Conference From 21 May 2026 Until to 22 May 2026
Challenges to Democratic Theory in the Post-Liberal World
Seminar of the Standing Group of Political Theory of the Italian Society of Political Science
This conference is organized as part of the research activities of the D.3.2 2024 DEM project. IN. W.PEACE - Democracy: An Investment in Welfare and Peace
Scientific and organizing committee:
Antonio CAMPATI, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Diego GIANNONE, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"
Damiano PALANO, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Thursday, May 21, 2026
10.00-10.15 Introductory greetings
Damiano PALANO, Director of ASERI and Polidemos
10.15
Keynote Speech
Common Good Politics beyond Globalism and Nationalism: reclaiming post-liberal thinking from anti-liberals
Adrian PABST, Honorary Professor of Politics, University of Kent
11.15-13.00
Plenary session
Panel 1 - Traditions of political thought and the metamorphosis of democracy
John Rawls and the public reason of peoples: a future in the past?
Franco DI SCIULLO, University of Messina
Giovanni Sartori and the current challenges of democracy: between the crisis of public opinion and the decline of the elites
Dario DELPERO, Filippo Burzio Foundation of Turin
The Crisis of Democracy in Charles Taylor's "Telic" Perspective
Guglielmo MINA, University of Milan
For a democratic dialectic between last and penultimate things. In the mirror by Giorgio La Pira
Donato ALIBERTI, University of Salerno
Discussant:
Ferdinando MENGA, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"
14.00 - 15.45
Parallel panels
Panel 2A - Democracy, Authoritarianism and Global Order
The sunset of an illusion? Auto-immune crisis of the international order and new power politics
Maria Teresa PACILÈ, University of Messina
After the liberal order. Democracy and pluralisation of the international spatial order
Alessandro Francesco PISANI, University of Calabria
The containment of authoritarianism in Larry Diamond's democratic theory
Andrea CANNIZZO, University of Messina
Discussant:
Luca G. CASTELLIN, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Panel 2B - Critical Theory and Contemporary Democracy
Conceptions of the World and the Construction of the Other: A Gramscian Perspective on Conflict and Identity in the Post-Liberal World
Daniela CATERINA, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Gramsci and democracy. Myth, catharsis and "sameness"
Lorenzo COGNETTI, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
From Folkhemmet to the Network Society: Freedom and Democracy in Sweden Zaccarias GIGLI, University for Foreigners of Perugia Discussant:
Samuele MAZZOLINI, Ca' Foscari University of Venice
15.45-16.15
Coffee Break
16.15-18.00
Parallel panels
Panel 3A - Emotions, identity and transformations of political subjectivity
Beyond Political Rationality: Collective Emotions and Transformations of Democracy
Martina INSERO, Sapienza University of Rome
Meritocracy and neoliberal feminism. The rhetoric of merit in post-democratic democracies
Mario DI PUMPO, University of Bari Aldo Moro
Bodies, Conflict, and the Right to the City: Transfeminist Perspectives on Citizenship and Embodied Democracy
Sofia MARATHEAS, University of Bari Aldo Moro
Discussant:
Giorgia SERUGHETTI, University of Milano-Bicocca
Panel 3B - Populism and Transformations of Democracy
From the populist moment to the neo-reactionary rupture: rethinking the liberal-democratic paradigm
Enrico BIALE, University of Eastern Piedmont
Beyond the deliberative paradigm? Populist grammars of democratic legitimacy
Maria Giorgia CARACENI, University of Guglielmo Marconi
Populism in power and after: the uncertain institutional legacies of the "pink tide"
Samuele MAZZOLINI, Ca' Foscari University of Venice
Populism, authoritarianism and neoliberalism: conceptual questions for contemporary democratic theory
Alessandro VOLPI, University of Salerno
Discussant:
Damiano PALANO, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
18.15 - 20.00
Panel 4 - Democracy, technology and cognitive warfare
Cognitive warfare and surveillance capitalism. From the blind spots of literature to the need for epistemological convergence
Michele GIMONDO, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Disinformation and pro-Kremlin narratives as a challenge to Italian democracy
Joel TERRACINA, University of Guglielmo Marconi
Four reasons why AI cannot replace democratic politics
Francesco NASI, University of Bologna
The permanent emergency: securitisation of defence and marginalisation of the European Parliament in the ReArm Europe plan
Fabio CARBONE, University of Campania L. Vanvitelli
The Europe 'laboratory'. Notes on the functioning and limits of democracy
Giovanna PUGNO VANONI, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Discussant:
Valerio Alfonso BRUNO, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Friday, May 22, 2026
9.30-11.15
Parallel panels
Panel 5A - Post-liberalism and critique of the liberal order
Postliberalism: A Conceptual Reconstruction
Elia MONTANI, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
The Post-Liberalism of Patrick J. Deneen
Carlo MARSONET, Pegaso Telematic University
A "realist utopia"? Peter Thiel and the refoundation of the order
Simone ZUCCARELLI, Catholic University Centre
Alberto Maria RADICI, LUISS Guido Carli
Realized Democracy and the Crisis of Liberalism: An Immanent Contradiction in Contemporary Democracies
Filippo PALMIERI, University of Bologna
Discussant:
Antonio CAMPATI, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Panel 5B - Populism, Political Participation, and the Post-Liberal Order
Theoretical frameworks for the analysis of populism and resentment: economic grievances, cultural anxieties, or both?
Nikola ILIC, University of Belgrade
From Liberal Democracy to Post-Liberal Orders: Rethinking Democratic Transformation in the United States and Western Europe
Vera TIKA, Centre for Political Research of Panteion University of Athens
Political participation as mutual advantage
Adriano GIULIANI, Australian National University and LUMSA University
Giorgia LUCCHINI, Luigi Einaudi Onlus Foundation of Turin
Carmine MARCACCI, LUMSA University
Discussant:
Giulia BISTAGNINO, University of Milan
11.30-13.00
Assembly of the members of the Standing Group of Political Theory (Italian Society of Political Science)
