ECPR

Install the app

Install this application on your home screen for quick and easy access when you’re on the go.

Just tap Share then “Add to Home Screen”

ECPR

Install the app

Install this application on your home screen for quick and easy access when you’re on the go.

Just tap Share then “Add to Home Screen”

Critical Methods in the Face of Crisis – Analytical and Critical Political Theory in Dialogue

Political Theory
Analytic
Critical Theory
Methods
Normative Theory
Methodology
P007
Janosch Prinz
Maastricht Universiteit
Svenja Ahlhaus
University of Münster
International Political Theory
Methods of Normative Political Theory
Monday 09:00 – Thursday 17:30 (25/03/2024 – 28/03/2024)
Contemporary societies face a multiplicity of domestic and international crises, regarding e.g. climate and democratic representation. These crises have led to renewed interest in critique across different traditions of inquiry. However, political theorists have thus far failed to grapple sufficiently with these current crises. This failure points to the need to develop critical methods tailored to these particular circumstances. The goal of this Joint Sessions workshop is to develop critical methods suited to address the current crises by taking the exchange between analytical political theorists and critical theorists and their respective methods of critique to a new level.
For political theorists to develop methods capable of grappling with current crises we need to overcome the lack of cross-fertilization between analytical and critical traditions of political theory. We are confident in overcoming this division because theorists from both traditions not only address similar problems – such as climate crisis and democratic erosion – but also develop methods with similar goals. On the one hand, analytical political theorists have recently advanced discussion of a variety of methodological questions and tools, with a renewed focus on real world problems and practices, for example in the debates about ideal and non-ideal theory (Simmons, Valentini, Mills), practice-(in)dependence (Sangiovanni, James), political moralism and political realism (Estlund, Rossi and Sleat), as well as normative behaviourism (Floyd). On the other hand, critical theorists have meanwhile refined their methodological tools, focusing on re-interpreting ideology critique (Haslanger, Celikates), immanent critique (Stahl, Jaeggi), rational reconstruction (Habermas, Patberg), or genealogy (Saar, Allen). However, these commonalities have not been legible enough for both traditions to lead to cross-fertilization. To overcome this division, our workshop provides a clear structure for bringing exponents of both traditions together to address the questions of how to understand methods of critique, and what specific methods to employ in conducting critique in times of crisis. Our workshop will thus substantiate the application of the recent methodological turn in political theory and, judging from the expressions of interest received, expand the range of political theorizing covered by ECPR and further integrate political theory communities across Europe.
1: How do current methods of critique fail to address domestic and global crises?
2: Which methods of critique are especially apt in times of crisis?
3: Do we need different methods for different crises, e.g. with regard to climate and democratic representation?
4: How do we connect analytical and critical theory to craft methods capable of addressing the current crises?
5: Can such connections maintain the distinctive qualities of both traditions of political theory?
Title Details
Understanding EU-citizens’ democratic doubts about European integration deepening Europe’s existential crises View Paper Details
Quran Burnings: A case study in the implications of political moralism and of political realism View Paper Details
How to Judge Political Values? View Paper Details
Democratic monetary orders View Paper Details
Democratic Vulnerability: Potentials and Limits of the Method of Immanent Critique in the Context of the Democratic Crisis View Paper Details
Strategic Litigation in Times of Crisis: Emergency Frameworks and Democratic Underlabouring View Paper Details
Why Engaged Deliberation? View Paper Details
A Critical Theory of Political Extremism View Paper Details
The Role of Moral Norms in Political Theory View Paper Details
Valuing Diversity without Illusions: Critical Rationalism as an Underexploited Resource in Political Theory View Paper Details
Normative behaviourism and experimental critique: Praxis, pre-figuration, principles View Paper Details
Political theory methodology in a time of crisis: an uncompromising empirical view. View Paper Details
On the Limitations of the Genealogical Method View Paper Details