Event

The will of the people? Revolutionary legacies, reactionary manipulations – Kingston University, 1-2 June

5th May 2017

The will of the people? Revolutionary legacies, reactionary manipulations

Thursday 1 June – Friday 2 June 2017

Venue: Clattern Lecture Theatre, Penrhyn Road campus, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE
Price: free

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Debates about the nature and value of democracy and of popular sovereignty have returned to the centre of political discussion in recent years and over the past year in particular. Right-wing or extreme right-wing groups claiming to champion ‘the will of the people’ have established themselves all over the world, from Venezuela to Finland, and have taken or consolidated power by various means in places as different as the USA, Turkey, Russia, the UK, and Poland. These recent re-appropriations of the phrase, however, cannot erase its revolutionary origins and implications. Popular sovereignty is indissociable from the effective formulation and imposition of the people’s will, and democracy remains an empty word unless it affirms the power of ordinary people to prevail over any form of privileged interest or ruling class. This conference aims to address some of the central questions that have become so divisive in contemporary political struggles, and to review some of the most significant revolutionary sequences that sought to empower a genuinely egalitarian and inclusive collective will to political change – from the French and Russian Revolutions to recent mobilisations in parts of the Middle East and Latin America.

Speakers include:

This conference is made by possible by support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project ‘Blanqui and Political Will’ and the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP).

Booking is essential to attend this event.

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For further information about this event:

Contact: Peter Hallward
Email: p.hallward@kingston.ac.uk