Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Necessity, Exception, Catastrophe: Shifts in Legal and Political Theory
* Startdatum: 28-04-2010
* Tijd: 10.00
* Locatie: Zaal 2D-16, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105,
Amsterdam
* Titel: Necessity, Exception, Catastrophe: Shifts in Legal and
Political Theory
* Onderdeel: Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid
* Wetenschapsgebied: Rechten
* Evenementtype: Congres / Symposium
Op woensdag 28 april organiseert het onderzoeksprogramma
Rechtsbeginselen in internationale context in samenwerking met de
afdeling Rechtstheorie en Rechtsgeschiedenis een conferentie met de
titel: Necessity, Exception, Catastrophe: Shifts in Legal and Political
Theory. De conferentie is in het Engels.
In response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, governments all over the
world took greater security measures by invoking anti-terrorist laws
which they deemed necessary in light of the "exceptional" nature of the
threat. In legal and political theory, this led to a renewed interest
in the legal concept necessity and related concepts such as the state
ofexception. In particular, the work of the German legal theorist Carl
Schmitt received attention, not in the least thanks to Giorgio
Agamben's work - The State of Exception (2003).
Last year, we organized a conference on the concept of "necessity" in
international law. On 28 April 2010, we will be holding a conference
where we will shift our attention from positive law to legal and
political theory, as well as from "necessity" to related concepts such
as "the state of exception" and "catastrophe." The current economic
crisis and the recent Copenhagen summit on climate change have made it
evident - if such evidence was necessary - that the use of these
concepts of law is not merely restricted to security issues. Today,
almost a decade after 9/11, we are in the position to give an overview
of the state of the art within recent literature on these concepts;
putting them into a historical and comparative perspective. Special
attention will be given to environmental law.
First, an overview will be given of the findings of the previous
conference on necessity in international law. Then, the scope will be
broadened to other concepts. Legal theorists from various academic
institutions will assess from both a systematic and a historical
perspective concepts belonging to the same family as necessity:thestate
of exception and the concept of catastrophe. The following questions
will be addressed: What do these concepts tell us about the limits of
the law? Can they be conceptualized within the existing frameworks of
legal and political theory? If not, to what extent do they change the
way in which we conceptualize law, politics, and the relation between
them?
Programme
10.00 Coffee and welcome
10.15 Wouter Werner (Professor of International Law, VU University
Amsterdam)
& Tarcisio Gazzini (Associate Professor of Public International Law,
VU University Amsterdam)
Necessity Across International Law
10.45 Marc de Wilde (Assistant Professor of Legal History, University
of Amsterdam)
Locke, Rousseau, and the State of Exception: Origins of the Modern
Paradigm of Emergency Government
11.45 Coffee
12.00 Oliver Lembcke (Senior Researcher in Philosophy of Law, Friedrich
Schiller University Jena)
The Exception Rules? A Critical Review of Schmitt, Agamben, and Honig
13.00 Lunch
14.00 Rens van Munster (Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for
International Studies, Copenhagen)
`Unknown Unknowns': Catastrophic Futures as Exceptional Presents
15.00 Coffee
15.15 Han Somsen (Professor of Technology Regulation at the Tilburg
Institute for Law, Technology, and Society, Tilburg University)
Regulating Apocalyptic Technologies
16.15 Closing remarks
16.30 Drinks
Information and registration
Wout Cornelissen (w.cornelissen@rechten.vu.nl)
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