• Call for Papers: Graduate workshop “Contextualizing Democracy: Culture, Capitalism, Inequalities”

    University of Zurich, June 9-10, 2016 Democratic ideals and norms need to be substantially defined, interpreted, and adapted to actual contexts. Compromises between different actors, and between ideals and practices thus become necessary. This highlights the importance of context for democratic politics: Democracy is always bound to specific cultures, forms of economic organization, and power structures. This observation raises diverse and interrelated questions: Are there contexts in which democratic ideals cannot be realized? Does the realization of democracy require specific shared cultural values? To what extent do democratic norms of self-governance conflict with other norms and ways of life in real-existing democracies? Is a certain level of wealth required for…

  • Call for Papers: Graduate workshop “Justice and Democracy: Assessing Political Legitimacy”

    University of Zurich, February 18-19, 2016 The workshop “Justice and Democracy: Assessing Political Legitimacy” is the first academic workshop of the event series “Democracy: Bridging Facts and Norms”. It will focus on the tension between democracy and justice, which culminates in the question of democratic legitimacy. This central topic of investigation in empirical and philosophical political studies on democracy highlight questions such as the following: Is a government legitimate if citizens are fairly satisfied with their democracy despite very few possibilities to participate, to candidate in elections, or to exercise individual fundamental rights, as is the case in Russia? How democratic is a country with a constitutional law adopted through…

  • New event series: “Democracy: Bridging Facts and Norms”

    We are happy to announce that a new event series on “Democracy: Bridging Facts and Norms” supported by the UZH Graduate Campus will soon by launched for the academic year 2015-2016 by members of DemocracyNet.eu. This series aims at offering young researchers studying democracy a space for interdisciplinary academic discussion while at the same time making academic debates accessible to a wider audience by organising public presentations and discussions focused on current academic and political issues. Schedule Nov. 2015 Feb. 2016 May 2016 Sept. 2016 Events Public event: Podium discussion “Grenzen der Demokratie?” Workshop and public event: “Justice and Democracy: Assessing Political Legitimacy” Workshop and public event: “Contextualizing Democracy: Culture,…