An interdisciplinary space for critical reflectionThe Social Contract in Dispute: Discourse, Legitimacy and Transformation  

Living in a context of intense political tensions and polarisations that threaten how society is organised and the fundamentals of democratic legitimacy, the 28th International Meeting of Research and Investigation (EIRI) is dedicated to reflecting on the social contract and its contemporary transformations.

At a moment when democracy itself, human rights and humanitarian concerns, and international law are under threat, EIRI seeks to renew and motivate discussion on the reasons that political authority is legitimised by the interdependent relations between political subjects and governing authorities. The event is interdisciplinary in nature and welcomes paper and panel proposals from the arts, humanities and social sciences.

The social contract, as a metaphor, carries significant weight and force in the political imagination. The ideas surrounding it permeate discussions on popular power, constitutionalism, and the rights and duties of the people, as well as emancipatory reflections on revolution, resistance and disobedience. More than a static founding myth, the social contract can be understood as a dynamic, affective arrangement, continually renegotiated, contested and rewritten within political, legal, cultural, linguistic, literary and communicational practices.

The aim is to promote an interdisciplinary space for theoretical reflection and empirical analysis that approaches the social contract not only as a normative or legal-political category, but also as a symbolic, narrative, and cultural construction, continuously subject to dispute, erosion, or renewal.

 DLAC — Department of Letters, Arts and Communication · UTAD CES — Centre for Social Studies · University of Coimbra CEL — Centre for Literary Studies · UTAD