(Un)Making Democracy: Evaluative and Normative Positionings in Post-foundational Studies of Democracy

Abstract

This workshop will examine how evaluative and normative positionings can be made analytically productive within post‑foundational studies of democracy. While both Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Democracy Studies (DS) have long emphasized the contingency, multiplicity, and situatedness of democratic practices, both fields continue to grapple with how to differentiate democratic qualities without reinstating essentialist foundations. The session brings together researchers interested in examining how democracy is enacted, claimed, contested, and problematized across diverse sites, and how evaluative judgments emerge within these processes. We invite reflections that treat evaluative grounding not as a fixed external standard but as an empirical phenomenon emerging through actors’ own ontological work: how they enact “the people,” authority, legitimacy, and accountability in practice. Rather than asking whether a practice is democratic according to predefined criteria, the approach foregrounds how democratic claims are articulated, contested, and stabilized across sites, and how researchers’ analytical choices inevitably participate in these processes. Methodologically, this requires reflexive attention to the values embedded in our conceptual repertoires, research designs, and modes of engagement. Empirically, it invites close study of moments where democratic qualities are invoked, negotiated, or refused. Normatively, it opens space for plural evaluative orientations while making them explicit and discussable. The program combines keynote inputs, commentaries, and focused discussions on approaches to normativity in post‑foundational democratic research. To participate as a contributor, send a 300‑word abstract to ninafrahm@cc.au.dk by July 17. For attendance without presenting, please send a message to ninafrahm@cc.au.dk by August 15.