas Vrousalis (KU Leuven)

For any questions, please contact [email protected]

The conference is hosted by the ‘Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies’ and ‘Research in Political Philosophy Leuven’ (RIPPLE) of the University of Leuven.

For information about the host institutions see:

http://www3.kuleuven.be/ripple/
http://ghum.kuleuven.be/ggs/