Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Political Theory

We are delighted to announce that Prof. Bethania Assy will be joining the Political Theory research unit for a short-term stay as part of the international fellowship 2025.

On February 10, 2025 from 1pm – 3pm, Prof. Bethania Assy will give a lecture entitled ‘The Epistemic Protagonism of The Subject of Social Injustice: Apropos of a Grammar'. See the event page for more information.

She will also participate in the symposium “55 years of Hannah Arendt’s Civil Disobedience on February 7. For the full program and the registration form, please visit the event page.

Bethania Assy is a Philosophy of Law Associate Professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and at State University of Rio de Janeiro. She obtained her PhD in Philosophy at New School for Social Research-NY, USA. She is the co-coordinator of UNESCO Chair on Violence, Government and Governance at PUC-Rio, and a Honorary Fellow at Birkbeck Law School-London University (2012-2013). She held visiting research stays at: Bremen University (2001); Frankfurt University (2003); Oldenburg University-Hannah Arendt Archive (2001, 2006, 2007); Max Planck Institute of History of Science-Berlin (2005); Free University of Berlin (2009). She was also a Visiting professor at University of Nanterre, Paris X (2018, 2015, 2013). She has published, among other things, Ethics, Responsibility and Judgment in Hannah Arendt, (in English, Portuguese, and Italian); published with J. R. Cunha: Theory of Law and the subject of social injustice (Portuguese); edited Human Rights: Justice, Truth and Memory (Portuguese) and is currently working on the next book, co-authored with Rafael Rolo: The Subject of Injustice: political action, law and empowerment (English, Routledge Publishing). She has widely published on Hannah Arendt; contemporary political philosophy; political subjectivity and resistance, human rights; ethics; critical legal theory and decolonial perspectivism.

February 7, 2025 from 3pm to 7pm

Auditorium Grimm-Zentrum, Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 3, 10117 Berlin

Please join us for an afternoon of talks and discussion of Hannah Arendt’s landmark essay Civil Disobedience, marking the 55^th anniversary of its first publication in 1970. Combining political commentary and historical deconstruction, the text offers an argument for civil disobedience that is oriented toward the worldly, institutional conditions of political life. Initially addressing a specific moment in US history, Arendt’s argument has been discussed, extended, and criticized in other contexts, especially in those that witnessed rising popularity of authoritarian or right-wing politicians.  More than five decades later, we return to this seminal text, asking questions such as: how does this relate to its historical context and the approaches to civil disobedience by Arendt’s contemporaries, such as Martin Luther King? How does her account of civil disobedience relate to issues of state violence and justice? How relevant is her analysis in light of the new authoritarianism and its entanglements with neoliberalism?

For more information and registration, see the event page.

Unfortunately, the lecture by Esma Baycan-Herzog, which was scheduled for tomorrow 12-13 pm as part of the Politics Lecture Series, is cancelled.

For more information, see the event page.

Am 16.12.2024 findet in einer Kooperation zwischen dem LSI Berlin und dem Lehrbereich Theorie der Politik die Veranstaltung "Enduring Enmity. The Story of Otto Kirchheimer and Carl Schmitt" Book Launch mit Hubertus Buchstein von der Universität Greifswald statt. Alle weiteren Infos finden Sie hier.

This stimulating discussion will delve into Eduardo Viveiros de Castro’s groundbreaking ideas, which challenge the classical Western paradigm of a singular shared nature interpreted differently across cultures. Instead, his work introduces the concept of multiple natures and a singular culture expressed in diverse ways. These insights encourage us to rethink the relationships between humans and non-humans, providing a profound reexamination of paradigms of otherness and cosmology.

Date: 06.12.2024

Time: 10:00-12:00

Location: Room 003 (EG), Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Universitätsstr. 3b, 10117 Berlin

Was ist ziviler Ungehorsam - heute? was published open access in Leviathan Special Issue 42

Datum und Uhrzeit: 14.11.2024 um 18:30 Uhr

Ort: Humboldt Lab im Humboldt Forum, Schloßplatz 1, 10178 Berlin

Wie funktioniert Systemveränderung und Protest in einer Demokratie, in der Protest seit einer Weile vor allem von antidemokratischen Kräften vorgetragen wird? Wie viel Unruhe braucht

eine Demokratie, um sich zu ändern? Und wie kann Politik die widersprüchlichen Energien aufnehmen, die in der Gesellschaft zirkulieren, und sie konstruktiv nutzen?

Im Gespräch mit dem Journalisten Georg Diez beantwortet Christian Volk Fragen zu

politischer Widerständigkeit und zivilem Ungehorsam jenseits individueller und populistischer Befindlichkeiten.

Die Veranstaltung ist Teil der Reihe "Short Talks 2024: Nervöse Demokratie" des Exzellenzclusters Contestations of the Liberal Script (SCRIPTS) in Kooperation mit dem Humboldt Labor der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Weitere Informationen und einen Link zur Registrierung finden Sie hier.

For all students that want to write a term paper (Hausarbeit): A comprehensive guideline on how to write a paper in political theory has been published on our teaching resources page.

Der Book Launch von Umkämpfte Wissenschaften mit Frieder Vogelmann wird auf den 14.06. verschoben.

As part of the Politics Lecture Series, the Research and Teaching Unit of Political Theory welcomes you to the following lecture by Thomas Biebricher (Frankfurt):

The Crisis of Conservatism in Europe

Tuesday July 2^nd, 12-1PM

Room 422, Dorotheenstr. 26

Abstract:

Despite repeated claims to the contrary, mainstream conservatism in Europe finds itself in a deepening crisis. This crisis does not only manifest itself in electoral decline of center-right parties but also in their radicalization and/or willingness to enter into alliances with far-right forces.

The first part of the talk consists in an overview of this conservative crisis and its various manifestations as well as an assessment of the pivotal strategic dilemmas center-right parties are facing with regard to their far-right competitors/partners. It also addresses the significance of moderate conservative/christian-democratic actors for liberal democracies and makes the case that the crisis of conservatism has ramifications that point beyond the fate of conservatism itself.

In the second part of the talk, the impact of the results of the recent European elections on this constellation will be assessed. Not only is there a distinct possibility that the normalization of far-right positions and actors, which is controversially debated on the nation-state level might proceed apace at the European level, e.g. by Fratelli d’Italia caucusing with the European Peoples Party but also through increased cooperation between the various right-of-center party families. Such cooperation could also lead to more obstruction of certain policies in the European Parliament if not a more fundamental shift in the politics of the European Union more generally, which – so far – had been dominated by centrist coalitions of Social Democrats, Liberals and Conservatives. 

Wann: 14.06.2024, 14:00-16:00

Wo: HU Berlin, Centre Marc Bloch, Germaine-Tillion-Saal (7. OG), Friedrichstraße 191
Anmeldung: Shk.Theorie.Politik@hu-berlin.de

Über die Wissenschaften wird derzeit gestritten: über ihre Ergebnisse, ihre Methoden und ihre Praktiken. Das ist ihrer gesellschaftlichen Bedeutung angemessen, führt aber zu einem gefährlich verkürzten Verständnis, als gäbe es nur die eine Wissenschaft. Gegen die Leugnung »der Wissenschaft« errichten ihre Verteidiger*innen ihrerseits ein Ideal, das Wissenschaft gegen Kritik immunisiert, ihre Vielfalt verdeckt und Wissenschaftsleugner*innen in die Hände spielt, da ihm keine Forschungspraxis entspricht.
Gegen dieses schädliche Ideal plädiert Frieder Vogelmann für ein realistisches Verständnis wissenschaftlicher Praktiken.

Wann 14.05.2024 von 18:15 bis 19:45
Wo HU Berlin, Juristische Fakultät Raum E25 und Online, Anmeldung: law-and-society@hu-berlin.de

»In der Theorie vielleicht eine gute Idee, versagt nur leider in der Praxis!« Was früher vom Kommunismus gesagt wurde, gilt heute für die Demokratie – sie wirkt zunehmend unglaubwürdig. Veith Selk zeigt in seinem scharf analysierenden Buch, warum sowohl die demokratische Politik als auch die sie begleitenden Demokratietheorien an der Wirklichkeit scheitern. Zwei Thesen werden dabei verfolgt: Der Niedergang der Demokratie ist keiner Regression geschuldet, sondern das Ergebnis der gesellschaftlichen Fortentwicklung. Das damit eingeläutete Ende der Demokratie führt auch zum Verfall der Demokratietheorie, die als akademische Disziplin anachronistisch wird.

Die Veranstaltung ist eine Kooperationsveranstaltung mit dem Lehrstuhl Theorie der Politik von Prof. Christian Volk und ist Teil der Reihe LSI Berlin Book Launch.

The article Speaking the Right Language: Transnational Rule and Symbolic Power in Dialogue Forums by Christiane Cromm was published as an online first version of a Special Issue with Global Society on Civil Society, International Organisations and Practices of Global Order. The Special Issue is part of the DFG-funded research project "Participation and inequality ‘beyond the state’. An explorative study on the opportunities for participation of transnational civil society actors based on the example of institutions of global economic governance".

The Introduction A Partnership of Convenience? Transnational Civil Society, International Organisations and Practices of Global Order by Christian Volk and Christiane Cromm was published as an online first version of a Special Issue with Global Society on Civil Society, International Organisations and Practices of Global Order. The Special Issue is part of the DFG-funded research project "Participation and inequality ‘beyond the state’. An explorative study on the opportunities for participation of transnational civil society actors based on the example of institutions of global economic governance".

Christian Volk hat einen neuen Blogeintrag auf Theorieblog.de veröffentlicht. In dem Eintrag geht es darum, wie Martin Luther King Jr. mit seinem berühmten "Letter from Birmingham Jail" von 1963 dem zivilen Ungehorsam des Civil Rights Movements eine neue Bedeutung gegeben hat.

Den vollständigen Text können Sie hier lesen.

Christian Volk's Essay: "Another Republicanism: Dissent, Institutions, and Renewal." (2023) is part of the new book Another Universalism: Seyla Benhabib and the Future of Critical Theory, edited by Stefan Eich, Anna Jurkevics, Nishin Nathwani, and Nica Siegel, and published by Columbia University Press.

You can find the book here. 

„Die Demokratie ist der Ort, wo der Protest seinen besten Platz hat“, sagt der Politikwissenschaftler der Humboldt Uni Berlin, Christian Volk. Unruhe sei der Wesenskern der Demokratie, in der Streit über Freiheit und Gerechtigkeit zum Alltag gehöre.

Den Podcast finden Sie hier.

The collection Beauvoir and Politics: A Toolkit (Routledge, 2023) edited by Liesbeth Schoonheim (together with Karen Vintges) has now been published. The eleven essays in this collection start from key concepts in Beauvoir’s oeuvre and relate them to contemporary debates, asking how her notion of ambiguity speaks to lived experiences that have been highly politicized in recent years, such as pregnancy, old age, sexual violence, and the exposure of black and brown bodies to police violence; how myths inform our notions of collective, national identities, as well as notions of masculinity and femininity; and how she provides conceptual tools that help to theorize the various political strategies that are used to challenge gendered and racialized systems of oppression. In the introductionary chapter, Liesbeth Schoonheim situates Beauvoir in current debates in political theory, such as those concerned with political violence and non-violence, the role of myth and affect in political mobilization, and the status of lived experience. For the full table of content as well as critic's reviews, see here.