IACL Roundtable Rome, Italy: “Current Challenges to Constitutional Democracy”
/IACL Roundtable Rome, Italy: “Current Challenges to Constitutional Democracy”
03 - 04 October 2024
Jointly organized by
- The International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL)
- Department of Legal and Economic Studies, Sapienza University of Rome
Sapienza University, Faculty of Law
Address: Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Roma RM, Italy
Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Giurisprudenza
Indirizzo: Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Roma RM, Italia
Conference subject-matter
Throughout history, constitutional democracies have faced significant challenges. In recent years, however, the threats to constitutional democracies have escalated to potentially jeopardizing their very nature, despite regular election processes giving the impression of a stable democracy. It is crucial to reexamine the relationship between democracy and the rule of law, the foundation of constitutional democracy. The concept of democratic backsliding leading to ‘hybrid regimes’, going under the different labels of ‘illiberal democracy’, ‘electoral autocracy’, or ‘populist regimes’ needs to be analyzed and discussed in terms of democratic transformation and deviation from constitutional democracy. Given these premises, this Roundtable will pay attention both to the empirical question of how democratic backsliding has developed in different countries, and to the theoretical features of the concept as distinguished from (but also connected with) the various versions of hybrid regimes.
Day 1 (03 October 2024)
● Opening Speeches (09.30 - 10.00)
● Keynote Speeches (10.00 - 11.00)
● Panel 1: Populism in the 21st Century (11.00 - 12.30)
● Panel 2: Elections in democracies in crisis (13.30 - 15.00)
● Panel 3 for Junior Scholars: Democracy in the age of AI (15.30 - 17.45)
Day 2 (04 October 2024)
● Panel 4: Rule of law in the age of democratic decline (10.00 - 11.45)
● Closing remarks (11.45 - 12.15)
PROGRAM
3 OCTOBER
● 09.30 - 10.00 Opening Speeches
○ Helle Krunke (Professor, President of the IACL)
○ Cesare Pinelli (Professor, Sapienza University of Rome)
● 10.00 - 11.00 Keynote Speeches:
○ Michel Rosenfeld (Professor, Cardozo School of Law) “The Question of Justice in Challenges to Constitutional Democracy”
○ Wojciech Sadurski (Professor, University of Sydney) “Rebuilding Constitutional Democracy after Authoritarian Populism”
● 11.00 - 12.30 Panel 1: Populism in the 21st Century
○ Chair: Anna Jonsson Cornel (Professor, Uppsala University)
○ Marek Zubik (Professor, University of Warsaw)
○ Yves Mény (Professor, Luiss School of Government) “Populism: short-term discontent or structural component of democracy?”
○ Susanna Mancini (Professor, University of Bologna) "Populism and gender"
○ Merris Amos (Professor, Queen Mary University of London) “Populism and Human Rights Law Reform in the United Kingdom’
○ Pablo Riberi (Professor, National University of Cordoba)“Institutional decay and antipolitical qualunquismo in Latin America's faltering democracies”
● 12.30-13.30 Lunch Break
● 13.30-15.00 Panel 2: Elections in democracies in crisis
○ Chair: Eva Brems (Professor, University of Ghent)
○ Jasmin Dawood (Professor of Law, University of Toronto) "Reconceptualizing Elections in the Age of Democratic Decline and Disinformation"
○ Jan Zielonka (Professor, University of Venice, Cá Foscari) “Do elections sustain or pervert liberal democracy? Please let me know if you have any query”
○ Valentina Rita Scotti (Associate Professor, School of the European Public Law Organization) “Unhasting but unresting: the decline of Turkish electoral democracy”
○ Eleonora Bottini (Professor, University of Caen) “Judicial Oversight of Elections: Assessing the Role of Courts in Preventing Democratic Backsliding”
● 15.00-15.30 Coffee break
● 15.30-17.45 Panel 3 for Junior Scholars: Democracy in the age of AI
○ Chairs: Oreste Pollicino (Professor, Bocconi University)
○ Maria Kotsoni (Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Princeton) “Adapting fundamental rights to the digital era: the right to education in constitutional and European contexts”
○ Tainá Garcia Maia (postdoctoral researcher, the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität) “Democracy’s New Frontier: Brazil's Roadmap to Navigating AI Challenges in Governance and Elections”
○ Boldizsár Szentgáli-Tóth (contractor expert, The European Fundamental Rights Agency) “Artificial intelligence as an instrument of more effective parliamentary work”
○ Miki Kadota, (Assistant Professor, Kyoto University) “Smart Video Surveillance of Assemblies”
○ Marek Piotr Kaczmarczyk (PhD student, University of Warsaw) “The right to a fair trial in a digital constitutionalism”
○ Robert Rybski (PhD, University of Warsaw) “Central bank digital currencies amp; Artificial intelligence:What are the boundaries of digitizing money in liberal democracies?”
4 OCTOBER
● 10.00-11.45 Panel 4: Rule of law in the age of democratic decline
○ Chair: Susanna Mancini (Professor, University of Bologna)
○ Gonçalo de Almeida Ribiero (Professor, Catolica Lisbon School of Law) “Judicial independence in the EU”
○ George Katrougalos (Professor, Demotricus University; UN ID on a Democratic International Order) “Majority Rule and the Rule of Law. Illiberal democracy and Undemocratic Liberalism”
○ Geoff Dancy, (Professor, University of Toronto) and Rachel E Lopez (Professor, Drexel University) “Punishment In Transition”
○ Devinder Singh (Professor, Panjab University) and Shruti Dahiya (Research Scholar, Panjab University) “The Impact of Colonial Legacy on Rule of Law Established In The Constitution of India”
11.45-12.15 Closing remarks
For those unable to attend the IACL Roundtable in Rome but interested in joining online, you can access the Zoom link here.