University of California, Riverside and IPSA’s Research Committee on Political Philosophy Conference, Riverside, California, November 14-16, 2019

Keynote Speaker: Kevin Olson, University of California, Irvine

IPSA’s Research Committee on Political Philosophy and the University of California, Riverside, are pleased to announced a conference on “Socialism after Populism.”  Populism is at the forefront of political controversy across Europe, North America, and Latin America.   At the same time, socialism has come again to have a surprising resonance in political debate – surprising, at least, in the United States, often claimed to be exceptional in its resilience to socialism’s appeal.  What we think we know about the movements and tendencies involved in these contemporary phenomena might seem to suggest to some observers that socialism and populism have little or nothing to do with each other.  In the US, the younger voters who are most sympathetic to socialism are also the most supportive of immigration, the focus of many populists’ ire.  And surely the racial and ethnic politics of much populism undermines the solidarity required for socialist policies.  And yet voices on the left insist that populism is actually essential to building a socialist program.  And equally insistent voices on the right use Latin American populists such as Venezuela’s Maduro as exemplars of the dangers of…socialism.  A central question for this conference will then be: In the midst of a nearly worldwide ascendance of populism, what is the path for those who remain committed to the goals of democratic socialism -- the widening and strengthening of social and economic relations characterized by solidarity, greater equality, and freedom?  Other questions would include the following:  Which is the more central issue for a progressive politics -- recognition of identity, or the redistribution of power and resources?  Is populism really a “political logic” or a mode of persuasion that is the necessary condition of building a progressive coalition? Is there a socialist theory or program that can successfully address the legacies of colonialism and racial hierarchy upon which much populism apparently feeds? Are Brexit and Trump signs of the past failure of the left to promote solidarity, freedom and equality?  Or are they indications that future relevance requires the left to adopt more populist ideals, strategies and policies – albeit ones proponents see as “inclusive?” The conference would invite approaches to these and related questions that are rooted in long-standing debates, in critical social analysis, normative concern and conceptual innovation.

If you are interested in presenting a paper at this conference, please send a 300 word-long abstract to the following e-mail address: rc31conference@ucr.edu by August 1, 2019.

Disobey!

Understanding the Politics and Ethics of Disobedience

IPSA / SciencesPo Joint Conference, September 27-29, 2015

CEVIPOF, 98, rue de l’Université, Paris (New Venue)

Panel 1: Sorting Out Disobedience: Concepts and Types (1)

Moderator: Maurits De Jongh (SciencesPo, Paris)

Why Prometheus could not have disobeyed, Andrew Knox (UCL)

Fighting back: rejection of punishment in civil disobedience, Jeanne Provencher (Keble College, Oxford)

Panel 2: Constitutional Disobedience

Moderator: Tom Theuns (SciencesPo, Paris)

Constitutionalizing civil disobedience? The case for universal legal exemptions on the grounds of conscience, Andrea Baumeister, University of Stirling

Disobedience as constitutional driver: why disobedience is constitutional (and constitutionally necessary) in well-ordered societies,  Anirudh Mathur (LSE)

Panel 3: Sorting Out Disobedience: Concepts and Types (2)

Moderator: David Copello (Sciences Po, Paris)

Civil disobedience and the varieties of resistance, Robert Jubb (University of Leicester)

Désobéir: une posture éthique. Une typologie des « éveilleurs de conscience », Virginie Beaudin-Houle, Dany Rondeau (Université du Québec à Rimouski)

Théoriser l’extra-légalité. Désobéissance, anti-obéissance, alter-obéissance, Manuel Cervera-Marzal (Université Paris Diderot 7)

Keynote: Disobedience: The Rarest and Most Courageous of the Virtues?

Kimberley Brownlee (University of Warwick)

Panel 4: Institutional Disobedience

Moderator: John Medearis (University of California, Riverside)

The state’s obligation not to enforce the law, Will Thomas (University of Michigan)

Disobedience as a practice of re-politicization: The case of jury nullification, Marianne Fougère, (SciencesPo, Paris)

Panel 5: Uncivil Disobedience

Moderator: Andrei Poama (SciencesPo, Paris)

The ethics of hacktivisim, Candice Delmas (Northeastern University)

De Tiqqun à « l’affaire Tarnac »: Eh bien la guerre! Aliénor Ballangé (SciencesPo, Paris)

Panel 6: Disobedience: Justification and Critique

Moderator: Astrid von Busekist (SciencesPo, Paris)

Disobedience as the second best, Ten Herng-Lai (Australian National University)

 “Voluntary insubordination” as law-making, Nofar Sheffi (SciencesPo)

Republican disobedience, Guy Aitchinson (EUI, Florence)

Keynote: La désobéissance comme droit et comme devoir

 Frédéric Gros (Sciences Po, Paris)

The modern era is notable for its emphasis on justice as the idée-clef of political philosophy. RC31 has concentrated on issues of Justice over the past three years. It carries that concern into 2013 with the theme of ‘Justice: Violence & Forgiveness’

Violence is not just the product of an emotion, such as hate or enmity. It is also a strategy – for removing opposition and securing conformity. Investigation takes two paths, the first analytical, the second ethical. As regards analysis, we may conceptualize violence as physical or psychological or structural. A question arises: If power is not necessarily expressed through violence, is violence necessarily an expression of power?

Violence tends to be seen as justifiable where defensive, rather than aggressive. But aggressive violence, too, has often been viewed as just. Moses’s violence against idol-worshippers was portrayed as just. So, too, violence against ‘the Great Satan’ or ‘the Axis of Evil’. Is it right e.g. that a terrorist may be tortured to prevent some further outrage? Is ‘extremism in the defense of liberty’ morally sound? All the same, the default position on violence – maiming, raping, torturing – persists: it is broadly taken to be wrong and unjust as such.

How is it possible – if at all - to reject violence as unjust? Is violence unjust in se? Is it legitimated as and when necessary to the imposition of justice? Does justice sanction the deployment of violence (as e.g. in just war theory or humanitarian interventions)? Is violence (as when we call it ‘force’) a part of justice? Is justice somehow violated by violence, as in cases of rape, torture, killing, etc? Are justice and violence mutually consistent, or mutually contradictory?

As to Forgiveness, this concept seems to contain the element of mercy, which tends not to be seen as an element of justice, but a means of moderating its severity. If, however, justice is ‘just’, does it need moderating? Does mercy stand outside justice? Is it at least as essential to justice as violence (‘force’?) appears to be? What is the role of retributive justice? Assume Forgiveness strategies to involve victims and perpetrators brought together without penalty, to share their experiences (in catharsis), and to build reconciliation on a sounder basis. Do such strategies take proper account of the impact of criminal violence on victims? Are they genuine expressions of justice? Are they exercises in prudential morality – the best that can be achieved in hard times? May the invitation to mercy itself violate the victim?

The Research Committee on Political Philosophy (RC31) of The International Political Science Association (IPSA) seeks contributions that relate justice to the logic and ethics of violence and forgiveness. The first conference on this subject is being held in Boston over 20-22 May, 2013. Please note that the dates have changed since the original announcement.

The conference is sponsored by Boston University, by CRISPP (Critical Review of International Social & Political Philosophy), and by The Journal of Political Philosophy.

Proposals are now invited for the Boston conference. All papers should attend to the relation of justice to violence or forgiveness or both. Please send a preliminary abstract of no more than one page, and no later than 15 March 2013 to Prof. Preston King pking@morehouse.edu, Chair of RC31, to John Medearis, Secretary, RC31, john.medearis@ucr.edu, and to the local organizer, Prof. Walter Fluker, wfluker@bu.edu.

The modern era is notable for its emphasis on justice as the idée-clef of political philosophy. Justice has always been the primary virtue of social institutions. Over the last forty years, under the prompting of John Rawls, it has become more pervasive than ever.

Does the moral pluralism of modern societies of itself impose a thin, formal conception of the good society? Does modern pluralism directly preclude some more substantive normative basis for politics? Can political philosophy do no more than identify fair terms of cooperation that accommodate each individual’s pursuit of his or her specific conception of the good life? Is such a formal conception of the good society adequate? Can it motivate moral behavior? Is it too elusive to guide actual decisions?

This broad, modern debate touches on the central problem of articulating justice so as to (a) embrace the fact of modern plurality, without (b) falling into an abstract idealism far removed from the concrete, practical contexts in which justice must apply. The Research Committee on Political Philosophy (RC31) of The International Political Science Association (IPSA) seeks to contend with this difficulty by relating justice to the main ideas underpinning modern society: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity - in the language of 1789.

IPSA RC31 is sponsoring a cycle of three conferences: The First (2010) was held in Jena, Germany on the relation of justice to liberty. The Second (2011) was held in Sydney, Australia on the relation of justice to equality.

The Third (2012) conference coincides with the Madrid IPSA Congress. Fraternity is broadly concerned with friendship (philia, amicitia), solidarity, and community. Is there political friendship? Is the personal political? Is all politics local? Is citizen friendship necessary to liberal democratic politics? Do care and regard in localities support just states and fair global transactions? Does fraternity, promising solidarity, deliver exclusion and subordination? Does friendship undermine justice? Are friendship treaties oxymoronic? How has friendship declined in modernity? Can, and ought, this decline to be reversed?

Proposals are now invited for the MADRID conference. Papers may explore the full range of issues involved: normative, empirical, analytical, and historical. Please send a preliminary abstract of no more than one page, no later than 1 November 2011, to Preston King pking@morehouse.edu (Chair, RC31) and to John Medearis (Secretary, RC31) john.medearis@ucr.edu

Articulations of Justice, Part. 2: Justice and Equality IPSA RC31 (Research Committee on Political Philosophy) Second Conference July 13-17, 2011, Sydney, Australia

Preliminary information for participants

TOPICS: travel, accommodation, registration, conference dinner, other meals, and excursion.

INTERNATIONAL AIR TRAVEL: Participants attending the IPSA RC31 conference in Sydney in July 2011 are advised to seek the cheapest options through relevant websites, such as Expedia, Webjet, etc. Two of the main airlines flying in/out of Sydney are QANTAS and VIRGIN, and they standardly offer among the very cheapest flights. Other options include partners in the ONEWORLD Alliance (eg Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, British Airways etc.) or the STAR Alliance (eg Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, United etc.).

ARRIVING AT SYDNEY AIRPORT All non-Australian or New Zealand citizens or non-residents will require a visa or an electronic travel authority. For visa information go to: http://www.immi.gov.au/. If you hold a passport from any of the following countries you should be eligible for an electronic travel authority (ETA): Brunei, Canada, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, United States of America. For applications go to: http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/index.html.

For information from private companies that assist with visa applications see http://www.nationalvisas.com.au/aboutus/aboutus.htm OR http://www.globalvisas.com/countries/australia_visas.html?gclid=CNibybDpwqYCFZFspAodlGcQig

Once you have cleared immigration and customs and collected your luggage there are two options for travel to Macquarie. If you are booked into Dunmore Lang College, I recommend the train, even though you will have to change at Central Station (where there are lifts at the end of each platform for passengers with luggage). When you change at Central (from the Airport line to the North Shore line –make sure you get the train that goes to Hornsby via Macquarie Park. Note, however, that you will not get off at Macquarie Park but at Macquarie University. The cost is around $17.00 one way to the Macquarie University station which is only a one-minute walk to the College. A taxi will be about $85.00 and the queues for taxis at the airport are sometimes very long. The Sydney Cityrail map is at: http://www.cityrail.info/stations/network_map.

You will find the Macquarie University campus Map at: http://www.ofm.mq.edu.au/maps_campus.htm

Or if you google ‘Dunmore Lang College a map will come up with location details.

ACCOMMODATION: I have reserved rooms at Dunmore Lang College for conference participants. The options are: 1. Single study bedrooms with en suite at AUD$105 nightly, with breakfast 2. Single study bedrooms with shared facilities at approx. AUD$85 nightly, with breakfast. 3. Double rooms are available on request (but do this early to make sure you don’t miss out).

Participants who wish to stay at Dunmore Lang College should book directly with the college. It is a fairly modern building with good facilities. The email address is fwebb@dlc.nsw.edu.au. A form is attached but you may also find it on the website at: http://www.dunmorelangcollege.nsw.edu.au/page/Conferences__Accommodation/Short_Term_Accommodation/

When booking accommodation you will also need to fill in and return a Terms and Condition form (in addition to the booking form.

Delegates should state on the booking form that they are attending the “POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE.

If you wish to take advantage of the college accommodation, which is generally less expensive and certainly more convenient than other hotels or motels, please book early as rooms are not unlimited.

There are also three hotels on or near the campus: 1. The MGSM Executive Hotel on Talavera Road which can be booked through either: http://www.mgsm.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/internet/root/about/hotel/exechotel-conference/exechotel-conference OR http://www.wotif.com/hotels/mgsm-executive-hotel.html

2. The Travelodge Macquarie Hotel, also on Talavera Road: http://www.travelodge.com.au/Travelodge-macquarie-north-ryde-hotel/home?gclid=CP3VjqDxwqYCFU6DpAodiBzmHQ

3. The Stamford Grand North Ryde on Epping Road, which is a block away from the campus but probably as close to Dunmore Land College as the above options. Their website is: http://maps.google.com.au/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=stamford+macquarie+park&fb=1&gl=au&hq=stamford&hnear=Macquarie+Park+New+South+Wales&cid=8594585263072975291

Room rates for these hotels have not been included as they vary according to when and how they are booked, but as mentioned above they are generally more expensive than the College and less convenient for the conference. Participants are free to choose their own hotels in the city if they prefer. If so, you are advised to book something reasonably close to a train station that is on the same line as the campus (Wynyard, Town Hall, Central, etc) to make commuting easier. If you wish to stay somewhere like Kings Cross or Circular Quay, this will involve changing trains at Town Hall or Wynyard stations.

REGISTRATION: Registration is on Thursday 14 July from 8.30am-9.30 am at Dunmore Lang College. The conference fee of $30.00 is payable on arrival. It is a very modest contribution towards the cost of some meals and refreshments throughout the conference, including morning and afternoon teas and lunches from Thursday to Saturday. The reception and conference dinner will be free of charge to registered participants, but you will be asked at least a month in advance of the conference whether you intend to join the dinner party so that we may confirm numbers for this event.

RECEPTION: This will be held on the evening of Wednesday 13 July, 5-7pm. Refreshments (light buffet and drinks) will be served.

CONFERENCE SESSIONS All sessions will be held at Dunmore Lang College.

DRAFT PROGRAM A list of participants and paper titles will be circulated towards the end of February and a draft program will be drawn up by the end of March. If you find you have to withdraw from the program, it is obviously better that you let us know sooner rather than later.

A keynote address will be delivered by Professor Robert E. Goodin of the ANU on the morning of Thursday 14 July.

CONFERENCE DINNER Time: Saturday 16 July at a seaside, harbour or other attractive location (currently being negotiated). Transport: will be provided for those staying on or near campus and will depart from Dunmore Lang College.

OTHER EVENING MEALS AND SHOPPING FACILITIES On Thursday and Friday nights participants may make their own arrangements. If you don’t want to venture too far, some of the restaurants and cafes will be open in the Macquarie Centre, opposite Macquarie University, which is a very large shopping complex and which has everything from banks to medical practices, supermarkets, pharmacies, clothing stores, etc. For those looking for souvenirs or general Australiana, there is also an Australian Geographic store located there.

The Sambal is very good Malaysian restaurant located near the Macquarie Park station on Lane Cove Road – a few minutes by train or a 20 minute walk each way. See: http://www.eatability.com.au/au/sydney/sambal-the-malaysian-food-experience/ Another option is to take a train into the city where there are hundreds of places to eat.

EXCURSION Time: Sunday 17 July, a city based tour starting no earlier than 10am. This will be mainly for the benefit for those visiting Sydney for the first time, but all are welcome. As with the dinner, we will need to know firm numbers at least a month in advance.

Short Term Accommodation Form

Articulations of Justice Pt. 1: Justice and Liberty

IPSA RC31 (Research Committee on Political Philosophy)
Interim Conference
June 26-27, 2010, Jena, Germany

Saturday, 26 June 2010:
10.00-10.20 Welcome Address by the Conference Hosts

Klaus Dicke, Rector of the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena

Hartmut Rosa, Director of the Research Center ‘Laboratory of the Enlightenment’ and Member of the Jena Center for interdisciplinary Social Research (JenZiG)

Preston King, IPSA RC31 Chair

10.20-11.40 Justice and Liberty in the History of Ideas I
Chair: Preston King

Mikhail Ilyin, MGIMO & INION, Honorary President of the Russian Political Science, Association (RAPN), Moscow, Russia

Who to Judge? Alternative Justifications of Freedom (svoboda), Liberty (volia) and Free Will (svobodnaia volia) in the Russian Political Tradition

Michael Dreyer, University of Jena, Germany Liberty and Justice: Revolution, Constitution, Jurisdiction and the Early United States

11.40-11.50 Coffee

11.50-13.10 Justice and Liberty in the History of Ideas II

Chair: Mikhail Ilyin
David Strecker, University of Jena, Germany

Freedom’s Other? The Notion of Freedom in the Justification of Slavery and in Abolitionism

Hartmut Rosa, University of Jena, Germany Justice, Freedom and Social Acceleration: Enlightenment’s Promise and the Dynamics of Modernity

13.10-14.30 Lunch

14.30-16.30 Justice and Liberty in the History of Ideas III

Chair: John Medearis
Lino Klevesath, University of Göttingen, Germany The Relationship between Liberty and Justice in the Intellectual Debates of 17th Century Revolutionary England

Lisa Herzog, New College, Oxford, UK Liberty and Justice in Adam Smith and Hegel

Attila K. Molnar, Eötvös University of Budapest, Hungary The Limits of Knowledge, Violence and Good Order

16.30-16.40 Coffee
16.40-18.00 Justice and Liberty in Contemporary Political Philosophy I Chair: David Strecker Gavin Kerr, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland Rawls, Fundamental Interests, and the Priority of Liberty

Manuel Knoll, University of Munich, Germany Michael Walzer on the Relation of Justice to Liberty

after 18.00 Dinner
Sunday, 27 June 2010:
09.00-10.20 Justice and Liberty in Contemporary Political Philosophy II

Chair: John Medearis
Preston King, Morehouse College, Atlanta, USA
Revisiting Justice as Liberty

Felix Koch, Columbia University, New York, USA
Reflective Freedom and the Concept of Justice

10.20-10.30 Coffee
10.30-12.30 Challenges in Theorizing Justice and Liberty I: The State, the Family and Alienation
Chair: Mikhail Ilyin

Fabian Wendt, University of Hamburg, Germany The Right to Liberty and the Just State

Sandra Seubert, University of Frankfurt/M., Germany Justice and the Value of the Family

John Medearis, University of California, Riverside, USA Justice, Freedom and Alienation

12.30-13.40 Lunch

13.40-15.00 Challenges in Theorizing Justice and Liberty II: Pluralism and Diversity

Chair: David Strecker

Franziska Martinsen, University of Hannover, Germany, and Oliver Flügel-Martinsen, University of Hannover, Germany

Two Faces of a Politics of Difference. Reflections on the Relationship between Justice and Liberty in Pluralistic Societies

Benjamin Herscovitch, University of Sydney Freedom & Justice Reconciled: A Meta-Normative Account of Political Justice

15.00-15.10 Coffee

15.10-16.30 Challenges in Theorizing Justice and Liberty III: Freedom of Movement and Minority Representation

Chair: TBA

Oliviero Angeli, University of Dresden, Germany

Freedom of Movement and Global Justice

Hima Bindu M., University of Hyderabad, India Social Justice and the Problem of Equal Distribution

16.30-16.40 Coffee

16.40-18.00 Justice and Liberty in Sociological Research
Chair: Preston King

Alexandra Krause, University of Jena, Germany Liberty and Justice: Current Issues in Empirical Research
Holger Zapf, University of Göttingen, Germany
Liberty and Justice in Theories of Social Evolution: Can Individual Liberties Stabilize a Macro-System and Supersede a Strong Concept of Justice?

after 18.00 Dinner