Demokratie: Present and Future



Friday, 15. October 2010 | 10:35 Uhr

Speaker

Francis Cheneval

Organisation

Université libre de Bruxelles

Reporting

In his presentation, Professor Francis Cheneval of the Université libre de Bruxelles demonstrated that given the situation of plurality and interdependence of peoples, democracy should be understood as demoicracy. It is about finding the added value of a governing concept with a plurality of peoples, rather than one of just one, indivisible people. The idea of joint government of peoples potentially holds a lot future as it aims at accommodating and integrating the countervailing and disruptive processes of globalization and fragmentation. All politics are “glocal”. There is increasing need for joint government of peoples, but there is also strong commitment of citizens to particular peoples and small political communities. His presentation ended with some reflections on the conditions of realization of demoicracy in the political settings of the EU and beyond.

Francis Cheneval

He was born in Berlin in 1962. He went to primary school in Fairfax (Virginia, USA) and Moosseedorf (Berne). He afterwards graduated from secondary school at the Gymnasium Bern-Kirchenfeld in 1981 (Matura type A). Studies in Philosophy at the University of Freiburg (Switzerland) and Political Science at the Georgetown University (Washington D.C., USA). Fellow and teaching assistant for Political Theory at the Georgetown University (Washington D.C., USA). In 1995, “Promotion” in Philosophy at the University of Freiburg (Switzerland).

From 1994 until 2002, researcher in SNSF research projects about the history of philosophy in the Middle Ages and the Age of Enlightenment at the Universities of Freiburg (Switzerland) and Zurich.

2001, “Habilitation” in Philosophy at the University of Zurich. Visiting lecturer in Paris (École Pratique des Hautes Études), Bogotá (Universidad de los Andes), Brussels (Université Libre de Bruxelles). Substitute professorships at the Universities of Freiburg (Switzerland), Zurich and Basel.

Since August 2002, SNSF professorship at the University of Zurich. He directs the research project on philosophical basic principles of an EU constitution.

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