Reconnet Conference
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 hrs | Registration and coffee |
09.30 hrs | Welcome and introduction |
10.00 hrs | Carmen Pavel (Keynote): Postnational Constitutionalism: A Case for Codification |
11.00 hrs | Coffee 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 hrs | Lunch 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 hrs | Coffee break |
17.00 hrs | Session 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 hrs | Welcome 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 hrs | Lunch break |
14.00 hrs | Session 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 hrs | End of the conference |
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