Beschrijving
Over the past year, groups of citizens, social movements, and even local governments have organized to contest policies and the practices through which they are implemented. In doing so, they have demonstrated the limits of government’s authority and its ability to push the implementation of unpopular policies. Their actions have disrupted policy initiatives that range from housing and asylum seekers’ reception to climate policy and the energy transition. These cases where power is being challenged raise questions such as: Who gets to decide when groups disagree? Who has voice and whose voices are heard? What does our shared commitment to democracy say about how decisions about policy and governance are, and should be made?
Theme: contested power
At the ninth annual State of Conflict (SoC) conference, we will explore what happens in specific cases when power, legitimacy, and authority are contested. Rather than seeing contestation as a problem to be solved, we approach it as valuable lens through which to better understand democracy. We will analyze this contestation, and ask what these disruptions imply for communities, for institutions, and for our shared democratic life. We seek insights into what resistance, disagreement, and protest reveal about concerns, needs, and perspectives that might otherwise go unnoticed. And, we hope to develop practical insights into how groups’ responses to each other can shape whether disagreements lead to productive collaboration or escalate into conflict.
As in prior meetings, the SoC will bring together a mix of practitioners, academics, public officials, and citizens in small working sessions rooted in lived experiences to allow for in-depth reflection and learning from one another. Please let us know if you have a case or experience that might spark reflection and help participants to analyze their own experiences. We would love to explore with you whether your experience might provide the basis for one of the working sessions.
Tickets for the 9th State of Conflict conference are now available for purchase. We hope that you can join us to explore what happens when citizens and public officials decide to Fight the Power.
Preliminary program
The detailed program will be available soon. It will be built around questions like:
- How is power negotiated and contested in contemporary practices of democratic governance?
- How does the interaction between national and local perspectives trigger conflicts and shape policy
- What role does protest play as a form of democratic participation?
- How do responses to contestation influence the balance between escalation and cooperation?
- What challenges shape our ability to work constructively with disagreements that extend to power, authority, legitimacy and representation?
- What can we learn from these dynamics in other places in the world?
Date and Location
The Conference will take place on the 15th of January (09:30-16:30) at the University of Amsterdam’s Roeterseiland Campus (Nieuwe Achtergracht 166). If you have ideas, experiences, or questions, please contact iman@public-mediation.nl.