8-9 June, 2026, 10:00 – 17:30 | University of Milan-Bicocca, Civitas Building U7, Aula Pagani

This conference critically engages with Seyla Benhabib’s book “At the Margins of the Modern State. Critical Theory and Law” (Polity Press, 2025) interrogating tensions between universalism and exclusion in contemporary political and legal orders.

Can democracy be normatively and institutionally reconstructed in an age of polycrisis, fractured sovereignty, and the transformation of the public sphere? Under what conditions is democracy still possible today? These are central questions that will be at the core of the debate.

This conference represents the final event of concludes the PRIN 2022 research project D.E.W.E.Y. (Democracy, Sustainability and Wellbeing in Times of Emergency) funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research.

This event is organized by the University of Milan-Bicocca in collaboration with ResetDOC, with the support of Società Italiana di Teoria Critica. The conference is also part of the activities carried out within the PRAGSIA Research center.

To follow the lecture online, click here.

The event is free and open to the public. 

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Monday – June, 8

10:30-11:00: Introductory remarks

• Ivana Fellini (University of Milan-Bicocca)
• Marina Calloni (University of Milan-Bicocca)

11:00-11:45: Keynote Lecture — Universalism and International Law in a Time of Rupture

• Seyla Benhabib (Yale University/Columbia University)

11:45-12:30: Discussion

12:30-14:30: Lunch

Panel 1 – Critical Perspectives on Seyla Benhabib’s Political Thought

• Giorgio Fazio (Sapienza University of Rome)
• Valentina Gentile (LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome)
• Stefano Petrucciani (Sapienza University of Rome)
• Giorgia Serughetti (University of Milan-Bicocca)
• Angela Taraborrelli (University of Cagliari)

Chair: Marina Calloni (University of Milan-Bicocca)

16:00-16:15 Coffee Break

16:15-16:45: Seyla Benhabib’s response

16:45-17:30: General Discussion

17:30: Concluding Remarks

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Tuesday- June, 9

10:00-11:30: Round Table —The Claims of Others Today: Democracy in a Global Age

• Alessandro Ferrara (University of Rome Tor Vergata)
• Chiara Galbersanini (University of Milan)
• Damiano Palano (Catholic University, Milan)
• Debora Spini (Syracuse University of Florence)
• Alessandro Volpe (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University)

Chair: Giancarlo Bosetti (Reset DOC)

11:30-11:45: Coffee break

11:45-12:15: Seyla Benhabib’s response

12:15-13:00: General Discussion

13:00-14:30: Lunch Break

14:30-15:30: Panel 2 —Democracy Under Strain: Gender, Intergenerational Justice, and Cosmopolitan

• Fulvia Giachetti (University of Milan-Bicocca)
• André Murgia (University of Cagliari)
• Fiammetta Sacconi (LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome)

Chair: Angela Taraborrelli (University of Cagliari)

15:30-16:30: General Discussion

16:30: Closing of the conference

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To follow the lecture online, click here.

The event is free and open to the public.