International Workshop. //Passions and Democracy

In collaboration with UCLA – University of California, Los Angeles

Rage, terror, revenge, hope, faith, and solidarity. Passions are making a conspicuous comeback in describing and interpreting events and phenomena in political life. “War on terror”, anger and hatred in the social conflicts of the French banlieues, clashes involving ethnic and religious communities which no longer tolerate each other, trends towards humiliation and reprisals in international relations. This is the kind of a crude language we find in a casual reading of the newspapers, a language which does not hesitate to describe contemporary violence in terms of emotional motives. This happens in the words of the social players but also in the human sciences.
Starting from the presupposition that democracy is the only form of government able to ensure that all human beings can aspire to see their rights recognised, to the selective enjoyment of their cultures and physical protection of their body, we think it is important to reflect critically on the return of passions to the political scene. Democratic rationality must not only reckon with the principle of fair distribution, respect for rules, equality before the law, peaceful forms of settling disputes, reasons of state, civilisation in citizenship, but also all the potentially explosive material of humiliation, claims, ambitions and fears informing the action of political animals. One of this international workshop’s aims is to bring together experts of international renown to reflect critically on the return of passions to the political scene.

Venice, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
19 – 20 June 2008

Information
General Secretariat
tel. +39 041 2710228 – +39 041 2710229
fax +39 041 5223563
e-mail: fondacini@cini.it segr.gen@cini.it