On October 27, 2018, an international workshop on The Crisis of Western Liberal/Representative Democracy? held by the Fudan Institute for Advanced Study in Social Sciences (Fudan IAS) took place. The workshop was co-sponsored by the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University, the Dr. Seaker Chan Center for Comparative Political Development Studies (Chan Center), Fudan IAS, and the Editorial Board of Chinese Political Science Review (CPSR). Scholars from the US, Italy, Argentina, China, etc. participated in the workshop. Prof. Dingping Guo, Director of the Chan Center delivered a speech.
On behalf of the organizers, Prof. Sujian Guo, Dean and Distinguished Professor of Fudan IAS and Editor-in-Chief of CPSR, gave a welcome speech and expressed his gratitude to Prof. Dingping Guo and his team for their strong support for this workshop. Prof. Sujian Guo introduced the background of the theme The Crisis of Western Liberal/Representative Democracy, pointed out the importance of discussing this inconclusive academic agenda against the background of the current problems of liberal democracy in the West, and looked forward to the publication of the papers presented by the scholars after the workshop in a special issue of CPSR.
The first session of the workshop, entitled Western Liberal Democracy and Its Discontents, was chaired by Terry Lynn Karl, Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. Prof. Philippe Schmitter from the European University Institute made a presentation Real-existing” Democracy and Its Discontents: Sources, Causes, Symptoms and Prospects. Prof. Gianfranco Pasquino from Bologna University gave a speech on Crisis of Democracy or Crises within Western Liberal Democracies?.
The second session Post-Liberal Democracy: Are We There Yet? was chaired by Prof. Philippe Schmidt from European University Institute. Prof. Terry Lynn Carr from Stanford University made a presentation entitled The Crisis of Western Liberal Democracy in the United States. Prof. Enrique Peruzzotti from the University of Torcuato Di Tella talked on Post-liberal Democracy? Going beyond the Populism versus Liberalism Antinomy.
The third session Making Sense ofCrisis in Western Liberal Democracy was chaired by Prof. Enrique Peruzzotti from Bologna University. Prof. Dingping Guo, Professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University and Director of the Chan Centre, delivered a speech entitled Identity Politics and Democratic Crisis in Western Europe. Prof. Dwayne Woods from Purdue University talked on ls There a “Crisis ofliberal Democracy": lt Depends on Whether the C is Capitalized or Not!.
The fourth session of the workshop, entitled Political Parties and Representation, was chaired by Prof. Kenneth M. Robert from Cornell University. Prof. Till Weber from City University of New York made a presentation Parties, Pluralism, and the “Crisis" of American Representation. Dr. Maria Elisabetta Lanzone from Padua University, talked on Political Parties Dealing with the Crisis in Representation and Trust: the Controversial Case of ltaly.
Prof. Craig Parsons from Oregon University chaired the fifth session The Crisis of Democracy: Populism vs. Representation. Prof. Kenneth M. Robert from Cornell University delivered a speech Crises of Representation and Populist Challenges to Liberal Democracy. Dr. Zhongyuan Wang, research fellow at Fudan IAS, talked on Democratizing Democratic Elections: Skewed Representation by Election Administration in Established Democracies.
