Conference | The Divided Society | Postponed 

The Italian Academy at Columbia University | 1161 Amsterdam Ave, New York 

Please note, due to the recent developments regarding COVID-19 (Corona Virus) in the State of New York and the suspension of classes at Columbia University, the conference “The Divided Society” has been postponed to a future date.

The new decade has revealed deepening fault lines and unrelieved polarization. In contemporary democracies, there is less disagreement on the facts, such as the existence of ethnic diversity or economic inequality. But conflict over the correct policy responses continues unabated. Nation-states have succeeded in creating a common conversation, but the participating sides are increasingly interpreting it differently. As readers and viewers, citizens keep to their own kind, thus widening the chasms in standards for recognition or outrage and the perceived tradeoffs between inclusion and liberties. When policy debates devolve into winner-take-all showdowns, the lessons learned by the political parties tend to drive them further apart.

From the realm of foreign policy to the politics of identity, an unresolved question haunts our liberal democratic systems: where does popular sovereignty truly reside? With the current pique of charismatic chief executives and constitutional crises in the democratic and democratizing world, echoes of Carl Schmitt reverberate in the chambers of parliament and the halls of justice. Democracies that prize political majoritarianism without protecting voices of the minority encourage defeatism. Are we becoming inured to the reality of an increasingly divided society?

Reset Dialogues in collaboration with the Italian Academy at Columbia University and the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, presents a half-day event to confront these themes in furtherance of its mission to promote cultural pluralism and political liberties.

Participants

Giuliano Amato • Lisa Anderson • Sheri Berman • Giancarlo Bosetti • Seyla Benhabib • Jelani Cobb • Ian Buruma • Marina Calloni • Jonathan Laurence • Mark Lilla • Jedediah Purdy • Michael Walzer

For information please contact: info@resetdialogues.org

Attendance is free and open to the public upon registration HERE