On Liberalism, Democracy and Their Troubled Relationship

Under the auspices of the Research Field "Political Philosophy of the 19th and 20th Centuries" this years' Summer School was organized again in cooperation with IWM's Partner Institutions: the Erasmus of Rotterdam Chair and the Collegium for Interdepartmental Studies, both at the University of Warsaw; the New Europe College, Bucharest; the Center for Theoretical Studies, Charles University, Prague; the Institute for Contemporary History, Prague; and the Society for Higher Learning, Bratislava.

The four courses of the school discussed the troubled relationship between liberalism and democracy in the liberal-democratic societies of today. Particular attention was given to
processes of radical transformation of the excommunist European countries, from the
“round table” negotations in Poland in early 1989 to the anti-Milosevic revolt in Belgrade in
2000 – and to their ambiguous consequences on international relations and on the dynamics
of democracy throughout the world. Texts of classic and modern liberal thinkers and leading
theorists of democracy – as well as some of the most prominent critics of both – were
analyzed and discussed, in an attempt to clarify the meaning and the political relevance of
various concepts of liberalism and democracy in the context of contemporary
politics and intellectual debates. Different legal and constitutional models of “liberal democracy”
in the contemporary world were analyzed.

Course 1

Liberal Critics of Liberalism
Professors John Gray and Marcin Krol

Course 2

Constitution State and Liberal Democracy
Professors Claus Offe and Ulrich Preuss

Course 3 

Ambiguous revolutions, 1989-2000
Professors Pierre Hassner and Aleksander Smolar

Course 4

Liberalism Challenged: On Violence, Death and God
Professors Leszek Kolakowski and Krzysztof Michalski