Supplementary Call for Papers for DVPW Section Conference on Political Public Spheres
From September 30 – October 2, 2025, the second part of the double conference of the DVPW Section for Political Theory and History of Ideas will take place in Erlangen. It is dedicated to the basic concept of the public sphere in political theory. The conference in Erfurt in March 2025, which will focus on public sphere structures, will be followed by the Erlangen conference in fall 2025: This will discuss from a systematic, history of ideas and normative perspective which actors shape the democratic public sphere, which are excluded from it and which actively struggle for visibility; to what extent the recently intensively debated diagnoses of politically targeted narrativization, conspiracy rumours and disinformation campaigns are actually new phenomena of public communication and how these and other phenomena affect democratic decision-making. The focus should go beyond the question of strategies for action in democracies and be directed towards the public sphere – from (supposed) forms of decay of the democratic public sphere to undemocratic and anti-democratic strategies for action.
To supplement the preliminary program, proposals for contributions (German or English, 300-500 words plus short biography) can be submitted to poloeff[at]proton.me by February 10, 2025.