CFA: The Future of Republicanism: Liberal, Critical, Radical?

The recent revival of civic republicanism has seen the emergence of distinct and often antagonistic tendencies within republican political theory. As scholarship on republicanism has blossomed, little time has been devoted to considering what unites republicans beyond a commitment to the wrong of domination. Similarly, there has been a lack of sustained attention to how different republican approaches to social, political, and economic life cohere or conflict with one another. We believe a reckoning is due.

Our aim in this conference is to clarify the divisions among republicans and ask which forms of republicanism, if any, are best placed to provide solutions to contemporary political problems. Should republicans align themselves with liberal egalitarianism, critical and socialist approaches, or insist on developing an independent republican tradition? Ought republicans endorse cultural or structural conceptions of domination? Must civic republicanism be an elitist tradition or can republicans embrace widespread popular participation in politics? How sympathetic should republicans be to the market economy, universal basic income, workplace democracy, or a post-capitalist politics? 

Keynote speakers will be:
- Professor Cécile Laborde
- Professor Philip Pettit 

We welcome both theoretical and historical proposals addressing the state of play with respect to republican scholarship and the future direction of republican political thought, including but not limited to:

➢The republican economy

➢Republicanism, Marxism, and critical theory

➢Liberal republicanism and property-owning democracy

➢Conservatism and elitism within the republican tradition

➢Republicanism and race

➢Should republican citizens be patriots?

➢Structural domination and usurpation

➢Gender in republican thought

➢Republican democracy against or beyond the state

➢Can there be a ‘radical republicanism’?

We invite abstracts of between 300 and 800 words outlining talks of 30 minutes in length. These should be submitted to [email protected] by the end of 27th March 2017. We aim to notify participants by 5th April. Registration for all other attendees will open in due course.