Discourse of Republicanism

Call for Papers

As John Adams puts it in his famous statement about republicanism as “the most unintelligible English word of all time”, the question of the republican thought with its historical background as well as modern connotations and ideological applications still remains a very challenging issue in the history of ideas and contemporary political theory. What does it require to label a particular political author as an adherent to the republican tradition? And is one even supposed to speak about one common European republican discourse or is it rather relevant to assume significant differences among various “republicanisms” based on distinctive cultural and historical contexts?

In this regard, one should highlight that although the concept of republican political theory and history has been identified and “re-invented” mainly in the framework of Western European philosophical concept, the question whether one can trace the presence of similar or specific republican traits in other “European spaces” has seemed to be very urgent in the last two decades.

We invite proposals for papers on the following broadly defined topics: 

● What are the main options and limits regarding the research of republicanism as a language tradition, political theory and historical legacy? 

● Is it possible to assume the common “republican language code” in the European historical context or is it necessary to distinguish different codes of particular “national” republican concepts? 

● In which ways have the republican ideas been shared and spread in European space since the early modern period? 

● How is one able to reflect the relation between the republican political principles and collective identity? 

● How did political thinkers construct images of their own republic and foreign republics? What were these allegorical and symbolic images based on? 

Paper abstracts (a maximum of 300 words) should be submitted no later than the 10th of June 2020 to the following e-mail address: kvetina@hiu.cas.cz

The organizers will send the acknowledgement of receipt of the contribution no later than the 15th of June 2020. The organizational committee of the conference reserves the right to select the papers. 

Organizational instructions : No conference fee is charged. The organizers will provide dinners and accommodation from the 5th to 7th November 2020. 

Conference language: English 

Publication Plan: Selected papers that pass the peer-review process will be published in an English monograph that is going to be published after the conference. 

Organizing Institution and Committee : 

Jan Květina (The Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences) 

Hana Fořtová (The Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences)

Vratislav Doubek (The Masaryk Institute and Archive of the CAS Library)

Maciej Ruczaj (Polish Institute in Prague)