Venice 2025: Democracy’s Discontent
Island of San Servolo, Venice

Day 1 – Conference

Thursday – 29 May

@ Venice International University, Room 1G

 

9:30 AM – 10:00 Opening remarks

Giancarlo Bosetti (Executive Chair, Reset DOC)

Jonathan Laurence (Boston College & Reset Dialogues US)

Umberto Vattani (President, Venice International University, TBC)

 

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Session 1 – Keynote | Democracy’s Discontent: 30 Years Later 

Michael Sandel (Harvard University) online

 

11:00 – 11:15 AM Coffee Break

 

11:15 AM – 12:30 PM Session 1 – The Roots of Resentment: Mass/Elite Polarization

Claus Leggewie (Institute of Social Sciences of Essen, University of Giessen)

Camila Vergara (University of Essex)

Chair: Pasquale Ferrara (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation)

 

12:30 – 1:30 PM Lunch

 

1:30 AM – 3:00 PM Session 2 – Post-Liberal Perspectives: A True Alternative? 

Mauro Magatti (Catholic University of Milan)

John Milbank (University of Nottingham) – The Economic and the Political: Rethinking their Relationship

Adrian Pabst (University of Kent) – Post-liberal Democracy as Social Corporatism: Re-Embedding the Polity and the Economy in Society

Chair: Chandra Mallampalli (Boston College)

 

3:00 PM – 3:15 AM Coffee Break

 

3:15 PM – 5:15 PM Session 3 – The Rage of the Losers and the Loss of Public Deliberation

Carlo Invernizzi Accetti (City College of New York) – Twenty-Five Years of Rage. From the Anti-Globalization Movement to Trumpism

Michael Lind (Editor at Commonplace, Senior Fellow at New America) online

Charles Sabel (Columbia University)

Anina Schwarzenbach (University of Bern)

Chair: José Casanova (Emeritus, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University)

 

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Day 2 – Conference

Friday – 30 May

@ Venice International University, Room 1G

 

9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Session 4 – The Degeneration of Democracy

Craig Calhoun (University of Arizona)

Julian Casanova  (University of Zaragoza) – The Destruction of Democracy: Lessons From History for Today’s World

Stephen Macedo (Princeton University) – Noble Lies: How Elite Institutions Failed Under Covid

Chair: Jonathan Laurence (Boston College & Reset Dialogues US)

 

10:30 – 10:45 AM Coffee Break

 

10:45 AM – 12:15 PM Session 5 – Testing Democracy’s Limits

Marina Calloni (University of Milan Bicocca)

Jeffry Frieden (Columbia University & Emeritus, Harvard University)

Jean-Claude Kaufmann (National Scientific Research Center, France) – New Inequalities Tied to Social Contexts of Cognitive Functioning

Chair: David Rasmussen (Emeritus, Boston College)

 

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM Lunch

 

2:45 PM – 4:30 PM Session 6 – Democracy For and Against the Good. Institutions: An Uncertain Future

Karen Barkey (Bard College) – Religious Leaders’ Democratic Discourse and Action in Navigating Diversity in Marseille

Vatsal Naresh (Harvard University) onlineMajoritarianism and the Paradox of Democracy

Saskia Schäfer (Free University of Berlin) – Living Together Beyond Liberal Democracy: Examples of Local Decision-Making and Managing Resource Extractivism in Indonesia

Chair: Elias Opongo, SJ (Hekima University College)

 

2:45 PM – 3:00 PM Coffee Break

 

3:00 PM – 4:25 PM Session 7 – Economic Inequality & the Scourge of Majoritarian Populism

Mustafa Akyol (Senior Fellow, Cato Institute) online

Fidan Ana Kurtulus (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Ananya Vajpeyi (Fellow, Center for the Study of Developing Societies)

Chair: Daniele Archibugi (National Research Council – Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies)

 

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Day 3 – Conference and Seminars

Saturday – 31 May

@ Venice International University, Room 1G

 

9:30 AM – 11:00 AM Student Presentations

 

11:00 – 11:15 AM Coffee Break

 

11:15 AM – 1:15 PM Roundtable: Democracy vs. the Global Challenge of Authoritarian Powers

Giuliano Amato (Former President of the Italian Constitutional Court)

Karen Barkey (Bard College)

Alessandro Ferrara (Emeritus, University of Rome – Tor Vergata)

Adrian Pabst (University of Kent)

Charles Sabel (Columbia University)

Camila Vergara (University of Essex)

Chair: Giancarlo Bosetti (Reset DOC)

 

To attend the Conference in person, please register here.

To participate in the Conference online, please register here.

 

Organizing Partners 

 

Reset Dialogues on Civilizations

The Clough Center for Constitutional Democracy at Boston College

This research program and related results were made possible by the support of the NOMIS Foundation.

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