PHM-Exch> Liberalism: Causing or Resolving the Crises of Global Governance? Young Researchers’ Conference call for papers

[Claudio Schuftan]

from   kayvan.bozorgmehr at googlemail.com

Liberalism: Causing or Resolving the Crises of Global Governance?
Young Researchers’ Conference
Goethe University of Frankfurt
February, 3rd-6th, 2011
Call for Papers

We live in a world marked by constant global crises: Global climate
change threatens our future living
conditions and those of our children; in 2008 financial markets
crashed and brought the world economy
to the brink of collapse; since 11 September 2001, the “War on Terror”
has been declared, but
there is no common consensus on how and when this war will be won – or
if it can be won at all.
Partly due to these challenges many citizens do not trust the
impartiality or problem-solving competence
of policy makers anymore. Indeed, even global institutions that have
been set up to handle these
problems are either unable or very slow to meet these and other
challenges. Moreover, while global
institutions lack democratic legitimacy, the scope of national
democratic decision making is limited by
the advancing globalization.

These developments lead to opposition and contestation by both
(trans-)societal and state actors.
Coinciding with all these developments, liberalism is seen as the
dominant ideology in world politics.
However, the understandings of liberalism differ widely. On the one
hand, liberalism can be associated
with an economic ideology, a view which is predominantly held in
Europe. On the other hand
liberalism is thought of as a political principle throughout other
parts of the world (most visibly in the
US). Both definitions, though, are based on the belief in the
universality of individual selfdetermination,
equality and liberty, which is regarded as rational and universal.
Even the political definition
in itself is ambivalent: Both the active promotion of democracy and
human rights and the radical
tolerance of other organizational forms of society and rule can
logically follow from liberalism.
Consequently, the conference addresses the question of whether and
what kind of connection between
liberalism(s) and the persisting crises can be found. Are liberal
ideas the cause of these crises? Or is it
only a certain type of liberalism that can be held accountable? Maybe
the world isn’t liberal enough?
Is liberalism’s universal claim the problem? Or is it that the most
powerful states adopted only those
parts of liberal ideas which were suited to their (short-term) advantages?
It is not our goal to come up with definite answers to these questions
but rather to demonstrate how
complex and diverse the topic is and to stimulate further debate among
scholars, politicians, the media
and citizens.

We therefore invite you to submit papers engaging the questions
outlined above. The papers should be
suited to one of the following conference section topics:

Challenges and problems in a globalized world
We invite papers that shed light on any pressing global challenge and
its reasons. Papers might
both confirm or reject the above mentioned assumption that global
crises are a result of liberalism’s
dominance in world politics. Moreover, papers addressing the issue of
burden-sharing of
global crises are welcomed.

How democratic is global governance in international institutions?
We invite papers addressing gaps between claims of democratic
legitimacy and actual policy making
in global governance. Possible topics could be the informalization of
global governance, the
rising power of executives in the wake of globalization, civil society
in global governance or the
output dimension of legitimacy.

Opposition, protest and violence against global governance
Papers are most welcomed which engage with any form of opposition,
resistance or contestation
against global governance. This might include resistance by state
actors or civil society. Papers
may address both violent and non-violent opposition.

The claim of universal validity: Liberalism between the promotion of
human rights and cultural
imperialism
Papers for this section should deal with the promotion of liberal
values in foreign countries or foreign
policy that claims to promote such values. Possible topics could be
e.g. free trade or promotion
of human rights. Moreover, papers that address the power relation
between different actors in
world politics and, thus, shed light on the influence of liberal
agency are most welcomed. Both
empirical and normative papers are invited.

Is liberalism the solution to the crises?
Papers are invited to address the question of whether liberal ideas
can be the solution to global crises.
Both papers arguing for a continuation of liberal policy based on the
assumption that global
crises are not a result of liberalism at all or a reformulation of
liberalism and papers fundamentally
challenging liberalism or its universal claim are invited. Papers
drawing on non-western approaches
or post-colonial theory are especially welcomed.

The conference will consist of panels and key-note speeches. The
following key-note speakers have
already accepted our invitation: Prof. Nicole Deitelhoff, Prof. Nikita
Dhawan, Prof. Jens Steffek, and
Prof. Hubert Zimmermann. Moreover, we have invited Prof. Lothar Brock
and Prof. Rainer Forst to
the conference. The patron of the conference is Prof. Harald Müller.

The organizers of the conference invite all young researchers
(including students!) to submit papers.
Please send your abstracts of max. 500 words in German or English in
.doc or .pdf format by Novermber,
19th 2010 to conference-global-governance at normativeorders.net
Presumably, traveling expenses and accommodation for panelists will be refunded.

For a more detailed program and the concept of the conference see:
www.gesellschaftswissenschaften.uni-frankfurt.de/en/conference-global-governance
For further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at:
conference-globalgovernance@
normativeorders.net.