Please register: [email protected]
(Free and open to the public)
ResetDOC, an organization committed to connecting different viewpoints in scholarly research and convening experts, scholars and young professionals in sharing ideas across borders, cultures, religions, and languages, partners with the Italian Academy and the New York Review of Books to host a discussion. Participants: Giuliano Amato, Anthony Appiah, Karen Barkey, Seyla Benhabib, Sheri Berman, Giancarlo Bosetti, Jose Casanova, David Freedberg, Stanley Greenberg, Stephen Hanson, Joseph LaPalombara, Jonathan Laurence, Soli Özel, Ece Temelkuran, Michael Walzer.
In a democracy, every member of the polity is treated as free and equal because she/he shares the same rights in the formal decision-making process. The preferences, values, and interests of individuals are given equal weight. Since democratic regimes are marked by a plurality of perspectives and values, collective decision-making on behalf of the whole polity requires a fair process of mediation and deliberation.
To achieve a truly inclusive and open public sphere where no dominant perspective is imposed from above – and where values and proposals are freely discussed and challenged – participants must evaluate proposals on their merits.
This requires reasonable and reasoning citizens who are ready to exchange arguments, to respect their fellow citizens, and engage in deliberation in order to identify a consensus amidst competing values and perspectives. Extreme political polarization is undermining this process in contemporary democratic regimes, creating divisions that cannot be mediated and ideological counter-positions that transform fellow citizens in enemies who aim at defeating each other rather than cooperating for the common good.
What are the structural causes of extreme political polarization, and can it be reversed? How can we foster an atmosphere of deliberation? ResetDOC will address these questions with a one-day conference on political polarization in comparative perspective.
Provisional Program
Welcome speech and opening (2.00 pm)
David Freedberg
Giancarlo Bosetti
(2.15 pm – 4.45 pm)
Stanley Greenberg President Trump’s Tea Party revolution and end of America’s polarization
Ece Temelkuran From Democracy to the New Political Ice Age
Anthony Appiah Against Tribalism
Discussants
Steve Hanson, Soli Özel, Karen Barkey, Andrea Graziosi
Coffee Break (4.45 pm – 5.15 pm)
Roundtable (5.15 pm – 6.30 pm)
Michael Walzer, Sheri Berman, Seyla Benhabib, Giuliano Amato, Jose Casanova
Read about each speaker here.
Photo by Randy Colas
