Call for papers: Europe and the making of 'the common'
Lisbon, 7th-8th May 2009, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Keynote speaker:
- Lynn Dobson, University of Edinburgh

Deadlines for abstract submission (max. 500 words): 15th March 2009

The constitution of the European Union as a political body, rather than as
a depoliticized space of self-contained states, depends on the creation of
a collective bond among individuals assembled around a determinate set of
shared political values and ends. The possibility of a European demos
requires thus the definition of a sensus communis at the supranational
level to legitimize the rule of the communitarian institutions and
constitute Europe as an intersubjective "community of destiny" able to
permeate the borders of the nation-state.

The conceptualization of this European common space requires clarification
as to which values ought to orient European practice towards its citizens,
and in particular whether EU institutions should "pedagogically" favour
certain conceptions of the good or, conversely, refrain from adopting (and
imposing) some form of ethical conception or social model regarded as the
most suitable. At stake is the creation of a collective European identity
and the choice in terms of values that this involves. In terms of
political theory the debate about the ideational foundation of European
values leads us generally to the theoretical debate between perfectionists
and anti-perfectionists.  It also raises more specific theoretical
questions: for example, how to characterise the constitution of the
European Union within the terms of Rawlsian theory: might it be
established in the light of the principles of justice for a domestic
society presented in "A Theory of Justice", or must we turn to the
framework for a confederation of liberal peoples found in "The Law of
Peoples"?

The aim of our conference is therefore to address issues related to the
broader question of the nature of Europe and the possibility of an
European identity, from the perspective of political philosophy. Areas of
investigation may include:

- The idea of Europe
- European values
- European citizenship
- Constitutional Patriotism and the European State
- The boundaries of Europe
- European integration and enlargements
- Europe and multiculturalism
- Federalist principles
- Nation, state, and sovereignty
- Justice, solidarity and the European social policies
- European foreign and defence policy
- Europe and distributive justice

Abstracts of proposals of a maximum of 500 words in length should be
submitted at [log in to unmask] until 15th March 2009, the selected
papers will be announced at the 31th March.

Please, submit abstracts that allow your topic to be presented in
approximately 30 minutes.

[Abstracts should be suitable for blind review].

Panels will be arranged on the basis of the papers received according to
homogeneity of content.

Selected papers will be published in hard copy.

Enquiries relating to any subject should be sent to the e-mail address
indicated above.

Regina Queiroz
Instituto de Filosofia da Linguagem
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Av. de Berna 26-C
1069-061 Lisboa
Portugal
www.ifl.pt
www.fcsh.unl.pt