LOVANIUM SEMINAR ETHICS& PUBLIC POLICY
Toon VANDEVELDE (K.U.Leuven) & Philippe VAN PARIJS (UCLouvain)
JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY
Toon VANDEVELDE (KuLeuven) & Philippe VAN PARIJS (UCLouvain)
with the collaboration of post-doctoral scholars Bart ENGELEN (FWO, KuLeuven, Nenad STOJANOVIC (Hoover Fellow, UCLouvain) and Simon BIRNBAUM (Hoover Fellow, UCLouvain)
Time and place
The seminar will take place on Thursdays (10.30am to 5pm) mostly in the first semester (programme below),
The seminar will take place alternatively in Leuven (HIW, 2 Kard. Mercierplein) and in Louvain-la-Neuve (Collège Dupriez, 3 Place Montesquieu). Funding will be available to cover commuting costs.
Some of the Leuven sessions will integrate workshops coupled with a lecture series organized in Brussels by the KuLeuven’s Centre for Social and Political Philosophy.
Evaluation
The evaluation will be based on these oral presentations and participation in the class, and on a written essay of 15-20 pages on a relevant topic. A brief outline of the proposed essay (1 page) needs to be submitted by the end of November.
Website
The seminar will have a web site from which the updated programme and some of the readings will be downloadable. It will be accessible on the Toledo web site for Kuleuven students, as well as on http://www.uclouvain.be/en-25585.html.
Theme
This year’s special theme will be the relationship between justice and democracy.
Is democracy a value in itself and, if so, is it part of justice or distinct from it, and if the latter, which of the two values should yield if they turn out to conflict?
On the other hand, if democracy is simply an instrument to be used for the sake of pursuing justice, how should it be designed? Should it be representative or direct, for example? If it is representative, should it use proportional representation or is a majority system more adequate? How universal should the suffrage be? Is there a good case for making the vote obligatory, for making sure it is secret, for preventing it from being sold?
Provisional programme for the first semester
Thursday October 2 (LLN, Dupriez):
10.30-12.30: General introduction (TV & PVP)
13.30-17: Theories of justice (PVP)
Thursday October 23 (Leuven, HIW):
10.30-12.30: Workshop with Costas Douzinas (Birkbeck), The normative sources of empire
13.30-17: Democracy: aggregative vs deliberative conceptions, intrinsic vs instrumental justifications (Bart Engelen, KuLeuven + TV/PVP)
Thursday October 30 (LLN, Dupriez):
10.30-12.30: Democracy and development (TV)
13.30-17: Electoral systems (Does justice require proportional representation?) (PVP)
Thursday November 6 (Leuven, HIW):
10.30-12.30: "Deliberative democracy versus transparency" (John Pitseys , UCLouvain Chaire Hoover)
13.30-17: Universal suffrage (Does justice require the children’s vote?) (PVP)
Thursday November 20 (Leuven, HIW):
10.30-12.30: Workshop with Rainer Forst (Frankfurt)
2-6: Ethical Forum at the University Foundation (Brussels) “University Rankings: from curse to blessing?”
Thursday December 4 (Leuven, HIW):
10.30-12.30: Workshop with Rainer Bauböck (EUI, Florence), Democratic citizenship, global justice and freedom of movement
13.30-17: Democratic design for divided societies (Nenad Stojanovic, UCLouvain Chaire Hoover & UniZürich + comment by Laurent de Briey and TV/PVP)
Thursday December 18 (LLN, Dupriez):
10.30-12.30: Legitimizing global egalitarianism: Justice vs. democracy? (Simon Birnbaum, UCLouvain Chaire Hoover & University of Stockholm)
13.30-17: Concluding session
There will be one or two more full-day sessions with student presentations in the second semestre (programme to be announced later).
Some suggestions for student papers
• Must the vote be compulsory ?
• Must the vote be public ?
• Must one be allowed to sell one's vote?
• Transparency, publicity and democracy
• The rise of the unelected
• Does the EU suffer from a "democratic deficit" ?
