Re-Thinking Liberal Democracy Workshop

Dates: 7-8 March 2024

Location: University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Griebnitzsee (Campus 3)

Keynote Speaker: Veith Selk, Technische Universität Darmstadt

Details: Democracy today is considered both essential to politics as well as deeply vulnerable and under threat from both novel as well as familiar challenges. From populist movements and the growing influence of authoritarian leaders to the unknown impact of the digital revolution on information exchange, public trust, and decision making, the future political landscape remains deeply uncertain.

Distancing themselves from Fukuyama, many scholars are quick to acknowledge that democracy should not be taken as ‘the end of history’ but is in fact a highly contingent form of regime. Nevertheless, regardless of where the most pressing challenges to democracy are located, most philosophical discourse and public debate still take democracy, and all its contingencies, as the starting point of modern politics. In this sense, democracy may not be the end of history, but it should be. As liberal democracies struggle to satisfy expectations, its failings are assumed to be the result of an insufficient accounting and ordering of democracy’s challenges and weaknesses. Scholarship as a result tends to focus on re-articulating democracy in a way that accounts for and explains these challenges. Rarely is the critical, theoretical gaze turned inward towards those assumptions regarding the concept of democracy itself. Meanwhile, within public debate, polarization and political gridlock becomes increasingly entrenched as each side of the political spectrum sees the other as potentially tyrannical and declared a threat to democracy.

This presents a challenge for the political imagination as it assumes that our only options are liberal democracy or an untenable, authoritarian alternative. Therefore, in the spirit of J.S. Mill’s caution that we do not ‘leave off thinking’ regarding those concepts of which we take as fundamental to politics, this workshop invites political theorists to return their thinking to the concept of democracy and its foundational assumptions. 

Workshop Schedule:

Thursday, 7 March

12:45-13:00 | Welcome and Introduction

13:00-14:00 | Regina Queiroz (Lusófona University / IFILNOVA, New University of Lisbon): 'Liberal Democracy, Demarchy and Public Opinion'

followed by discussion

14:00:15:00 | Michael Hoffmann (Georgia Institute of Technology): 'Bouleuocracy: Consensus-focused Rule by Deliberators'

followed by discussion

15.00-15:30 | Break

15:30-16:30 | Sara Gebh (University of Vienna): 'Taming the People: Civilization and the Colonial Contamination of Modern Democracy'

followed by discussion

16:30-18:00 | Veith Selk (Technische Universität Darmstadt): 'The Twilight of (Liberal) Democracy'

followed by discussion

Friday, 8 March

09:45-10:00 | Coffee and Welcome

10:00-11:00 | Jón Ólafsson (University of Iceland): 'Populist Resources for a Critique of Liberal Democracy'

followed by discussion

11:00-12:00 | Merisa Sahin (University of Michigan): 'Dual-Despotisms: Resisting Domestically and Internationally in an Inegalitarian World'

followed by discussion

12:00-13.00 | Lunch

13:00-14:00 | Thomas Godfrey (University of Sussex): 'Post-Liberalism and Moving Towards a Politics Without Ideals'

followed by discussion

14:00-14.30 | Break

14:30-15:30 | Kenneth Foo (University of Cambridge): 'A Critique of the Liberal Right to Private Property in the Political Theory of William Godwin'

followed by discussion

15:30:16-30 | Glorianne Wilkins (University of Potsdam): 'Why Democracy?'

followed by discussion

For registration, further questions, or more details about the workshop, please email Glorianne Wilkins at wilkins@uni-potsdam.de. We look forward to welcoming participants to what promises to be two days of insightful presentations and engaging discussions.

Workshop on citizen participation in Central and Eastern Europe - September 19 @ University of Potsdam

The chair for political theory at the University of Potsdam is hosting a small informal workshop on citizen participation in Central and Eastern Europe on 19 September 2023 (at the Griebnitzsee-Campus of the university in Potsdam/Germany).

The aim of the workshop is to bring together diverse perspectives on the role of participation formats in the context of policy-making in Central and Eastern Europe, with a special focus on climate policy. However, insights from other citizen participation experiences are also welcome.

Specifically, the workshop will consist of the following parts:

1. Reflection on existing (and past) participation formats in practice (e. g. climate assemblies; citizen juries, etc.)
2. Discussion of the relevant normative criteria for ascertaining what good citizen participation is a) in general and b) regarding climate policy?
3. What are future developments in the field of citizen participation and which design and implementation issues should be taken into account when new citizen participation formats are created?

Program

September 19th, Venue: University of Potsdam, Campus Griebnitzsee, House 6, Room S 15

10:30 - 11:00 Welcome

Session 1: Reflection on existing (and past) participation formats in practice

11:00 - 11:45 Janina Walkenhorst: Citizen Participation regarding Climate Politics from a Cross-Comparative Perspective

11:45 – 12:30 Eva Bördös: Climate Assemblies in Hungary

Lunch

Session 2: Discussion of the relevant normative criteria for ascertaining what good citizen participation is a) in general and b) regarding climate policy?

13:45 – 14:30 Gökhan Orhan: Citizen Participation in Turkish Environmental Policy. Citizen Participation in Turkish Environmental Policy: Limited Avenues and  Rugged Paths

14:30 – 15:15 Fabian Schuppert:What is the normative added value of citizen participation in the context of climate policy making?

Coffee

Session 3: What are future developments in the field of citizen participation and which design and implementation issues should be taken into account when new citizen participation formats are created?

15:45 -16: 30 Paulina Pospieszna: Deliberative Instruments: Potential, Impact, and Actors

16:30-17:00: Final discussion

Joint Dinner at Piazza Toscana

Contact: Janina Walkenhorst (janina.walkenhorst@uni-potsdam.de)

In-Person Author meets Critics Workshop with Robin Hahnel on his recent book Democratic Economic Planning - 8.-9. June 23 @University of Potsdam

The participatory economics approach of Robin Hahnel provides a practical alternative to market capitalism. Hahnel emphasizes the importance of including citizens in the running of the economy. His book Democratic Economic Planning provides a concrete proposal for an alternative economy based on social ownership and citizenship participation. It makes detailed practical suggestions on how to organize short-term and long-term planning of the economy to achieve efficiency in the use of resources, environmental sustainability and a fair distribution of burdens and benefits. Citizens self-manage the planning process through worker and consumer councils.

In this author meets critics workshop, we will explore whether Hahnel’s model provides a feasible alternative to capitalism and whether it would be able to realize normative ideals from a variety of traditions of political theory/philosophy. We bring together political theorists, political philosophers and political economists to discuss the institutional arrangements needed to bring about ideals such as efficiency, equality, sustainability, democratic participation, and worker self-determination. The different critical contributions will focus on various parts of Hahnel’s book and scrutinize the treatment of care work, environmental sustainability, worker and consumer participation, distributive justice, and the allocation of resources. Contributors to the workshop will consider whether the model is able to overcome the Austrian school critique of planning, whether it provides adequate methods for ensuring the efficient and sustainable use of resources, and whether it solves some of the issues with other proposed alternatives to capitalism (e.g., market socialism and central planning).

The workshop is funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. 

The workshop will be held from 8.-9. June 2023, in person at the University of Potsdam.

For further information contact Philipp Dapprich: dapprich[at]uni-potsdam.de

Speakers:

Prof. Robin Hahnel (American University, Washington, D.C.)

Prof. Stefanie Hürtgen (Paris Lodron University, Salzburg)

Prof. John O'Neill (University of Manchester)

Prof. Fabian Schuppert (University of Potsdam)

Prof. Hannes Kuch (Goethe University Frankfurt)

Prof. Mirjam Müller (Humboldt University Berlin)

Dr. Jan Philipp Dapprich (University of Potsdam)

Max Grünberg, M.A. (University of Kassel)

International Conference: Epistemic Injustice, Recognition Failures, and Social Movements, May 4-6, 2023, Potsdam & Berlin

Recently, there has been increasing interest in the relation between epistemic injustice and the concept of recognition. The main idea is that practices of silencing and epistemic exclusion have consequences that go well beyond the epistemic dimension and that influence our social practices of giving respect, esteem, and love. The conference is part of the DFG-funded research network on the relation between recognition theory and theories of epistemic injustice, which aims to shed light on the relation of theories of epistemic injustice, oppression, and violence and recognition theory, and to bring together questions of the normative status of knowers with research on standpoints, ideology, and social movements.

The conference is planned for three consecutive days and seeks to analyze the ways in which social movements can enlighten theories of recognition and epistemic injustice and their relation to each other as well as the ways in which theories of recognition and epistemic justice can help understand claims made by social movements.

The conference will be in person. To attend the conference, please sign up until April 30: https://epistemic-misrecognition.weebly.com/events.html

Part of the three-day-conference is a panel discussion on May 6, 2023 with Robin Celikates, Daniel Loick, Candice Delmas, Nathan Rochelle DuFort, and Jacob Blumenfeld on the topic of activism and philosophy.

The panel discussion is open to anyone interested and will take place at 5pm at Aquarium (Berlin, close to Kottbusser Tor).

Program:

Thursday, May 4 (Potsdam)

Panel 1: Recognition Failures

10.00-11.00 Karen Ng (Vanderbilt University)

11.30-12.30 Rocío Zambrana (University of Puerto Rico)

12.30-13.30 Adrian Wilding (University of Jena)

Panel 2: Epistemic Injustice

15.00-16.00 Briana Toole (Claremont McKenna College)

16.00-17.00 Emmalon Davis (University of Michigan)

17.30-18.30 Linda Alcoff (CUNY)

Friday, May 5 (Potsdam)

Panel 3: Recognition Failures and Epistemic Injustice

09.30-10.30 Ezgi Sertler (Utah Valley University)

11.00-12.00 Matthew Congdon (Vanderbilt University)

12.00-13.00 José Medina (Northwestern University)

Panel 4: Social Movements

14.30-15.30 Paul Taylor (Vanderbilt University)

15.30-16.30 Nathan RochelleDuFort (University of Hartford)

17.00-18.00 Candice Delmas (Northeastern University)

18.00-19.00 Daniel Loick (University of Amsterdam)

Saturday, May 6 (Berlin) - Aquarium (Kottbusser Tor), 18.00-20.00

Podium Discussion “Philosophy and Activism”

Speakers: Daniel Loick, Candice Delmas, Nathan Rochelle DuFort, Robin Celikates // Chair: Jacob Blumenfeld

Organization: Fabian Schuppert & Hilkje C. Hänel

Flyer

Workshop: Decolonizing Epistemic Injustice and Implicit Bias - 25.-26.01. @ UiT (Tromsø, Norwegen)

The workshop establishes a connection between the topic of epistemic injustice and decolonial theories, which have so far been treated relatively separately. It thus contributes to making the cross-connections between the two topics obvious and thus accessible for further scientific analysis. It addresses three main questions of this important relationship:

• To what extent can theories of epistemic injustice be applied to fields of inquiry in decolonial theories?
• To what extent are theories of epistemic injustice and decolonial theories necessarily to be thought of together, especially in relation to social inequality and our academic practices of theorizing?
• To what extent do theories of epistemic injustice themselves need to be decolonized?

While theories of epistemic injustice are have reached a wide audience and are being investigated in detail , as can be seen from the increasing number of books, papers, workshops, and seminars being offered on the topic, there is still little significant research on the intersection of epistemic injustice and decolonial theories. The edited collection is intended to contribute to closing three gaps in the academic discourse: (A) To highlight the importance of decolonial research in the field of epistemic injustice and to explore the relation between decolonial theory and theories of epistemic injustice; (B) to enrich the debate on epistemic injustice with non-Western experts on epistemology and/or decolonial theory; and (C) to critically investigate the ways in which the debate on epistemic injustice and our academic and, more generally, epistemic practices have to be decolonialized themselves. 

Program: 

25.01.2023

9:15 - 10:00 Fabian Schuppert: Decolonising climate justice: On the epistemic injustice of neo-colonial climate politics

10:15 - 11:00 Veli Mitova: Can Theorising Epistemic Injustice Help Us Decolonise?

11:15 - 12:00 Hilkje Hänel: Epistemic Decolonization in the midst of Europe?

12:00 - 13:15 Lunch

13:15 - 14:00 Ezgi Sertler & Elena Ruiz: Theories of Epistemic Colonialism

14:15 - 15:00 Gaile Pohlhaus: An Epistemology of the Oppressed: Resisting and Flourishing under Epistemic Oppression

15:15 - 16:00 Amandine Catala: Decolonizing Social Memory: Epistemic Injustice and Political Equality

16:15 - 17:00 Desirée Lim: Substantive and Procedural Epistemic Injustice

26.01.23

9:15 - 10:00 Dennis Masaka: Overcoming Epistemic Injustice in Africa: A Global South Perspectiv

10:15 - 11:00 Kerstin Reibold: Knowledge-specific forms of epistemic injustice and the remnants of colonialism

11:15 - 12:00 Karl Landström: On Epistemic Freedom and Epistemic Injustice

12:00 -13:00 Lunch 

13:15 - 14:00 Caroline Marim: Decolonizing Epistemic Injustice: Ambivalent or Multiple Borders?

14:15 - 15:00 Elad Lapidot: Europe’s Suppressed Jewish Episteme

15:15 - 16:00 Ekata Bakshi: In Search of a “Truly-Feminist” Agency? Rethinking Feminist Epistemology in the Context of Partition-Induced Forced Migration in India

16:15 - 17:00 Kjersti Fjørtoft: X

Link to the event

International Conference on Epistemic Injustice & Recognition Theory - 1-2 Sept 2022 @ HU Berlin

Keynotes:

Nadja El Kassar

Paul Giladi

Thomas Khurana

Eraldo Souza dos Santos

Other Speakers: 

Jacob Blumenfeld

Robin Celikates

Matt Congdon

Hilkje Hänel

Kristina Lepold

Kerstin Reibold

Breno Santos

Please register in advance: https://epistemic-misrecognition.weebly.com/events.html

Flyer

Public Workshop: Recognition Failures, Epistemic Injustice & Social Movements - 22 June 2022

22 June 2022, Potsdam 10.00-16.00 (CET)

with

Karen Ng

Breno Santos

Eric-John Russell

Jacob Blumenfeld

Gonçalo Marcello

Kerstin Reibold

Hilkje Hänel

Please register in advance: https://epistemic-misrecognition.weebly.com/

Organized by DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and University of Potsdam

Flyer

Studierendenkonferenz & Paneldiskussion: "No Refuge – Grenzregime und Flüchtlingsrechte" am 12./13.3.2022

Diese Studentenkonferenz setzt sich mit der Frage der Flüchtlingspolitik aus einer normativen Perspektive auseinander. Ausgangspunkt ist Serena Parekhs Buch ‚No refuge - Ethics and the Global Refugee Crisis'. Es stellt die Situation von Flüchtlingen dar, die in Flüchtlingslagern, in urbanen Slums oder auf der stetigen Weiterreise keine sichere Zuflucht finden. Es analysiert, wie die schlechte Unterbringung und gefährliche Flucht eine zweite Flüchtlingskrise schafft und diskutiert, welche moralischen Ansprüche Flüchtlinge in solchen Situationen an die internationale Gemeinschaft stellen können. Die Konferenzbeiträge setzen sich mit Fragen rund um das Thema Flüchtlingsrechte auseinander: Sollten Städte und Kommunen das Recht haben, über die Aufnahme von Flüchtlingen aus Lagern selbst zu entscheiden? Warum findet das Thema Flüchtlingslager so wenig Beachtung in der Öffentlichkeit? Haben Staaten eine direkte Pflicht, die Asylsuche zu erleichtern? Was müsste getan werden, um (insbesondere weiblichen) Flüchtlingen ein würdevolles  Leben in Flüchtlingslagern zu ermöglichen?
 

Dieses Panel ergänzt die akademischen Diskussionen über Flüchtlingsrechte, indem es Betroffene und Mitarbeiter*innen verschiedener Nichtregierungsorganisationen zu Wort kommen lässt. Die verschiedenen Teilnehmenden werden ihr Wissen und ihre Erfahrungen im Kontext von Flucht, Asyl, Flüchtlingslagern und Flüchtlingsrechten teilen und danach an einer gemeinsamen Diskussion teilnehmen.
 

Um online per Zoom teilzunehmen, kontaktieren Sie bitte:reibolduuni-potsdampde

Programm

Day 1 (12.03.2022): Conference and panel discussion

Conference room: 3.06.S27         

Panel discussion room: 3.06.H02

Online: uni-potsdam.zoom.us/j/69574520724

Day 2 (13.03.2022): Conference and book workshop

Conference room: 3.06.S27         

Online: uni-potsdam.zoom.us/j/69574520724

Workshop Announcement: WOGAP Berlin

WOGAP Berlin (short for Workshop on Gender and Philosophy) aims to bring together a group of researchers, mainly based in the Berlin area, who are interested in feminist philosophy broadly conceived. WOGAP Berlin gets its name from, and is modelled after, a similar workshop based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We plan to meet once per month at Humboldt University Berlin (at the moment, we are planning to use a hybrid format). In the workshops we will discuss work in progress in feminist and social philosophy by speakers whose papers will be circulated beforehand; unless explicitly announced otherwise, the papers and discussion will be in English. We also plan to provide drinks and snacks and to create a space for feminist (and other) exchange and encounter after the discussion.
 

If you are interested in participating in the workshop and/or in receiving other announcements on feminist philosophy in Berlin, please send an email to ls.feminist.philuhu-berlinpde and we will put you on the mailing list.
 

Schedule for this term (winter 21/22):

26.11: 4.30-6pm:       Millicent Churcher (University of Sydney/FU Berlin): in person

17.12: 4.30-6pm:       Samia Hesni (Boston University): via zoom

28.01: 4.30-6pm:       Matilda Carter (King’s College London): via zoom or in person

25.02: 4.30-6pm:       Maren Behrensen (University of Twente): via zoom or in person
 

Organized by Mirjam Müller (HU Berlin), Hilkje Hänel (Univ. Potsdam) & Deborah Mühlebach (FU Berlin)

Workshop: Grounding climate change - land, environment, and the green future

The workshop discussed conceptualizations of and theories about land, nature, and the environment and how they inform and possibly transform our current approaches to climate change and the needed transitions to move towards a greener future. On the one hand, the workshop asked how our current understanding of land, nature, and environment is connected to climate change and climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. On the other hand, the workshop explored what alternative concepts of land, nature, and environment there are and how these would transform our understanding of and approach to the challenges of climate change. For example, relational approaches have recently gained more attention both in philosophy and environmental sciences and are transforming our understanding of humans’ place in nature as well as strategies of ecosystem management and concepts of the foundations of territoriality.
 

The workshop was held online on two half days (13./14.01.22 – 4-7PM (GMT+1)).

Programme:
 

13.01.2022

14.01.2022

Vorlesungsreihe "The 'Self' and the 'Other' in Political Theory"

In the summer term 2021, the Lehrstuhl  hosted five fabulous guest speakers on the overall theme of The 'Self' and the 'Other' in Political Theory.

The online lecture series invited students and academic researches alike to engage with multiple forms of anti-colonial, post-colonial, de-colonial, anti-racist, feminist and anti-capitalist critiques and intersectional engagements with the question of ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ in Political Theory. Our guest speakers brought together refreshing views stemming from Post-/De-Colonial Theory, Feminism and/or Marxism.

15 April – Bafta Sarbo (Berlin) - ‘Rasse’ als Konzept in der Politischen Theorie

29 April – Claudia Brunner (Klagenfurt) - Epistemische Gewalt: feministisch-dekoloniale Perspektiven

13 May – Gilbert Achcar (London) - Marxism and Orientalism

27 May – Vishwas Satgar (Johannesburg) - Imperialism, Non Euro-centric Marxism and the Eco-cide Question

10 June – Mike Cole (Lincoln) - Public Pedagogy and Political Theory: from Marx and Engels to anti-racist feminist ecosocialism

If you have any questions, please contact: Eleonora Roldán Mendívil – roldanmendiviluuni-potsdampde

Online Author meets Critics Workshop with Serene Khader on her recent book Decolonizing Universalism

The workshop took place Dec 3-4, 2020.

Preliminary Schedule:

Dec 3, 2020

17.00 Welcome/Hilkje Hänel (Potsdam)

18.00 Enja Schulz (Potsdam)

19.00 Kerstin Reibold (Potsdam)

Dec 4, 2020

17.00 Johanna Müller (München)

18.00 Fabian Schuppert (Potsdam)

19.00 Final Discussion

Each session includes a critical engagement with a topic from Decolonizing Universalism as well as a response by Serene Khader and time for discussion.

Due to Corvid-19, the workshop took place online. For more information, please contact: hilkje.charlotte.haeneluuni-potsdampde