"What is the Future of Representative Democracy?" Academic Conference

Join us for a full-day academic engagement with Professor Warren’s ongoing theoretical legacy. Leading scholars from around the world will present on five roundtables, organized around the central themes in each of Warren’s five books. Each 90-minute roundtable will include brief presentations by paper-givers with ample time for audience participation and discussion. The in-person event will take place on Saturday, June 3rd, 2023 from 9:00 to 6:00PM at the C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, in the Chan Conference Room. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

A tentative schedule (subject to change) is below:

8:30AM Doors open, coffee and refreshments are served

9:00AM Start

Roundtable 1: Responsible Agency and Democratic Citizenship

Chair: Hans Asenbaum (U. of Canberra).
Presenters: Nojang Khatami (Fordham U.), Antonin Lacelle-Webster (UBC), Stephen White (U. of Virginia), Melissa Williams (U. of Toronto)

10:30 – 10:45AM 15-minute health break with refreshments

Roundtable 2: Democracy and Trust

Chair: Serbulent Turan (UBC)
. Presenters: Laura Montanaro (U. of Essex), Erik Severson (UBC), Clyde Wilcox (Georgetown U.) Sule Yaylaci (U. of Pennsylvania)

12:15 – 1:15PM Lunch

Roundtable 3: Democracy and Association

Chair: Chris Tenove (Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, UBC)
. Presenters: Edana Beauvais (SFU), Archon Fung (Harvard U.), Simone Chambers (Irvine), Sean Gray (Memorial U.)

Roundtable 4: Defining Democracy and Democratic Innovation

Chair: David Moscrop (journalist)
. Presenters: Jane Mansbridge (Harvard U.), Selen Ercan (U. Canberra), Jordan Ouellette (UBC)

4:15 – 4:30PM 15-minute health break with refreshments

Roundtable 5: Designing the Right Kinds of Innovations for Different Problems of Democracy

Chair: Megan Mattes (SFU)
. Presenters: Spencer McKay (Queens U.), Guo Li (King’s College), John Gastil (Pennsylvania State U.)

6:00PM End

Mark E. Warren is a Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Former UBC Merilees Chair in the Study of Democracy. Join us on the eve of his retirement for a discussion of the immediacy of his theoretical legacy, as the very institutions of representative democracy face new threats and opportunities.

Host or Publisher Edana Beauvais