Peter Niesen : "Restricting freedoms in the name of democracy?"- "Mode d’emploi", the festival of ideas at Villa Gillet

Can democracy restrict public freedoms? Normally, the purpose of democracy is to protect public freedoms such as freedom of expression, demonstration, assembly and association. But these freedoms are often restricted in the name of democracy: voices are silenced, demonstrations banned, meetings prevented and associations dissolved because they are deemed dangerous to the regime. Can such restrictions be legitimate? Under what conditions?  How can we prevent abusive attacks on freedoms that claim to be democratic? With Charles Girard, philosopher and author of "Délibérer entre égaux. Enquête sur l'idéal démocratique" (Vrin, 2019), and Peter Niesen, philosopher at the University of Hamburg, a Franco-German debate to examine restrictions on freedoms in contemporary democracies.

Peter Niesen is Professor of Political Theory at Hamburg University and co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Constituent Power. His research interests lie in International Political Theory, the political philosophies of Kant and Bentham, and animal politics.
He is a 2024-25 Fellow at the Collegium de Lyon.

Villa Gillet website.

Sponsors:

Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Librairie La Voie aux chapitres, Goethe-Institut Lyon