CFP: International Journal of Philosophy and Social Values

Call for papers

The democratic promise and its current crisis

Until the end of the 1980’s there seemed to exist a wide consensus, at least in the majority of the European countries and the United States, upon some basic political principles, namely, those that became to be known since the end of the 18th Century as “the rule of law”. Those principles showed their strength in the fact that they were compatible with economic growth, minimal social justice and political debate between confronting parties with programmatic differences. The independence of the judicial system and the freedom of the press were also an important part of the aforementioned consensus. Those regimes were also successful addressing important XXth century political issues, such as immigration, the integration of minorities and the empowerment of women.

Things have changed since then. The consensus seems to be broken for an increasing part of the population, and the electoral growth of parties that don’t share it anymore – especially in the far-right – is one of the most visible expressions of it. At the same time, parties that, not long ago, confronted their respective political programs and occupied in turn the government (social-democrats, liberals, conservatives of several kinds), seem, to an increasing number of voters, to share the same ideas. The increasing mixture between political programs and economic interests, the growing cases of corruption, the decline of the public debates on important political issues, the impoverishment of large parts of the population, has increased the distrust of democratic regimes based in the “rule of law”. Demagogues, now baptized “populists”, took the foreground, taking advantage of the impact of the social media on public opinion. At the same time, in Eastern Europe, the fall of the communist regimes gave birth to new forms authoritarian regimes, basing their authority in ethnical or national particularities. Their apparent triumph was so much easier as those countries had no real democratic experiences in the past.

In view of this situation, the International Journal of Philosophy and Social Values makes a call-for-papers for its nº III/2. Proposals are expected to address (although not be limited to) the following topics:

1.  Political practices, procedures and institutions in the 21st Century.
2.  Mechanisms of government control in Europe and the United States.
3.  The return of authoritarian regimes in Europe and Latin America.
4.  Political equality and citizen’s participation.
5.  Social media and the shaping of public opinion.
6.  The crisis of Social-democratic and Christian-democratic parties.
7.  The rise of new political parties.
8.  Democracy and neoliberalism.
9.  Democracy and the growth of economic inequalities.
10.  The role of religion in democratic regimes.
11.  Populism.

Proposal should be sent until 15.06.2021 to the following address: [email protected]