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Conference Announcement Theme: Authority in a Transnational Age Type: A Modern Law Review Seminar Institution: Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context, Queen Mary University of London Location: London (United Kingdom) Date: 8.–9.11.2013 __________________________________________________ Contemporary jurisprudence – and legal scholarship and legal education more generally – is currently under serious challenge from the emergence of arguably new legal phenomena at the non-state or transnational level. This challenge is both substantive and methodological. Substantively, legal scholars are being confronted with, and asked to explain, phenomena which cannot easily be explained by theories which put the sovereign state at the centre. Such phenomena include internet regulation and the new lex mercatoria. New jurisprudential problems are also raised by the growth of transnational communities, which bring with them a variety of different legal traditions and understandings. Methodologically, in this context, traditional conceptual analysis is arguably ever more in need of being informed by empirical analysis – for the old concepts, and their universalistic tendencies, are being criticised as inadequate. One concept that calls for revision in the transnational context is authority. Considering how that concept, juristically and normatively, is being challenged by the transnational context is the focus of the seminar. Questions are being raised as to whether authority is better conceived of as capable of being shared, or held in degrees, or continuously negotiated amongst a group of communities or institutions. Questions are also raised about what kind of authority exists at the transnational level, and what it should be called – is it ‘legal’ or ‘regulalatory’? Further, it is being hotly debated whether authority so re-conceived is normatively desirable. A number of scholars have argued that the reality at the transnational level is that communities or institutions have (legal or regulatory) authority in degrees; moreover, their sharing it, or negotiating it, with other communities or institutions, is perhaps a condition of their having it at all. This qualification of (legal or regulatory) authority in the transnational context, which we may call, following Roger Cotterrell, ‘relative authority’, demands serious analysis. In particular, it is imperative that jurisprudes and legal scholars consider how to assess the quality of relations between normative communities and institutions of relative authority: does such quality require, for instance, certain unfamiliar techniques of legal reasoning? Should the design of institutions change given the emphasis on communication and interaction between them? What are the limits that can be placed – and who could place them – on the claims to authority made by normative communities? It is the aim of this seminar to engage in such questions, focusing on juristic and normative issues surrounding the concept of authority in the transnational context, but drawing on multiple methods and perspectives. In doing so, the seminar hopes to usher in a jurisprudence for the transnational age. More precisely, the sub-themes for the seminar will include: 1. the state and its authority, thereby providing a comparison or contrast with the transnational context; 2. the concept of authority from the perspective of pluralism, and its descriptive and normative credentials; 3. the discourse of constitutionalism and its relationship with the concept of authority; 4. sociological and anthropological perspectives on transnational authority; 5. historical and comparative perspectives on authority in transnationalism; and 6. examining the privatisation of authority, especially in the context of relations between regulatory institutions and private organisations and corporations. Venue: Arts Two Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS Programme Friday 8 November 2013 9.30am-10am Registration / Coffee and Tea 10am-10.15am Welcome and Introduction: Dr Maks Del Mar, Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas 10.15am-12.30pm Session I: The State and its Authority Chair: Professor John Linarelli, Swansea University - Professor Leslie Green, University of Oxford - Professor Michel Troper, University of Paris X 12.30pm-1.30pm Lunch 1.30pm-3.45pm Session II: Constitutionalism and Authority Chair: Professor Andrew Halpin, National University of Singapore - Professor Mattias Kumm, Social Science Research Center, Berlin and Humboldt University - Professor Neil Walker, University of Edinburgh 3.45pm-4.15pm Afternoon tea 4.15pm-6.30pm Session III: Authority from the Perspective of Pluralism Chair: Professor Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, University of Oxford - Professor Nico Krisch, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin - Professor Paul Schiff Berman, George Washington University Law School 6.30pm-8.00pm Wine Reception - Official Announcement of the Winner of the 2013 Transnational Authority Essay Competition - Book Launch of Dr Nicole Roughan, Authorities: Conflicts, Co-operation and Transnational Legal Theory, Oxford University Press, 2013 – Introduction by Professor Michael Giudice, York University, Canada 8pm Official dinner Saturday 9 November 2013 9.30am-10am Coffee and Tea 10am-12pm Session IV: Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives on Transnational Authority Chair: Professor David Nelken, University of Macerata, Italy and King's College, London - Professor Sally Falk Moore, Harvard University - Professor Roger Cotterrell, Queen Mary University of London 12.15pm-1pm Lunch 1pm-3.15pm Session V: Historical and Comparative Perspectives on Transnational Authority Chair: Professor Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Queen Mary University of London - Professor Patrick Glenn, McGill University - Professor Werner Menski, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 3.15pm-3.45pm Afternoon tea 3.45pm-6pm Session VI: The Privatisation of Authority and the International Economy Chair: Professor Joanne Scott, University College London - Professor Horatia Muir Watt, Sciences-Po, Paris - Professor Gralf-Peter Calliess, University of Bremen 6pm Thank you and Departure Registration Those interested in attending should book online via the Queen Mary e-shop: http://eshop.qmul.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&deptid=34&catid=1&prodid=410 Fees: - Both days (catered): £120 - One day (catered): £65 - Student / pensioner / unwaged rate for both days (catered): £75 - Student / pensioner / unwaged rate for one day (catered): £40 Participants may also register for the optional conference dinner. Details are available during registration on the Queen Mary e-shop page: http://eshop.qmul.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&deptid=34&catid=1&prodid=410 Contact: Dr Maks Del Mar Department of Law Queen Mary University of London Mile End Road London E1 4NS United Kingdom Email: m.del...@qmul.ac.uk Web: http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/events/items/93264.html __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
