(1) AN INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SEMINAR SERIES ON THE THEME OF “DEMOCRACY, CULTURES, AND ACTION,” ORGANIZED ANNUALLY, INCLUDING A PUBLIC LECTURE AND SMALL SEMINARS.
The Fund will be responsible for organizing an annual lecture for the entire university community, alongside two more specialized research seminars for a more limited audience.
In 2016, the international research conference will focus on constitutional transitions. While the adoption of a constitution always represents a break with the past – both as a renunciation and a new beginning – recent examples of post-conflict state restructuring have shown that the constitutional order may usefully contribute to a peaceful transition from old to new regime. The challenge of the constitutional endeavor is thus to elaborate a constitutional text that makes peace within the collective, restores a sense of social cohesion, and guarantees the democratic order to be put in place.
In its first year, the conference will focus on questions raised by constitutional transitions, divided into two sub-themes:
First, how are constitutions adopted in the aftermath of conflict? This sub-theme will examine actors (constituent assemblies, the role of the citizen sector, etc.) methods (writing techniques, interim constitutions, etc.), and influences, both internal (historical, cultural, political, or economic) and external (the constraints of international law).
Second, in addition to the content traditionally found in constitutional texts, what space is given over to the past in a post-conflict constitution (the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, etc.)?
The seminar will gather on:
Friday March 25, 2016, 2PM-5PM, Louvain-la-Neuve; Friday June 3, 2016, 2PM-5PM, Louvain-la-Neuve and Thursday October 27, 2016, 9AM-5PM, Louvain-la-Neuve
Contact persons: professors #mailto:Philippe Coppens:philippe.coppens@uclouvain.be#
and #mailto:Marc Verdussen:marc.verdussen@uclouvain.be#