Renewing the Social Contract: The Challenge of Inclusivity and Democratic Government in Social Contract Theory

The Center for Critical Democracy Studies at the American University of Paris is pleased to announce an international conference on: “Renewing the Social Contract: The Challenge of Inclusivity and Democratic Government in Social Contract Theory” scheduled for December 18-19, 2024.

The conference will explore how the idea of a social contract should be adapted or reconsidered to address its relationship to democracy, and in particular to democratic government. How should social contracts be amended in contemporary transformations of popular government, administrative power, and regulatory frameworks? What is the role of law and legal institutions in these transformations? Are there alternative models that may keep social contracts open to contestation while establishing a legitimate foundation for governance? How are social contracts renewed or made resilient?

We invite researchers in political theory, philosophy, law, history, sociology, economy, and other related fields to submit abstracts on the theme of the conference conceived broadly.

Proposals in English or French must be submitted by September 15, 2024 and include an abstract (400 words) and a short CV (250 words). See attached poster. Full call for papers: aup.edu/social-contract.

Organization: Stephen Sawyer, Roman Zinigrad, Nathanaël Colin-Jaeger