Description:

Presented by the Center for Global Culture and Communication, Department of Communication Studies, Department of Philosophy, and Doctoral Program in Rhetoric, Media, and Publics with co-sponsorship from Kaplan Humanities Institute as part of Kaplan's 2023-2024 SOVEREIGNTIES Dialogue.

This conference will explore the contested history and ideology of democracy from the perspective of the doctrine of popular sovereignty—the proposition that people are the ultimate source of political authority and legitimacy in any polity. How and when and in what legible form did the doctrine of popular sovereignty originate and emerge? How did it evolve and become fully embedded in the democratic project? How is this doctrine, especially its two rhetorically powerful formulations— “we, the people” and “in the name of people”—invoked and deployed by two competing versions of the democratic project, the liberal and the populist? How does this doctrine function, both conceptually and rhetorically, in the perennial struggle between two opposing and problematic tendencies within the democratic project, namely, the cosmopolitan/liberal inclusionary tendency and the nationalist/populist exclusionary tendency?

Lunch and light refreshments will be served on both days.

Convened by Dilip Gaonkar (Rhetoric, Media, and Publics) and José Medina (Philosophy).

Participants:

Ewa Atanassow (Political Thought, Bard College, Berlin)
Prathama Banerjee (History and Political Thought, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, CSDS, New Delhi, India)
Craig Calhoun (Sociology and Social Science, Arizona State University)
Nusrat S. Chowdhury (Anthropology and Sociology, Amherst College)
Kevin Olson (Political Science University of California Irvine)
Stephen Sawyer (History and Politics, American University of Paris)

For full conference schedule, visit the Sovereignties Dialogue events page.