Program

9 February 2022 (18h –19h30)

Marcelo Neves: On the Possibility of Democracy: The Case for Transdemocracy

Prof. Neves’ talk will be based on his book project Transdemocracy. This project is geared towards a new understanding of democracy, considering that so-called ‘democratic’ modern decisions negatively affect other peoples and thus become undemocratic. In this sense, the concept of ‘people sovereignty’ has to be redefined. To put it differently. It is no longer sufficient to identify democracy with ‘we the people’. Democracy must incorporate ‘the others’, and so add the phrase ‘the others, the peoples’ as an expression of its self-understanding. From an almost exclusive stress on people’s identity, democracy has to switch to an emphasis on peoples’ alterity.

The talk will be divided in four parts according to the four chapter of the planned book Transdemocracy. The first part deals with the antidemocratic character of polity [πολιτεία/politeía] in ancient Greek, considering its exclusionary character. The second part is related to the misunderstanding of the concept of democracy in modern liberal revolutions, considering the emphasis on the isolationist concept of people’s sovereignty. The third part concerns the negative impact of democratic countries on their political and social environment through colonialism, neocolonialism, and imperialism. The fourth part deals with the reflux of ‘garbage’ from the subaltern peripheries to dominating centers, which requires reinvention of democracy.

Emilios Christodoulidis: Refuse, 'redundant populations' of superfluous workers; Marx’s Lumpenproletariat today (Response to Marcelo Neves)

19h30 Cocktail

10 February 2022

MORNING SESSION (9H30 –13h00)

09h30 – 10h30

Philippe Poirier, The future of Parliamentary Democracy.

10h30 – 11h30

Emilios Christodoulidis, Constituent Power and the Constitutional Distinction.

Coffee Break

11h45 – 12h45

Johan van der Walt, Neoliberalism and/or Liberal Democracy: Reflections on the Constituent Power of Marcelo Neves’ Transdemocracy.

AFTERNOON SESSION (14h00 – 18h45)

14h00 – 15h00

Alessio Belli, The forgotten heritage. Social citizenship in search of a new conceptual imaginary / L'héritage oublié. La citoyenneté sociale à la recherche d'un nouvel imaginaire conceptuel.

15h00 – 16h00

Ricardo Spindola Diniz, Spirit in the dark: origins of public reason.

Coffee Break

16h15 – 17h15

Patrick Lenz, The role of courts in climate change matters: from judicial restraint to court activism.

17h15 – 18h15

Jean Marc Ceci, Fiction littéraire et droit démocratique : une relation d’empreinte.

18h15 – 18h30

Marcelo Neves, Concluding Reflections.

Hybrid event

If you want to attend the event in presence, please note that a CoVid Check (2G) is necessary. We would need a digital/paper proof that you

• have been vaccinated against COVID-19, or
• have recovered from COVID-19.