Second Annual Radical Democracy Conference
Call for Papers

New York City. Co-hosted by Columbia University and the New School for Social Research
April 5-6, 2012, New York, NY

Keynote Address: Andrew Schaap, Politics, University of Exeter

Paper Abstracts and Panel Proposal Submission Deadline: January 20
Notification Date: February 10
Full Papers Deadline: March 19

The Department of Politics at The New School for Social Research, in collaboration with the Institute of Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University, is sponsoring a two-day graduate student conference interrogating the concept, history, practices and implications of radical democracy. We strive to assess its legacy from antiquity to contemporary radical democratic theory, as well as explore the work of contemporary theorists such as Abensour, Arendt, Castoriadis, Mouffe, Negri, Rancière, and Wolin. We invite you to submit abstracts on any theme pertaining to the history, meaning, development and application, or critique of the concept of “radical democracy;” we also encourage discussions about methodology and the study of radical democratic movements.

We look for paper submissions that touch upon any of the themes listed below. In addition, we strongly encourage complete panel proposals with up to four papers; as well as papers exploring other relevant and related topics.

-Indigenous Democratic Movements

-Promises, limits and critiques of the concept of radical democracy

-Philosophical foundations of radical democracy

-Technology and the mediums of (radical) democracy

-Consensus building/agonistic democracy

-Engendering radical democracy: race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality

-Philosophy of community

-Contemporary radical social struggles

-Comparative approaches to democracy

-Radical democracy and anarchism/Communism

-Radical Democracy and neo-republicanism

-Exploring the relationship between radical democracy and key concepts in political theory such as: participatory/direct democracy; agency and autonomy; state and nation; capitalism; imperialism; anarchy and authority, dictatorship and tyranny; sacrifice and violence; revolution and reform

Interested participants should submit a one-page abstract (maximum 300 words) that includes institutional affiliation, academic level, and contact information by Monday, January 20.

You will receive a notification of our decision by Friday, February 10. Full conference papers will be due by Monday, March 19.

Please submit your abstract at radicaldemocracy @ newschool.edu.