Probing Democracy

INVITATION

The CEU Democracy Institute cordially invites you to the conference

PROBING DEMOCRACY

DATE: October 7-8, 2021 LOCATION: Budapest, Nador u. 15. / online DETAILS: https://events.ceu.edu/2021-10-07/probing-democracy

The CEU Democracy Institute’s (DI) “Probing Democracy” conference is a two-day hybrid, online and offline event to be held on the premises of the DI in Budapest on October 7 and 8, 2021. The event showcases the richness of the scholarly work conducted at DI on the crises and resilience of democratic societies: From lawyers to historians and political scientists, from environmental resource management to gender dynamics, from social inequalities to the Rule of Law, DI is a research center which prides itself on studying democracy in a multidisciplinary format.

In line with this intellectual stance, the conference features roundtable discussions instead of classical panels. These roundtables allow prominent experts to engage in fresh dialogue with colleagues hailing from different disciplinary backgrounds to reflect collectively on shared scientific and policy relevant research themes.

The four themes of these interdisciplinary roundtables are : (1) Knowledge Production and (Re-) Democratization, (2) Illiberalism and the (Ab)Use of the Public Sphere, (3) Access to Water and Energy: Accommodating Social Justice, Security and Sustainability, and (4) The Robustness of the Rule of Law: Past and Present Perspectives.

Furthermore, three book launch events present recently published works by DI scholars to foster a dialogue between the author(s), expert discussant(s) and the attending public invited for a Q&A session. The first book event presents DI Co-Director Eva Fodor’s The Gender Regime of Anti-Liberal Hungary and Andrea Krizsan’s co-authored work Politicizing Gender and Democracy in the Context of the Istanbul Convention, the second focuses on Zsolt Enyedi’s co-authored work Party System Closure: Party Alliances, Government Alternatives, and Democracy in Europe, while the last one is devoted to Andras Sajo’s already widely-discussed recent work Ruling by Cheating.

The Keynote Lecture is delivered by Professor Branko Milanovic, whose seminal research on the distributive dimensions of democracy offers a conceptual anchor to the entire event.

Attendance is open to the public, but registration is required. Please register here. In case you cannot attend in person but would like to follow the event, it will also be streamed live on the CEU Democracy Institute’s Facebook page.

Please note that proof of vaccination is required to enter CEU premises, and wearing a mask is obligatory in all common areas. Read more about CEU’s Covid-protocol here.

PROGRAM

DAY 1- Thursday, October 7, 2021

9.30-10:00 Opening remarks

Laszlo Bruszt and Eva Fodor, Co-Directors, CEU Democracy Institute (DI)

Welcome remarks

Shalini Randeria, President & Rector, Central European University (CEU)

10.00-11.30 Roundtable 1: How can knowledge production contribute to (re-)democratization

Participants: Jennifer McCoy, Georgia State University; John Cook, George Mason University; Alberto Alemanno, Haute Ecole Commerciale, Paris; Julia Sonnevend, New School, NY; Anna Clark, University of Technology, Sydney

Moderator: Laszlo Bruszt

11.30-12.00 Coffee break

12.00-13.00 Book launch: Gender and Illiberalism

Participants: Eva Fodor – The Gender Regime of Anti-Liberal Hungary; Andrea Krizsan and Conny Roggeband – Politicizing Gender and Democracy in Context of the Istanbul Convention

13.00-14.00 Lunch break

14.00-15.30 Roundtable 2: Illiberalization and the (Ab)use of the public sphere

Participants: Balazs Vedres, CEU; Carsten Schneider, CEU/DI; Kate Coyer, CMDS/DI; Sian Brooke, London School of Economics

Moderator: Zselyke Csaky, CMDS/DI, Freedom House

15.30-16.00 Coffee break

16.00-17.30 Roundtable 3: Access to water and energy – accommodating social justice, security, and sustainability

Participants: Christian Brethaut, University of Geneva; Cristina Corduneanu-Huci, CEU/DI; Erik Swyngedouw, University of Manchester; Guntra Aistara, CEU

Moderator: Eva Fodor

17.30 Keynote

Branko Milanovic, The City University of New York

DAY 2 - Friday, October 8, 2021

9.30-10.30 Book launch: Fernando Casal Bertoa & Zsolt Enyedi: Party System Closure: Party Alliances, Government Alternatives, and Democracy in Europe

Participants: Fernando Casal Bertoa, University of Nottingham; Petra Guasti, Charles University, Prague; Juan Rodriguez Teruel, Universidad de Valencia (TBC); Cees van der Eijk, University of Nottingham (TBC).

Moderator: Erin K. Jenne, CEU/DI

10.30-11.00 Coffee break

11.00-12.30 Roundtable 4: Robustness of the Rule of Law: Past and Present

Participants: Stephen Holmes, New York University (TBC); Petra Bard, ELTE/CEU/DI; Marta Bucholc, University of Bonn; Marc Lazar, Science Po, Paris

Moderator: TBC

12.30-13.30 Lunch

13.30-14.30 Book launch: Andras Sajo: Ruling by Cheating – Governance in Illiberal Democracy

Participants: Günter Frankenberg, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt; Michał Matlak, editor-in-chief, Review of Democracy; Andras Sajó CEU/DI; Julie Smith, Baroness Smith of Newnham, Cambridge University; Maciej Taborowski, Warsaw University/Deputy Ombudsman of Poland

Moderator: Jan Wouters, KU Leuven

15.00 Closing remarks

Laszlo Bruszt and Eva Fodor