Constitutional Patriotism: Founding Documents and the Emotions from Magna Carta to the Declaration of Human Rights – Call For Papers

Constitutional Patriotism: Founding Documents and the Emotions from Magna Carta to the Declaration of Human Rights
Majestic Roof Garden Hotel, 55 Frome Street, Adelaide, South Australia
17-18 September, 2015

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

  • Prof. Paul Halliday, History and Law, University of Virginia
  • Prof. Sharon R. Krause, Political Science, Brown University
  • Prof. David V. Williams, Law, The University of Auckland

When it was sealed in 1215, Magna Carta was essentially just a treaty between an embattled Norman king and his fractious Anglo-Norman aristocracy, and most of its provisions were irrelevant to the vast majority of the common people. It is only in retrospect, and through its investment with patriotic emotion by interested rhetoricians like Sir William Blackstone in his Commentaries, that this document and its origins at Runnymede have come to symbolize liberty resisting arbitrary power through ‘due process’ of law.

Arguably, the treatment of Magna Carta by Blackstone (and countless others across the centuries) is an example of ‘constitutional patriotism’. Constitutional patriotism is the practice of constructing a unifying ideology that emphasizes emotional attachment to the arrangements of government, and is common in multi-ethnic and/or pan-national states that are or aspire to be democracies. Jurgen Habermas developed the concept in the context of post-war Germany as a means of combating nationalistic and racial approaches to establishing state identity. As such it is a useful heuristic tool for discussing foundational constitutional documents and their subsequent emotional appeal (or lack of it).

Indeed studying constitutional patriotism may assist in understanding the causes and consequences of collective emotions generally, because affective investment in ink and parchment surely requires special efforts of rhetorical engineering and particular forms of reception.

Papers are now sought that address this theme within a European context, or a global context linked to a European past, between 1200 and the present day. Within the conference theme, papers may wish to explore, but are not limited to:

  • Consideration of one or more of the Magna Carta, the American Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Waitangi and the UN Declaration of Human Rights in this context.
  • Prospects for affective engagement with UK constitutional re-arrangements following the 2014 Scottish referendum and for the European Union and its project of state-building by treaty more generally.
  • Modern Australian patriotism and the significance of key documents, as opposed to other symbolic notions or objects such as ANZAC memorials.
  • Comparison of the use of emotional rhetoric in documents from different contexts.
  • Other critical applications of constitutional patriotism in historical contexts of the UK, Europe, Australia and the US.

Interdisciplinary perspectives are particularly welcome.

Abstracts of no more than 500 words, and a short bio, should be emailed to Jacquie Bennett, jacquie.bennett@adelaide.edu.au, by Friday 10 July 2015.

Deadline: Friday 10 July 2015

Notification of acceptance: Friday 31 July 2015

Long abstracts for circulation: Tuesday 1 September 2015

Registration: opens Monday 6 July 2015

Submissions and enquiries to: Jacquie Bennett, jacquie.bennett@adelaide.edu.au