Duration of stay: April 8 – June 18 2025
In cooperation with Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst
Funded by University of California Irvine and Research Center Normative Orders
Simone Chambers is Professor of Political Science at the University of California Irvine. She has written and published on such topics as deliberative democracy, referendums, constitutional politics, the public sphere, secularism, rhetoric, civility, digital misinformation and the work of Jürgen Habermas and John Rawls. Her most recent book, Contemporary Democratic Theory appeared with Polity Press in 2024.
Research project: Deliberation and the future of democracy: A realistic but not realist political theory
My research falls within the discipline of political philosophy. I am writing a book that seeks to argue that deliberative democracy offers a compelling diagnosis of what ails democracy today. Often accused of being ideal, unable to address power differentials, and unrealistic, this project aims to show that deliberative democracy is none of those things I pay particular attention to the rise and popularity of realist theories of democracy and argue that they fail to offer a compelling account of democracy.
Events
4/25 Kings College London: Public lecture
4/28 Oxford University: Public lecture
4/29 University Pompeu Fabra Barcelona: Colloquium presentation
5/22 University of Vienna: Public lecture
5/28 Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz: Public lecture
6/2 Frei University of Berlin: Colloquium presentation
6/3 Goethe University of Frankfurt: Public lecture „Is there a future for deliberative democracy? Democratic theory in the age of oligarchs, autocrats, and patriarchs“
6/12 University of Hamburg: Workshop presentation, 2025, 6:15 p.m.
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Publikationen
Simone Chambers. 2025. “Illusive Methodology. What is Normative Political Theory?” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.
Simone Chambers. 2025. “Populism, Popular Sovereignty, and Popular Rule. Democratic Theory 11 (2): 18-31
Simone Chambers. 2024. Contemporary Democratic Theory .Polity Press
Simone Chambers. 2024. “The Counter-Majoritarian Referendum: Popular Voting Processes and Constitutional Change.” Critical Review 36 (3): 338-351