Call for papers: Human Dignity and the Constitutional Crisis in Europe: Humanity, Democracy, Social Europe (Florencja, czerwiec 2016)

School of Law at the University of Portsmouth oraz European University Institute zapraszają do udziału w konferencji zatytułowanej Human Dignity and the Constitutional Crisis in Europe: Humanity, Democracy, Social Europe", która odbędzie się w dniach 15-16 czerwca 2017 r. we Florencji. Organizatorzy podzieli tematykę na trzy obszary:

• Protecting Humanity: Inclusion, Identity, and Difference (How have dignity and human rights norms been deployed to challenge measures that seek to exclude and contain difference? Is the constitutional commitment to respect human dignity related to measures (such as border protection policies) that have been taken to create a cordon sanitaire - designed to safeguard the European (and national) identity? If so, in what ways? In what ways has dignity been used in assimilationist policies and laws (such as the ban on the veil) that guarantee inclusion by requiring adjustment to dominant (European/national) cultural norms and values? What kind of constitutional order is required to effectively protect the rights of humanity and guarantee the 'right to have rights'? What is the interrelation between human dignity, citizenship, national identity and European civilization?
• Defining Democracy: Authoritarianism, Constitutional Reform, and Self-Determination (Is liberal democracy the only governance model compatible with dignity? Could states transition to an “illiberal” (or, perhaps, “less liberal”) regime, whilst remaining genuinely committed to respecting dignity? Does dignity impose a positive state obligation to maintain certain institutional and structural arrangements in which it can be effectively protected? Can / should dignity act as a legal constraint on the will of majorities when establishing a new constitutional regime? If so, what is the theoretical and normative justification for the role of dignity in limiting democratic decision-making powers? Must a certain core of dignity form part of the constitutional identity of a European state? Can states shape their constitutional identity in a way that impinges on that core? Is the imposition of measures that disregard or directly oppose the popular will of a nation state an affront to the dignity of its people? Is dignity inherently linked to participatory democracy? What is the relationship between human dignity and constitutional reforms that aim to restrict democratic freedoms in order to protect the dignity of the nation, groups, or communities (e.g. Article IX of the Fundamental Law of Hungary)?)
• Realising Social Europe: Austerity, Welfare, and Solidarity (How have dignity, and fundamental rights, been (or not been) used to challenge austerity measures that have deteriorated living and working conditions? Should the constitutional commitment to dignity at the national and supranational level demand a greater degree of solidarity with the most vulnerable within and across borders? Does the meaningful protection of dignity require a stronger constitutional foundation for social rights?  Can dignity inspire a new (and better) vision for a social Europe than has so far been advanced? Should the constitutional protection of dignity be kept out of the socioeconomic sphere, and limited to the role of constraining the power of the state? Are there obligations to future generations deriving from the constitutional protection of dignity that must be taken into consideration in the agreement of austerity packages?)

Propozycje referatów (maksymalnie 500 słów) można przesyłać do 28 lutego 2017 r. Więcej szczegółów jest dostępnych tu.