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Call for Papers "From the Utopianism of Human Rights to the Primacy of the Political" Interdisciplinary Conference Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Lancaster University Lancaster (UK) 9-10 September 2008 __________________________________________________ An important fault line within contemporary social-legal and critical legal studies turns on the relationship between rights and the political. Theoretically, this relationship is articulated through an antagonism between the universality of human rights and the primacy of the political. If the former can be characterised as a naïve, if not utopian, belief in the ability of law to order the world's affairs rationally and peacefully, the latter can be seen as [substituting a cynical belief in the force of hegemonic power. Nowhere is this antagonism more obvious than where parties to a dispute become reified into the fixed, ontological categories of friend/enemy and geopolitical conflicts fall into the dichotomy of Empire and resistance. At an empirical level, experience has provided evidence of law's propensity to mediate and ameliorate these apparent dichotomies. The implication of this experience is to offer a more nuanced account of the relationship between rights and the political. This conference offers the opportunity to explore and engage with these theoretical and empirical developments by focussing on the many questions present in recent literature, cases and events. These questions include, but are not exhausted by: - the meaning of and relationship between "the universality of human rights" and the "primacy of the political"; - the social, political and legal transformations that these meanings articulate; - the extent to which law eschews the political and the political subsumes law; - the ability of law and legal institutions to question and resist such conflations; - the place and responsibility of socio-legal and critical legal scholarship and practice within these transitions. Bringing together academics, practitioners and activitis from a wide range of disciplines, this conference offers a rare opportunity to confront and reflect upon one of the most relevant concerns of contemporary jurisprudence and legal and political practice. For further details or to submit an abstract (maximum 250 words) please contact: [email protected] Closing date for submissions 30th June 2008. Registration Fees: £250 (£150 student rate) £85 day rate. The registration fee includes attendance at all sessions, refreshments, lunches and evening receptions/dinners. In addition, the residential package includes accommodation on the nights of 9th and 10th September. Confirmed Speakers: Judge J. Guzman (Chile) Craig Murray (Former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan) Professor Costas Douzinas (Birkbeck College, London) Professor Robert Fine (Warwick University) Keir Starmer (Barrister, London) Dr Lorie Charlseworth (John Moores University, Liverpool) Dr Ralph Wilde (UCL, London) Dr Stephen Riley (Sheffield Hallam) Dr David Seymour (Lancaster University) Contact: Dr David M. Seymour Lancaster University Law School Bowland North, C62 Lancaster LA1 4YN UK Tel: +44 (0)1524 592530 Fax: +44 (0)1524 848137 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/faculty/event/2113/ __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org
