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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270419T093000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270419T123000
DTSTAMP:20260724T121617Z
CREATED:20260724T121617Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260724T121617Z
UID:4305-1808127000-1808137800@brias.be
SUMMARY:Junior Scholar Event: writing session
DESCRIPTION:More Details TBD soon. This event may be subject to modifications in schedule and content.
URL:https://brias.be/event/junior-scholar-event-writing-session-9/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270421T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270421T170000
DTSTAMP:20261014T122136Z
CREATED:20260930T130354Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261014T122136Z
UID:4566-1808319600-1808326800@brias.be
SUMMARY:BIFD and Francqui Inaugural Lecture Michael Saward
DESCRIPTION:The Representative is Present: Power\, Politics and Democracy in The Square\nby Michael Saward \nAcross a range of countries\, a resurgent far right is targeting many values and markers of contemporary democracy (or at least\, liberal democracy). Some opponents of democratic erosion or backsliding argue that democracy must become something it has not yet been to do the work of equality\, freedom and empowerment that is demanded of it; it must be deepened\, extended\, transformed. Central to this thinking is the need to bring power closer to the people\, to increase trust and legitimacy in democratic ideas and institutions. We need\, so it is argued\, more proximity\, co-creation\, deliberation and connection between representatives and the represented\, perhaps even in ways that destabilize that very distinction. To explore this conjecture in stark terms\, the lecture takes us to The Square – a place of face-to-face encounter (or co-presence) where representation meets participation\, government meets citizen\, and roles and identities are contested and negotiated. In The Square\, the representative is present\, and relations of power are performed amid more fluid and dynamic sense of time\, space\, and material. Can exploring The Square – across a range of real-world and hypothetical examples – sharpen our thinking and open doors to new modes of democratic transformation? \nBio\nMichael Saward is Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick. A democratic theorist\, he is author of The Representative Claim (Oxford UP 2010)\, Making Representations (ECPR Press and Rowman and Littlefield 2020) and Democratic Design (Oxford UP 2021). In recent years he has been a visiting scholar at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México\, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil)\, and Australian National University. International collaborations have in 2024 produced two new volumes: Claiming and Contesting Representation in Mexico: Meanings\, Practices and Settings (edited by F. Castanos\, S. Inclan and M. Saward) (Bristol: Bristol University Press 2024); and Bodies\, Spaces\, Claims: The Theory and Practice of Performing Political Representation (edited by P. Diehl and M. Saward) (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2024). Along with Shirin Rai (SOAS) and Warwick Theatre and Performance colleagues Silvija.
URL:https://brias.be/event/bifd-and-francqui-inaugural-lecture-michael-saward/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270422T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270422T140000
DTSTAMP:20261016T100526Z
CREATED:20260724T121631Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261016T100526Z
UID:4306-1808395200-1808402400@brias.be
SUMMARY:Thursday seminar: BIFD Tània Verge + BIFD Ekaterina Rashkova
DESCRIPTION:Challenging Patriarchy while Countering the Far Right: The Case for Feminist Policies for Men\nby Tània Verge \nGender equality policies have historically focused on women\, for good reason: gender structures inequalities and power relations that systematically advantage men. When addressing men\, gender equality policies have tended to approach them primarily as agents of change\, exhorting them to become allies or equality ambassadors\, embrace care\, reject violence\, and\, more generally\, adopt more egalitarian masculinities. Yet such approaches have clear limitations. Attitudes are unlikely to change simply because policy targets attitudes directly\, particularly in an increasingly reactionary political context. \nThis lecture makes the case for feminist policies for men\, without embracing narratives of male victimhood. By feminist policies for men\, I mean policies that address the gendered conditions shaping men’s lives\, ranging from educational underachievement and the marked underrepresentation in care professions to specific health risks or the invisibility of male victims of sexual violence. Acknowledging men’s structural privilege does not preclude recognising situated disadvantages affecting men and boys\, nor addressing them through concrete policy measures\, including positive action. \nRather than seeking to transform masculinities primarily through interventions aimed at changing attitudes\, feminist policies for men should intervene in the material and institutional conditions through which attitudes\, behaviours and gender relations are (re)produced\, thereby bearing more potential for structural transformation. In doing so\, feminist policy can challenge patriarchy while also contesting anti-feminist and far-right actors who turn men’s (gendered) problems into grievances against women\, feminism and LGBTIQ+ people. \nBio\nTània Verge is a Full Professor of Politics and Gender at the Department of Political and Social Sciences\, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF\, Barcelona)\, where she led the Equality Unit between 2014 and 2021 and coordinated the Minor in Gender Studies. Between May 2021 and August 2024\, she served as Minister of Equality and Feminisms of the Government of Catalonia\, and between May 2024 and February 2026 she was an MP in the Parliament of Catalonia. \nHer main area of research is gender and politics\, with a focus on how political parties and parliaments are shaped by gender dynamics and on resistance to the adoption and implementation of equalities policies. Her consultancy and governmental practice have also given her new insights into the possibilities and limitations of feminist institutional redesign. \nExclusive Democracy? The Role of Political Parties in Mobilizing the Migrant Vote\nby Ekaterina Rashkova \nLiving in an era of mass movement of people – over 300 million people reside elsewhere than their country of birth – it is pertinent to re-address the issues of political participation and representation. Political parties\, which originated as the main linking pins between people and government\, have largely operated within national grounds. Often\, we refer to that link as the one between citizens and government. Yet\, in a world of global migration we can no longer think in terms of citizens since with immigrants and emigrants\, the electorate has changed beyond nationality and national boundaries. Recent work (e.g. Rashkova and van der Staak 2019) shows that many national parties now engage with their diaspora abroad and claim that migrants’ relationship with the receiving state affects their political participation at home (e.g. Chaudary 2018\, Finn 2020). At the same time\, the evidence on why some parties engage with diaspora while others do not is mixed (e.g. Piccio 2020\, Kernalegen and Van Haute 2020). The intention of this talk is to present a snapshot of a research agenda that aims to 1) draw attention to a budding issue of a changing model of representation\, 2) provide a brief account of how theoretically political parties respond to migration\, and 3) set the scene for a larger scholarly debate on the changing nature of representation due to the changing role and needs of civil society around the globe. \nBio\nEkaterina R. Rashkova is a comparative political scientist with expertise on party competition\, gender and migrant politics\, and representation. Her research interests lie in understanding the behaviour of political actors and the strategies they employ\, given the institutional framework and the societal pressure they operate in. Currently\, she is working on the representation of migrants and the party abroad. The political integration of non-citizen residents in host countries\, as well as the connection of national political parties to their diaspora abroad. Her work often compares new and established democracies and has appeared among others in Comparative European Politics\, West European Politics\, European Political Science Review\, International Political Science Review\, Party Politics\, and Political Studies as well as in several edited book volumes.
URL:https://brias.be/event/thursday-seminar-bifd-ekaterina-rashkova-bifd-tania-verge/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270503T093000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270503T123000
DTSTAMP:20260724T121631Z
CREATED:20260724T121631Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260724T121631Z
UID:4307-1809336600-1809347400@brias.be
SUMMARY:Junior Scholar Event: writing session
DESCRIPTION:More Details TBD soon. This event may be subject to modifications in schedule and content.
URL:https://brias.be/event/junior-scholar-event-writing-session-10/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270505T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270505T180000
DTSTAMP:20261021T130051Z
CREATED:20260724T121631Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T130051Z
UID:4308-1809507600-1809540000@brias.be
SUMMARY:Thursday seminar: BIFD Théo Aiolfi + Anyuta Snauwaert
DESCRIPTION:The Art of the Breach: Populism\, Transgression and Performances the People\nby Théo Aiolfi \nIn an era marked by a widespread distrust towards parties and established political figures\, where neoliberalism’s hegemony has prevented the rise of radical challenges to the status quo\, claiming the mantle of the struggle of the people against the elite has never been more appealing for political actors. In this talk that is grounded in critical populism studies and performance studies\, I will introduce the notion of populism as both style and aesthetics\, a repertoire of symbolic practices that constructs the people through its embodiment in the performances of the political leader. \nAt the core of populism lies what I will describe in this talk as the “art of the breach”: the deliberate transgression of political and social norms. Breaking norms – whether it is in the way one talks\, acts or shares ideas – is a powerful way to challenge the status quo\, stand out from other politicians and create a memorable persona. However\, being transgressive does not necessarily mean being subversive\, and transgression is a high-wire act for politicians who choose to embrace it. Pushed too far\, it can alienate mainstream voters and invite backlash; reined in too much\, it risks looking exactly like the establishment politics it claims to reject. This talk will invite its audience to consider the central role of transgression in our current political scene\, and the question it raises about representative democracy. \nBio\nThéo Aiolfi is a junior professor at the Université Bourgogne Europe\, as part of the Centre Interlangues Texte\, Image\, Langage (TIL). His interdisciplinary research is located at the intersection of political science\, communication and performance studies. His research interests include populism\, performativity\, style and politics as performance\, with a focus on far-right politics and political leadership.\nHe is one of the convenors of the Populism Specialist Group\, one of the largest groups within the Political Studies Association in the United Kingdom and a major platform for critical studies on populism. He is also a member of several international research networks\, including the Reactionary Politics Network\, [Democracy\, Signification and Resistance (DESIRE)]\, the Warwick Performance and Politics Network and the International Populism Research Network. \nTitle TBC\nby Anyuta Snauwaert
URL:https://brias.be/event/thursday-seminar-bifd-theo-aiolfi-anyuta-snauwaert/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270510T093000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270510T123000
DTSTAMP:20260724T121632Z
CREATED:20260724T121632Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260724T121632Z
UID:4309-1809941400-1809952200@brias.be
SUMMARY:Junior Scholar Event: writing session
DESCRIPTION:More Details TBD soon. This event may be subject to modifications in schedule and content.
URL:https://brias.be/event/junior-scholar-event-writing-session-11/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270513T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270513T180000
DTSTAMP:20260909T114001Z
CREATED:20260724T121632Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260909T114001Z
UID:4310-1810198800-1810231200@brias.be
SUMMARY:PPDB workshop: Political Parties and Democratic Governance
DESCRIPTION:More Details TBD soon. This event may be subject to modifications in schedule and content.
URL:https://brias.be/event/ppdb-workshop/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270513T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270513T140000
DTSTAMP:20261021T130450Z
CREATED:20260724T121646Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T130450Z
UID:4311-1810209600-1810216800@brias.be
SUMMARY:Thursday seminar: BIFD Susan Scarrow
DESCRIPTION:The changing landscape of party politics: a view from 5 continents\nby Susan Scarrow \nAround the world the landscape of party politics seems to be in constant flux\, with established parties and party practices being challenged by changing political demands and by changing technologies that facilitate the success of new parties and of non-party political action.  In response\, parties themselves are changing\, including by publicizing new initiatives to strengthen citizen-party ties. But how much of this is hype and how much has substance?  This talk investigates the extent and potential impact of recent developments in the context and conduct of party politics\, using data from the newly completed Wave 3 of the Political Party Database to trace changing party practices. \nBio\nDr. Susan Scarrow is Moores Chair Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston. She has published widely on how political parties and political finance rules affect political participation and citizens’ attitudes towards politics. Her books include Beyond Party Members and Organizing Political Parties: Representation\, Participation\, and Power (co-editor). She is a founding co-director of the Political Party Database Project\, a global consortium of scholars studying political party development.
URL:https://brias.be/event/thursday-seminar-bidf-susan-scarrow/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270520T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270520T140000
DTSTAMP:20261021T134511Z
CREATED:20260724T121646Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T134511Z
UID:4312-1810814400-1810821600@brias.be
SUMMARY:Thursday seminar: BIFD Sandrine Baume + BIFD Cristina Leston-Bandeira
DESCRIPTION:The Paradox of Militant Democracy Through the Lens of Dirty Hands\nby Sandrine Baume \nThe idea that democracy may need to protect itself against actors seeking to undermine it from within lies at the heart of militant democracy. Yet militant democracy raises a fundamental normative problem: how can democracies defend themselves against forces exploiting democratic rights for antidemocratic purposes without themselves violating those rights? This tension has been described as the “paradox of democratic self-injury.” Existing scholarship has generally adopted two contrasting positions. Some regard the paradox as insurmountable and therefore reject militant measures as incompatible with democratic principles. Others consider it surmountable\, apparent\, or essentially pragmatic\, and argue that suitably constrained militant measures can be justified. \nThis paper develops a third approach by interpreting the paradox of democratic self-injury as a “dirty hands” scenario. Such scenarios involve genuine moral conflicts in which competing values cannot be fully reconciled. Militant democracy\, we argue\, confronts democracies with a conflict between political self-determination\, requiring free political competition\, and the preservation of stable democratic institutions\, which may require restricting that competition. This perspective acknowledges the genuine moral costs of militant measures while allowing for their qualified justification. It also implies that such measures require compelling evidence of a serious threat to democratic institutions and must remain sensitive to the moral risks inherent in defending democracy. \nBio\nSandrine Baume is a Full Professor at the University of Lausanne. Her research lies at the intersection of democratic theory and the history of political thought. She has focused in particular on institutions (such as constitutional courts)\, key actors (such as political parties)\, principles (including transparency and democratic self-defence)\, and practices (such as political compromise). Her extensive knowledge of legal scholars from the Weimar Republic has played apivotal role in shaping her research and publications.\nMore recently\, she has broadened her research to examine the political competence of people with intellectual disabilities\, with particular attention to the role that the concept of autonomy plays in this debate. \nPutting citizens at the heart of parliaments\nby Cristina Leston-Bandeira \nAre parliaments at risk of becoming irrelevant to our democratic political systems? Trust in parliament has been in acute decline for some time and decision-making power has decisively shifted to executive institutions\, if not to supra-national private commercial companies with far more power political institutions. In increasingly complex societies where information is characterised by noise and polarisation\, political institutions struggle to communicate with the people they are accountable to. In all likelihood\, parliaments are invisible to the vast majority of people; either because they cannot dissociate them from governments and/or politicians in general\, or simply because they really do not feature in their day-to-day life. In this talk I will reflect on the practical challenges that parliaments encounter to keep their relevance to people. This will include a reflection on the core characteristics of the institution of parliament which makes them destined to be unloved. I will review how parliaments have reacted to this so-called crisis of democracy. This will show the wide range of initiatives that parliaments have introduced particularly since the turn of the 21st century. I will reflect on the effectiveness of these and on the characteristics that hinder parliaments’ ability to connect and engage citizens meaningfully. \nBio\nCristina Leston-Bandeira is Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds\, UK\, and Co-Director of its Centre for Democratic Politics. Professor Leston-Bandeira has been instrumental in promoting research on the relationship between parliaments and citizens. Her pioneering work on symbolic representation and the way it facilitates public engagement has profoundly shaped the subfield of parliamentary research in the UK and beyond. The author of over 70 publications\, Cristina has recently co-edited the highly innovative ‘Reimagining Parliament\,’ which asks what Parliament should be in the 21st century and offers wide ranging suggestions for parliamentary reform. Leston-Bandeira was Chair (2020-26) and co-founder of the pioneering International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN)\, having broken new ground as the first female academic Chair of the UK Study of Parliament Group (2019-22). She is a leading scholar on parliaments and public engagement and was awarded the UK Political Studies Association 2025 Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for her outstanding professional contributions to political studies.
URL:https://brias.be/event/thursday-seminar-bifd-sandrine-baume-bifd-cristina-leston-bandeira/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270524T093000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270524T123000
DTSTAMP:20260724T121646Z
CREATED:20260724T121646Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260724T121646Z
UID:4313-1811151000-1811161800@brias.be
SUMMARY:Junior Scholar Event: writing session
DESCRIPTION:More Details TBD soon. This event may be subject to modifications in schedule and content.
URL:https://brias.be/event/junior-scholar-event-writing-session-12/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270525T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270525T180000
DTSTAMP:20261021T134702Z
CREATED:20260724T121647Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T134702Z
UID:4314-1811235600-1811268000@brias.be
SUMMARY:BrIAS Thursday Seminars: BIFD Alice Poma + BIFD Nana Akua Anyidoho
DESCRIPTION:The role of emotions in building sustainable societies\nby Alice Poma \nAddressing the climate and socio-environmental crisis requires not only regulatory and structural reforms\, but also a profound cultural transformation capable of rethinking humanity’s place on the planet. Decarbonising the economy may help mitigate the effects of climate change\, but it does not address climate injustice and may even exacerbate it through mechanisms such as carbon markets and large-scale renewable energy projects promoted by corporations. A way to achieve a cultural change is challenging the capitalist emotional culture\, which promotes indifference towards socio-environmental and climate crises\, loyalty and trust in corporations\, and resignation to the belief that no alternatives to their system exist. In contrast\, activism can promote and enact an alternative emotional culture\, in which emotions and feeling rules associated with a desired future are reclaimed — what may be described as a prefigurative emotional culture (Poma\, 2026). In this talk I will present how the construction of a sustainable emotional culture could be a first step for building sustainable societies\, and how this can help prevent resignation. \nBio\nAlice Poma is a full-time researcher at the Institute of Social Research\, National Autonomous University of Mexico (Spanish: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México\, UNAM). Poma carries out research in Emotions and Social Movements\, currently around the emotional response to climate change in activists and non-activists.\nHer work on the emotional dimension of activism has focused on understanding the impact of emotions at various stages of mobilization and on social and cultural change. Her latest book\, “Llevamos un mundo nuevo en nuestros corazones: Una guía para construir una cultura emocional prefigurativa” (We Carry a New World in Our Hearts: A Guide to Building a Prefigurative Emotional Culture) (UNAM\, 2026)\, demonstrates how emotions—as sociocultural constructs—are central to building the counter-hegemonic culture needed to create another world. \nTitle TBC\nby Nana Akua Anyidoho \nBio\nNana Akua Anyidoho is a researcher in social policy and social development at the University of Ghana. She is interested in the ways in which marginalized social groups (in particular\, young people and women) navigate unfavourable policy structures in their struggles for social and economic rights. Her research focuses on higher education policy\, youth and women’s employment\, with emphasis on themes of agency\, participation and inclusion.
URL:https://brias.be/event/brias-thursday-seminars-bifd-alice-poma-bifd-nana-akua-anyidoho/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270527T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Brussels:20270527T180000
DTSTAMP:20260909T114019Z
CREATED:20260724T121647Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260909T114019Z
UID:4315-1811408400-1811440800@brias.be
SUMMARY:Forum: Cities and Democracy: Cities as Democratic Enclaves + Closing Ceremony
DESCRIPTION:More Details TBD soon. This event may be subject to modifications in schedule and content.
URL:https://brias.be/event/forum-cities-and-democracy-closing-ceremony/
LOCATION:BrIAS\, Boulevard Général Jacques 210\, Ixelles\, Brussels\, 1050\, Belgium
CATEGORIES:Programme Events
END:VEVENT
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