What should the relation between political theory and empirical political science research on democracy be like? Should we ‘compromise’ on ideals when we assess the quality of real-existing democracies? What role should democracy scholars play in public discussions, and what are their responsibilities? Michael Neblo, Assistant Professor at Ohio State University and a specialist in both empirical and theoretical political science, accepted to discuss these questions in our first podcast. This interview took place at the University of Zurich on June 24, 2015. It is a contribution to our 2015-2016 events series “Democracy: Bridging Facts and Norms.” Interview and jingle by Alice el-Wakil. Music “Sunday Lovers” by Monday Night Fever.
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Philippe Van Parijs on “Democracy: Bridging Facts and Norms”
What role do political philosophers have in democratic societies? Can normative theories harm? And how to avoid it? Philippe Van Parijs, Professor at the Hoover Chair of economic and social ethics, accepted to share his perspective on these and other questions on how to bridge facts and norms in democracy studies. This interview took place at the University of Zurich on February 19, 2016, after DemocracyNet.eu’s “Justice and Democracy: Assessing Political Legitimacy” workshop. It is a contribution to our 2015-2016 events series “Democracy: Bridging Facts and Norms.” Interview and jingle by Alice el-Wakil. Music “Sunday Lovers” by Monday Night Fever.
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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…