Reconnet Conference

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Conference on "Constitutionalism and Democracy: Tensions and Transformations"

RECONNET (Research in Constitutional Theory Network) is a network of scholars interested in constitutional theory, philosophy of law, political philosophy and sociology of law. This conference, supported by the Maastricht Centre for Law and Jurisprudence, the Faculty of Law of Maastricht and SWOL, is the follow-up event to the RECONNET kick-off seminar that took place in Valladolid, Spain, on 25-26 April 2024. It is organised in the premises of the Faculty of Law of Maastricht.

The conference seeks to conceptualise how developments such as Europeanisation, globalisation, digitalisation, and various crises and emergencies affect constitutionalism and democracy and potentially transform their mutual relationship. A key objective of the seminar is to identify the complex variety of actors involved in this transformation, including key drivers as well as losers and winners.

This will be a two-day event, with Carmen Pavel (Associate Professor in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the Department of Political Economy at King's College, London) as keynote speaker. The keynote speech will be followed by a number of sessions in which members of the network will present their own work-in-progress. Junior researchers, in particular PhD and Master students, are especially welcome.

Click here to go to the webpage of the RECONNET Network.

Programme

18 June 2025

09.00 hrsRegistration and coffee
09.30 hrsWelcome and introduction
10.00 hrsCarmen Pavel (Keynote): Postnational Constitutionalism: A Case for Codification
11.00 hrsCoffee break
11.15 hrs


 
Session I
Laura Buffoni: The Constitution of democracy: Against nature
Cormac Mac Amhlaigh: Political Constitutionalism and Political Realism
Donald Bello Hutt: A Perfectionist Rule of Law? Reflections from Machiavelli
13.30 hrsLunch break
14.15 hrs


 
Session II
Ruth Houghton: Constituent Power as Utopian Impulse
Massimo Fichera: Communal constitutionalism and the notion of legitimate authority
Francesco Rizzi Brignoli: Beyond the Non-Identity Problem: Constitutional Identity and the Challenge of Future Generations
16.45 hrsCoffee break
17.00 hrsSession III
Victoria Kristan and Wojciech Sadurski: Post-Populism in Poland: A Legal Cage
Roland Pierik: On the importance of judicial review within the European Convention system
Julian Scholtes: The Venice Commission and the mental map of European Constitutionalism

19 June 2025

09.00 hrsWelcome and coffee
09.30 hrs


 
Session IV
Patricia Garcia Majado: Artificial intelligence: a normative power?
Marta Maroni: Digital Constitutionalism: A Methodology
Francesco Bilancia: Digital Content Moderation as Freedom of Speech Protection
12.30 hrsLunch break
14.00 hrsSession V
Sebastian Reyes Molina: The Wisdom of the Crowd: AI and the epistemic dilemma for deliberative democracy
Maarten Stremler: The Structure of Fundamental Rights: A Norm-Based Analysis
Sebastian Lewis: On Joseph Raz's Revision of the Rule of Law
16.15 hrsEnd of the conference 

 

 

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