Former Fellow

Elisa Piras

Postdoctoral Researcher in Political Philosophy, Sant’Anna School for Advanced Studies, Pisa (Italy)

Project title:
The Crumbling Public. Analyzing power dynamics within the public sphere

Research abstract:
The project aims at producing a sound theoretical study to investigate how pathologies of information and epistemic injustices have caused a blackout of the public sphere within contemporary democratic societies, making the formation of public opinion less predictable and ‘disconnecting’ the public from governments as well as from the information system, hampering the accountability and justificatory mechanisms that have been conceptualized by influential contemporary authors such as Rawls and Habermas. The argumentation will rely on insights presented by authors who have worked on public opinion at the beginning of the 20th century and it will present and discuss the main contemporary philosophical-political views on the pathological processes produced by power asymmetries and their effects on the public sphere – disinformation and epistemic injustices – in order to challenge/criticize the liberal accounts of the public sphere as a stability factor for a (just and stable) democratic political system based on dialogue and deliberation.

Events:
23 November 2021
Post-pandemic Frontiers of Global Justice
Lecture at the Colloquium Political Theory

  • Biografische Angaben

    Elisa Piras is Post-doctoral Fellow in Political Philosophy at DIRPOLIS Institute, Sant'Anna School for Advanced Studies (Pisa). She is didactic coordinator of the Master in Human Rights and Conflict Management. Her research interests focus on contemporary political liberalism and its international implications, theories of public opinion, history of political thought, security and gender.
  • Publikationen

    – “Se l’è andata a cercare! Violenza di genere, colpevolizzazione della vittima e ingiustizia epistemica”, Ragion Pratica, 1, 2021, pp. 251-272. – “Inequality in the Public Sphere: Epistemic Injustice, Discrimination and Violence”, in Democracy and Fake News: Information Manipulation and Post-Truth Politics, edited by Serena Giusti and Elisa Piras, London: Routledge, Chapter 2, pp. 30-39. – “Migration and Theories of Justice: a Critical Reappraisal”, Soft Power. Revista euroamericana de teoría e historia de la política y del derecho, vol. 6, no. 1 (2019), pp. 337-361.

News from the research center

Event
10.02.2027 | Frankfurt am Main

Shifting Visions of Peace and Security

Panel Discussion, Lecture Series

Podiumsdiskussion im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times” mit Lisbeth Zimmermann (Goethe University/Normative Orders), Antonia Witt (PRIF), Siddarth Tripathi (University of Erfurt). Moderation: Jonas Wolff (Goethe University/PRIF/Normative Orders).

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Event
03.02.2027 | Frankfurt am Main

AI, War, and Big Tech

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Ingvild Bode (University of Southern Denmark)im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
16.12.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

International arms control in a world of uncertainties

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Malte Göttsche (TU Darmstadt/PRIF) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
02.12.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Enabling Authoritarianism: UN Peacekeeping and the Politics of Authoritarianism

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Sarah von Billerbeck (University of Reading) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
25.11.2026 | Frankfurt

Deterrence in “Post-Liberal Times“

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Maria Mälksoo (Copenhagen University) (Goethe-Universität/PRIF/Normative Orders) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
18.11.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

The Case for (Neo)colonialism: Neotrusteeship in International Relations as the ‘Imperial Mind’ of the ‘Colonial Present’

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Nick Lemay-Hébert (Manchester University) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
28.10.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Postliberal vs. liberal Perspectives on Peace and Security and Crises

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Christopher Daase (Goethe-Universität/PRIF/Normative Orders) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
02.02.2027 | Frankfurt

Klassenjustiz, race und abolitionistische Demokratie

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Daniel Loick (Amsterdam) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Ist das Recht am Ende?" im Wintersemester 2026/2027. Organisiert von Klaus Günther und Benno Zabel.

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Event
19.01.2027 | Frankfurt

Nach der Normativität. Zum Verhältnis von Politik und Recht unter komputationalen Bedingungen

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Sabine Müller-Mall (Frankfurt am Main) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Ist das Recht am Ende?" im Wintersemester 2026/2027. Organisiert von Klaus Günther und Benno Zabel.

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