Key Concepts in Political Theory

In this section, supported by the ECPR Political Theory Specialist Group, we will discuss recent work on key political concepts, including – but not limited to - freedom, equality, solidarity, power, legitimacy, authority, rights, citizenship, civil society. Although these concepts are the object of every basic curriculum in political theory, their definition is constantly at the core of scholarly controversy, often in relation to political changes, events and conflicts in the domain of political action. These disputes contribute to the very process of concept definition and re-definition that orient our understandings of political reality, but often have also a normative aspiration in the sense of changing the role that certain words play in political discourse and practices. We welcome proposals from all traditions and subfields in political theory. Panels and papers may focus on: • Historical reconstructions and genealogical accounts of particular concepts and conceptions. • Conceptual analysis. • Concept interpretations within particular traditions in political theory. • Debates across different perspectives and traditions of thought on the conceptualisation of some central concepts and ideas. • Emerging conceptions that challenge the definitions received by the tradition. • Normative work that applies concepts from one specific area of political theorizing to another, relevantly connected area (e.g. theories of just punishment and just war; theories of justice and democratic theory, etc.) Following the suggestions of the members of the ECPR Political Theory Specialist Group, at this stage we propose to convene panels on the topics listed below. Section chair: Maria Paola Ferretti (maria.ferretti@normativeorders.net) is Interim Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy at the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, where she works on a project on the ethics of risk. Her research interests include contemporary liberalism, the ethics of public policy, democratic participation and corruption. She has published in journals such as Politics, Philosophy and Economics, the Journal of Applied Philosophy, Review of Policy Research, Social Philosophy and Policy. She is the author of ‘The Public Perspective. Public Justification and the Ethics of Beliefs ‘(Rowman and Littlefield) and - with E. Ceva- of ‘Political Corruption. The Internal Enemy of Public Institutions’ (Oxford University Press). She is currently chair of the ECPR Political Theory Standing Group. Section co-chair: Andrei Poama (a.poama@fgga.leidenuniv.nl) is Assistant Professor in Political Philosophy and Public Policy Ethics at Leiden University, The Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs. Andrei works on criminal justice ethics, the ethics of public policy, democratic theory (with a focus on electoral ethics), and experimental political and moral philosophy. He has published in journals such as The Journal of Political Philosophy, Social Theory and Practice, American Political Science Review, the European Journal of Political Theory, Criminal Law and Philosophy, The Swiss Political Science Review, and Raisons Politiques. Together with Annabelle Lever, he is the editor of the Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy and is a convenor of the ECPR Political Theory Standing Group.