Call for Papers
Fourth Annual Radical Democracy Conference
The New School for Social Research, New York City
March 14 and 15, 2014
Paper and Paper Abstracts Deadline: February 1, 2013 (extended)
Notification Date: December 15, 2013
Full Papers Deadline: February 15, 2014
The Department of Politics at The New School for Social Research is sponsoring the Fourth Annual Radical Democracy Conference – a graduate student conference interrogating the concept, history, practices and implications of radical democracy. We strive to assess its legacy from ancient to contemporary radical democratic theory, as well as explore the work of theorists such as Abensour, Arendt, Badiou, Castoriadis, Laclau, Mouffe, Negri, Rancière, and Wolin. We invite you to submit abstracts on any theme pertaining to the history, meaning, development, application, or critique of the concept of radical democracy; we also encourage discussions about methodology and the study of radical democratic movements.
For individual paper proposals, please submit a short abstract (max. 400 words) that includes institutional affiliation, academic level and contact information. Complete panel proposals with up to four papers are strongly encouraged. Please submit your paper or panel abstracts by December 1, 2013 to radicaldemocracy@
Topics may include but are not limited to:
- Indigenous democratic movements
- Contemporary radical social struggles
- Radical democracy and elections
- Promises, limits and critiques of the concept of radical democracy
- Philosophical foundations of radical democracy
- Engendering radical democracy: race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality
- Technology and the mediums of radical democracy
- Comparative approaches to democracy
- Relationship of radical democracy and key concepts in political theory: anarchism and communism; neo-republicanism; direct democracy; state and nation; consensus and conflict; capitalism; imperialism; liberalism; dictatorship and tyranny; resistance and violence; revolution and reform.