RVP Annual Seminars

The Meaning of Democracy

Foundations and Contemporary Challenges

August 20-September 2, 2019 Washington, D.C.

Thematic Description

Over the last few decades, a voluminous descriptive and behavioral literature has documented main characteristics and comparative indexes of optimal socio-economic and political aspects that sustain democracy in various countries. Understandings of human-social realities derived from these descriptions typically conclude with projections of trajectories toward or away from the development of democratic cultures and human values. The theme of the 2019 Annual Seminar proposes to systematically revisit the assumptions that drive expectations of modernity as well as its various critiques. It will focus on deep and persistent discussions of socio-political realities that include not only measurable phenomena but also the complex relationships between persons and institutions as well as the articulation of issues such as the meaning of history and the need for systemic and inter-personal transformation. These qualitative dimensions can be accessed through interrogation and investigation found in texts of deep and complex philosophical relevance. Social phenomenology focuses on patterns of personal behaviors in different socio-economic and political contexts while traditional beliefs carry forms of understanding about self and family, community and society, nature and the divine, which illuminate our being-in-the-world and the radical sociality of the human condition.

       Since at the least the French Revolution and the creation of the American Republic, democratic values have been playing a most significant role in the construction of the “modern nation” and the configuration of the modern culture. Thus, the focus of the 2019 Annual Seminar will be on the understanding of the socio-ontological interaction of person and society, personality and institutionalization, citizen and State, in order to derive both theoretical and pragmatic considerations about socio-political configurations capable of granting consistency to democratic forms of government. Moreover, at the center of this exploration will be the anthropological conditions of possibility for a sustainable democratic order.

       The 2019 Annual Seminar shall deal with such questions as: Why are democratic values still important and relevant today? How to identify an authentic democratic culture? What kind of role shall human values play in the construction of a democratic culture? What does it take to secure a democratic form of government? What are the epistemic presuppositions of a democratic form of governance? What kind of transformation does democracy require in terms of human self-understanding? What interaction is there between political and economic forces? What are the implications of the Rule of Law in a democratic system? What correlation can we find between the meaning of history and democratic self-affirmation?

       In order to deepen these and/or other related questions, the Seminar will dedicate a series of twelve Sessions to the careful reading and intense discussion of texts by authors such as Robert Dahl and David Runciman, Francis Fukuyama and Pierre Rosanvallon, Gertrude Himmelfarb and F. A. Hayek, Ralf Dahrendorf and Karl Popper, Michael Oakshott and Isaiah Berlin, Karl Polanyi and Jacques Maritain. Texts by Hannah Arendt and Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine and Alexis de Tocqueville might also become part of the Seminar. In the process of clarifying the meaning of democracy, we shall also look into processes which led to the drama of totalitarianism and events of the French Revolution and the Constitution of the American Republic.

Methodology

The 2019 Annual Seminar will proceed with the following characteristics:

1. About 15 scholars from different countries around the world will be selected to take part in the Seminar.

2. As an interdisciplinary and intercultural initiative, the Seminar shall draw not only upon contemporary capabilities of various realms of humanities and social sciences but also from the richness of cultural traditions represented by seminar participants in order to grasp the foundations and the challenges of democratic values today.

3. The duration of the Seminar will be 5 weeks (August 18 to September 20, 2019) and participants will be encouraged to practice mutual understanding and so achieve lasting forms of academic friendship and cooperation.

4. Seminar participants will present their well-developed papers in the last week of the Seminar. Papers should focus in a rigorous and innovative manner on the theme of the Seminar and to use references of either some of the authors mentioned above or others to be approved during the admission process. The final version of the paper must reflect in an adequate manner the readings and discussions to be held during the Seminar in order to be considered for publication.

Application for Participation

Applications for participation in the RVP 2019 International Seminar should be submitted no later than March 31, 2019 by email to cua-rvp@cua.edu. Participants will cover their own travel costs; the RVP/McLean Center will provide simple room and board during the duration of the Seminar.

       The seminar will be conducted in English. The venue of the Seminar will be held at RVP/McLean Center Seminar Room / Gibbons Hall B-12 / 620 Michigan Avenue, North East / Washington, D.C., 20064. Email: cua-rvp@cua.edu; Telephone: 202/319-6089.

       Notification of acceptance (or rejection) will take place by April 15, 2019. Upon confirmation of participation, a preliminary set of readings will be made available for remote preparation.

       Those who are interested in participating in the 2019 RVP International Seminar should email the following materials (Word and/or PDF format):

1. CV describing the applicant’s education, professional positions and activities;

2. List of applicant’s publications;

3. Statement of interest and motivation to participate in the Seminar; and

4. Abstract (300-500 words) of the research paper the applicant intends to present during the seminar and subsequently submit to RVP for publication (a basic bibliography must be included).