Authority, Authoritarianism, and Political Theory

This Section explores the intersection of authority, authoritarianism, and normative political theory and their implications for justification and legitimacy. Democratic authority remains a foundational concept in political theory yet faces new pressures, including populist authoritarianism, democratic backsliding, enduring autocratic regimes, digital surveillance and algorithmic governance, and crises that test the limits of state power and civil resistance. These challenges renew the importance of examining the conceptual foundations of legitimate political authority, the conditions under which it becomes pathological, and the theoretical resources for distinguishing between these two forms. The Section invites reflection on these issues and their implications for values such as legitimacy, freedom, equality, consent, accountability, and collective self-determination. Particular attention will be paid to how authority can be rendered compatible with democratic principles and practices. We welcome contributions in applied and first-order political theory addressing the normative implications of contemporary (authoritarian) challenges for democracy and liberalism and the conceptual boundaries of legitimate authority. Possible applied theory areas include emergency governance, digital surveillance and/or algorithmic governance, populist politics, judicial and international authority, economic regulation and workplace democracy, and civil disobedience and resistance. First-order political theory contributions can offer novel normative or critical insights about (e.g.) the conceptual foundations of authority, the social and epistemic conditions of democratic legitimacy, or the relationship between authority and other central political concepts. We invite proposals from all traditions and subfields in political theory and political philosophy that analyze and reflect on these themes and topics. Following proposals from members of the ECPR Political Theory Standing Group, we propose to convene panels on the following topics—with space for additional pre-formed panels and/or panels formed from independent paper submissions: 1. A legitimacy crisis: how to face democratic backsliding and mistrust in contemporary politics (Chair: Federica Liveriero - Pavia) This panel investigates democratic backsliding, that is, a spreading perception that democratic ideals and practices are losing ground in the face of contemporary authoritarian challenges and populist waves, both on the right and on the left. This is fostered by an erosion of trust, both horizontally, between fellow citizens, and vertically, in the relationship between citizens and political institutions. Further, citizens seem more and more wary of epistemic authorities, challenging public processes for establishing expertise. These dynamics fuel an ongoing crisis of representation, for citizens feel that democratic governments are not responsive to their needs and preferences. This panel takes stock of different dimensions of democratic backsliding, from diagnostic analyses to concrete proposals for mending the breach of trust and addressing the breakdown of democratic representation. Committed speakers: Aliénor Ballangé (Paris Institute for Advanced Study), Ilaria Cozzaglio (University of Hamburg), Thomas Fossen (Leiden University), Federica Liveriero (University of Pavia) & Elisabetta Galeotti (University of Piemonte Orientale), Fabio Wolkenstein (University of Vienna) 2. Democratic Authority: Principles and Practices (Chair: Andrei Poama - Leiden) This panel will feature recent normative work on democratic authority. It explores how different justifications of democracy (e.g., epistemic, expressive, economic) inform how we think about democratic authority and legitimacy in specific political contexts, and examine how different conceptual models of democracy (e.g., liquid, agonistic) can bear on strategies for (re)imagining national, local, and global institutions and policies. Contributions consider how democratic authority can be instantiated through “thick populist” (Albert Dzur) practices that enhance direct citizen participation – in particular, citizen juries and assemblies, as well as other civic engagement institutional innovations. Committed speakers: Andrei Poama, Elise Roumeas, Anna Mikhaylovskaya, Charlotte Wagenaar, Suzanne Bloks 3. The Political Theory and Ethics of (Resisting) Electoral Autocracies (Chair: Attila Mráz - ELTE Eötvös Loránd University) How should we rethink classical issues in political theory—including political obligation, authority, and legitimacy—for electoral autocracies? Which normative grounds, beyond the norms of interpersonal morality, should guide political action in electoral autocracies? Which political principles are relevant to the ethics of electoral and nonelectoral political action in electoral autocracies, such as standing for, voting in, or boycotting elections, as well as protest, disobedience, and various forms of resistance? This panel addresses these issues at theoretical and applied levels. Committed speakers: Zoltan Miklosi (CEU), Attila Mráz (ELTE), Gudlaug Olafsdottir (Stockholm University/Uppsala University), Antoinette Scherz (Stockholm University/University of Oslo), Zoltán Szűcs-Zágoni (ELTE) 4. The democratic risks and potential of administrative authority (Chairs: Trym Nohr Fjørtoft - Oslo & Silva Mertsola - Stockholm) Political theory is rediscovering public administration (Zacka 2022) and reassessing its legitimacy and relationship to democracy. Public administration has often been treated as a necessary evil: It is functionally necessary in modern states but at the same time a threat to democracy, best kept in its place by expertise or political neutrality. The panel welcomes contributions that move beyond the default position—either by assessing more precisely the risks that public administration poses or by analyzing the ways in which it can promote or protect genuine democratic rule. Committed speakers: Silva Mertsola (Stockholm), Trym Nohr Fjørtoft (Oslo), Leah Downey (KCL) 5. Authoritarianism, Authority and Migration (Chairs: Daniel Sharp - LMU Munich/University of Vienna & Hallvard Sandven - Oslo) Anti-immigrant politics is central to the rise of the far-right and the trend towards democratic backsliding. This panel explores normative issues concerning the connection of authoritarianism and migration control. Papers will explore the following questions: What role does tough-on-migration rhetoric and policy play in driving democratic backsliding and the erosion of the rule of law? How should pro-democracy actors strategically and ethically respond to the rise of the anti-immigrant far-right? What implications does the rise of the far-right have for the state's legitimate authority over immigration? Does authoritarianism abroad impose novel obligations onto democratic societies’ immigration politics? Committed speakers: in progress. 6. Resistance and Authority (Chair: Elizabeth Kahn - Durham) What gives social movements and activists the right to resist? Must the regime have lost authority? When activists seek to replace existing regimes, what, if anything, grants them the authority to do so? If authority admits degrees, what does this mean for resistance in semi-authoritative contexts? This panel explores these questions, focusing on European cases and the role of resistance in achieving just political orders. Committed speakers: in progress.