CFP: Democracy, what future?

The future of democracy seems suspended. This suspension is due a number of factors characterizing this moment in history as our moment. These factors are economic, political and social in nature. The future of the democratic regimes therefore depends on the particular quality of the economic crisis we experience globally, and in Europe in particular. The political and social dimensions force us to confront the present condition of democracy, and to imagine its possible futures, asking ourselves whether democracy can withstand its current crises and re-affirm itself as the sole (or at least the preferred) normative political project at a global level. While reflections upon the economic order help us to characterize the specificity of our time, considerations upon the political order require vision and imagination in order to suggest a viable and sustainable future of, and for democracy.

The conference aims to address questions regarding the conditions for and limits of democracy’s future; but also to enquire on the possibility that non-democratic political forms may emerge from contemporary democratic regimes. Europe, in particular, is a paradigmatic case of analysis.

We welcome papers from political theorists, political scientists, sociologists and legal scholars that reflect upon democracy in its multiple forms. Some of the questions we would like to address are:

• European project – limits and expectations
• Democratic politics – what makes of democracy ‘democratic’
• Rethinking the democratic ethos
• Multiple democracies and multiple modernities
• Setting the priorities right – exploring the relationship between politics and economics
• Recovering the autonomy of the political sphere
• Critical reflections on sovereignty, representation, legitimacy and accountability
• The role of political judgment
• Relationship between political elites and citizenship 

We are pleased to announce as our keynote speakers: 

Professor Dario Castiglione (University of Exeter):

http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/politics/staff/castiglione/

and

Professor Alessandro Ferrara (University of Rome “Tor Vergata”)

http://mondodomani.org/filosofiatorvergata/docenti/ferrara/

Please send an abstract (300 words) with your name, affiliation, 5 keywords, and email address until May 30th 2012 to [email protected]