Name for Abstracts
Workshop: Exploring the Autonomy of Cities: Philosophical, Authorized, and Coverage Dimensions
Organized by: Nathanaël Colin-Jaeger (AUP), Nefeli Lefkopoulou (Sciences Po Paris), Marc Goetzmann (Université de Excursions).
Cities have lengthy served as facilities of financial exercise, cultural innovation, and political experimentation. But, their function and standing inside bigger political programs stay a topic of ongoing debate. Lately, requires granting better autonomy to cities have gained momentum, pushed by challenges resembling urbanization, local weather change, and rising inequalities. Nevertheless, with autonomy comes many complicated questions concerning governance, justice, and equality. Whereas the philosophical and theoretical significance of territorial autonomy has been extensively explored, the particular standing of cities remained an under-appreciated subject in normative political philosophy till very just lately (Weinstock, King, Schragger). This name for abstracts invitations philosophers, authorized theorists, and political scientists to have interaction with the multifaceted challenge of metropolis autonomy.
We search contributions that discover the situations underneath which cities needs to be granted autonomy, the implications of autonomy for equality, and the challenges particular to cities in navigating their relationship with regional, nationwide, and international governance programs. The intention is to foster a sturdy dialogue on whether or not autonomy (and by which kind? which constitutional standing?) is the suitable framework for empowering cities or if various approaches, resembling empowerment by means of subsidiarity, are higher suited to reaching justice and efficient governance.
Background and Rationale
Cities are more and more on the forefront of addressing international challenges, from local weather change to the general public housing disaster. As engines of financial development and hubs of range, cities have distinctive wants and capacities that usually diverge from the agricultural or regional contexts by which they’re embedded. Regardless of this, cities are steadily – even when not at all times and solely because the 17thcentury in Europe – subordinated to state or provincial governments, missing the authorized authority and assets to handle their challenges absolutely.
On the identical time, the philosophical underpinnings of autonomy and self-determination stay contested. Philosophers resembling David Miller, Margaret Moore, Allen Buchanan, and Christopher Wellman have debated the situations underneath which self-determination is justified, together with questions of identification, governance, and distributive justice.
For cities, these philosophical debates intersect with urgent authorized questions in regards to the risk and implications of constitutionalizing metropolis standing inside nationwide frameworks. Ought to cities have rights akin to provinces or states in a federation? How would possibly such a constitutional transformation reshape city governance?
The thought of granting cities autonomy raises a number of important points:
Autonomy and Empowerment: Ought to cities have constitutionally assured autonomy, or is it adequate to empower them inside current hierarchies by means of mechanisms resembling ascending subsidiarity? Ought to we conceptualize autonomy when it comes to territorial sovereignty, akin to states in a federation, or desire fashions of empowerment that improve native decision-making with out absolutely severing hierarchical ties?
Autonomy and Inequality: Does territorial autonomy inherently exacerbate inequalities between areas or cities? Can autonomy and equality be reconciled, significantly in distributive phrases? How do programs of equalization or solidarity handle disparities in assets and alternatives? Particularly, how a lot autonomy ought to we grant cities, from full fiscal autonomy to different much less intensive prerogatives?
Distinctive Challenges of City Autonomy: Cities face particular governance challenges, together with excessive inhabitants density, financial disparities, and environmental considerations. How ought to these elements form the design and implementation of city autonomy?
Though any theoretical investigation on cities is welcomed, this name particularly invitations abstracts that critically look at these and associated questions, drawing from various disciplines and methodologies.
Themes and Matters
We encourage submissions that handle the next overarching themes, or develop a comparative inquiry:
Philosophical Foundations and Justifications
What justifications may be supplied for granting cities autonomy? Are cities entitled to self-determination in the identical manner as nation-states?
Which normative floor is for use to grant cities autonomy? Can freedom of affiliation be a floor for autonomy, or would autonomy require extra demanding situations?
If autonomy is just too demanding, what type of empowerment needs to be favored, e.g., which type of subsidiarity?
Autonomy vs. Empowerment
Ought to autonomy take the type of territorial sovereignty (as in a state inside a federation) or empowerment by means of subsidiarity? What are the comparative benefits of every?
How can these fashions steadiness the necessity for native decision-making with broader considerations for nationwide cohesion and international challenges?
Which choice aligns higher with different values one could favor (solidarity, effectivity, democratic responsiveness?).
Balancing Autonomy and Equality
Does autonomy danger fostering inequalities between cities and areas, or can it coexist with equitable governance?
What mechanisms (e.g., fiscal transfers, equalization schemes) can mitigate potential disparities whereas preserving native decision-making capability? How ought to they be justified, and what kind ought to they take relying on the principled justification?
How do distributive theories of justice handle the stress between city autonomy and nationwide solidarity?
Challenges in Implementing City Autonomy
What are the sensible and authorized challenges of granting cities autonomy? Ought to their standing be constitutionalized?
How a lot autonomy is fascinating—from cultural and coverage rights to full fiscal management? What trade-offs come up at completely different ranges of autonomy?
How ought to governance frameworks handle metropolitan fragmentation and overlapping jurisdictions? Particularly to particular points, resembling housing insurance policies?
What particular points could come up when cities are granted autonomy? How ought to a system with autonomous cities ought to, as an illustration, cope with immigration?
Submission Particulars
We invite abstracts of as much as 500 phrases that clearly define the analysis query, theoretical framework, methodology, and anticipated contribution to the sphere, with a brief bibliography. Theoretical, interdisciplinary, and utilized approaches shall be equally thought-about.
Please embody the next in your submission:
Indication of the thematic space(s) your summary addresses (key phrases).
Please notify us in your submission whether or not you’d have the price range to self-fund your journey and lodging for the workshop, or when you would wish extra assist. Partial funding may be mentioned individually on the premise of wants and availability, nevertheless it can’t be assured.
Key Dates
Summary submission deadline: March 1, 2025.
Notification of acceptance: March 15, 2025.
Convention dates: June 12-13, 2025.
Publication Alternatives
Chosen papers could also be invited for publication in an edited quantity or a particular challenge of a journal devoted to the themes of metropolis autonomy and governance.
VenueThe Workshop will happen on the Heart for Vital Democracy Research on the American College of Paris.
Contact Info
For questions or additional info, please contact [email protected]
We look ahead to receiving your contributions and to a stimulating dialogue on cities’ important and evolving function in governance, justice, and equality.
For more information: https://www.aup.edu/news-events/occasion/2025-06-12/exploring-autonomy-cities-philosophical-legal-and-policy-dimensions
