The Democratic Case for Judicial Review
A Participatory interpretation of the internal relation between the Rule of Law and Democracy
Lecture by Prof. Cristina Lafont (Harold H. and Virginia Anderson Professor of Philosophy, Northwestern University)
Commentators Prof. Richard Bellamy (Professor of Political Science, University College London) and Dr. Sofie Møller (Postdoctoral Fellow at the Research Centre Normative Orders of Goethe University) within the Lecture Series on “Rule of Law and Democracy” on April 9th 2021 at the Research Centre Normative Orders of Goethe University.
The crisis of democracy we face today triggers many questions about the very concept of democracy as well as its interaction with other political ideals.
Some of those who embody this crisis claim to speak in the name of the people and contradict, at the same time, the most basic democratic institutions of Constitutional states. That pushes us to look at one highly contested issue, which is the relation between democracy and the rule of law ideal. Are they based on contradictory principles, and united, paradoxically, in Constitutional Democracies – as Habermas has pointed it out? Are they completely independent one from another – as some other scholars believe? Does it make sense to talk about a democratic rule of law ideal?
The Lecture Series on Rule of Law and Democracy attempts to address this issue from a multidisciplinary perspective. History, Philosophy of Law and Political Philosophy are here brought together to enrich and shed different lights on this old debate that revives once again.
Organized by Dr. María Emilia Barreyro (Postdoctoral Fellow at Normative Orders), Dr. Sofie Møller (Postdoctoral Fellow at Normative Orders) and Carlos Gálvez-Bermúdez (PhD student at Normative Orders)
News from the research center
„Dass niemand wirklich frei ist, bevor es nicht alle sind.“
International Symposium in Memory of Jürgen Habermas. Featuring international panels on the rise of authoritarianism and the threats to democracy as well as on the communicative turn in philosophy and sociology, followed by a keynote from by Axel Honneth.
more information ›AI Truth Regimes
Artificial intelligence is currently transforming the way knowledge and truth are produced and understood. With the advent of AI, people are progressively transitioning from being active subjects and producers of epistemic processes to becoming their mere objects. The of this discussion will be critical engagements towards these developments as well as opportunities for resistance. With Antonio Somaini, Júlia Nueno Guitart (Forensic Architecture) and Medico International.
more information ›The Legacy of Kant’s Political Philosophy
A two-day workshop on Howard Williams‘ new book about Immanuel Kant‘s political philosophy.
more information ›Wehrhafte Demokratie: Chancen und Grenzen des Parteiverbots
Im Mittelpunkt des Abends steht die Frage, ob und unter welchen verfassungsrechtlichen, politischen und gesellschaftlichen Voraussetzungen ein Verbot einer demokratisch gewählten, rechtsnational ausgerichteten Partei als legitimes Mittel in Betracht gezogen werden kann oder nicht. Ausgehend von den normativen Grundlagen des Parteienverbots im Grundgesetz, möchten wir die hohen rechtlichen Hürden und demokratietheoretischen Spannungsfelder dieser Maßnahme erörtern – zwischen Pluralismus und Selbstverteidigung, zwischen Meinungsfreiheit und Schutz der freiheitlichen demokratischen Grundordnung.
more information ›Rechtsextremismus und Polizei - Erscheinungsformen, Umgangsweisen, Perspektiven
Die Diskussion knüpft an den Sammelband „Rechtsextremismus als Herausforderung für Polizei und Gesellschaft“ an, der aktuelle Perspektiven aus Wissenschaft, Praxis und Zivilgesellschaft zusammenführt.
more information ›Videopodcast-Reihe „Our Planet, Our Health“ gestartet
Mit „Our Planet, Our Health“ startet eine neue Videopodcast-Reihe zu Fragen globaler Gesundheitsgerechtigkeit. Die Reihe, gehostet von Dr. Romina Rekers, ist eine Initiative des Global Health Justice Postdoctoral Programme (GHJ), gefördert von der Höppschen Stiftung.
more information ›Disinhibited Informalization: Talk Radio, Bro Podcasts and the Aesthetics of Populism
This essay by Johannes Völz is a revised and updated translation of “Enthemmte Informalisierung: Talk Radio, Bro-Podcasts und die Ästhetik des Populismus,” WestEnd: Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung 22.2 (2025): 3–24. It is published here as part of the b2o Review’s “Stop the Right” dossier.
more information ›Shifting Regimes, Changing Orders
Conference as part of WDC 2026 in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Designtheorie und -forschung (DGTF), Kunstgewerbemuseum/Design Campus SKD and Design and Democracy
more information ›