In this two-day workshop, taking place in Aalborg on the 15th and 16th of June 2023, we would like to discuss the numerous contemporary breaks and continuities in the meaning of citizenship, especially – but not exclusively – under the impact of recent events.
15.06.2023 kl. 12.00 - 16.06.2023 kl. 15.00
Confirmed keynote speaker: Professor Dr. Engin Isin, School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University, London; chief editor, Citizenship Studies.
An “institution in flux” (Isin 2009), citizenship has experienced major changes in the last decades. These include not just “acts of citizenship” by, and in solidarity with illegalized migrants, but also the monetization of citizenship in so-called “golden visa” schemes utilized by global elites.
The implicit context for this transformation in the meaning of citizenship – from a strictly legal category to what Michel Foucault once described as a bond of solidarity enabled by common governance – have been processes of growing global economic interdependence, accompanied by the seemingly decreasing relevance of the nation state.
The global Covid19 pandemic, the threat of climate disaster, as well as the war in Ukraine are challenging these premises. The closing of borders during the pandemic, as well as current geopolitical rivalries, are just two of numerous examples of a widely perceived return of the state in a world facing common environmental, biopolitical, and existential dangers.
In this two-day workshop, taking place in Aalborg on the 15th and 16th of June 2023, we would like to discuss the numerous contemporary breaks and continuities in the meaning of citizenship, especially – but not exclusively – under the impact of recent events.
We warmly invite researchers to submit abstracts dealing with one or more of the following aspects:
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is Monday, the 17th of April 2023.
Scholars interested in presenting a paper are kindly requested to submit an abstract of max. 500 words to Leandros Fischer at fischer@ikl.aau.dk.
Organizers: Dr. Leandros Fischer, Assistant Professor of International Studies, Department of Culture and Learning; DEMOS research group.
MIX & Department of Culture and Learning; DEMOS research group, Aalborg University
Kroghstræde 3, 9220 Aalborg East
09.06.2023 kl. 09.00 - 10.06.2023 kl. 18.00
2021 was the 16th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. Such, at least, is the verdict given by Freedom in the World, the flagship journal of the NGO ‘Freedom House’. Rather than harvesting the democratic gains expected from the fall of the USSR, the Arab Spring, and the expansion of the EU, we find ourselves in the midst of a resurgence of autocracy – a resurgence whose devastating consequences we are currently witnessing in real time in Ukraine. The sudden dramatic exposure to autocracy in the form of Putin’s invasion should not, however, obscure the fact that the current rise of autocracy is a world-wide phenomenon. All around the world, we find the upsurge of similar rhetoric: democratic institutions are too feeble and too inefficient to handle a crisis, and only a strong leader, unfettered by constitutional constraints, can guarantee peace and security. If we want to safeguard our societies from autocracy, we must first interrogate the rhetoric used to legitimise it.
15.06.2023 kl. 12.00 - 16.06.2023 kl. 15.00
In this two-day workshop, taking place in Aalborg on the 15th and 16th of June 2023, we would like to discuss the numerous contemporary breaks and continuities in the meaning of citizenship, especially – but not exclusively – under the impact of recent events.