CONFERENCE: De-juridification: Appearance and Disappearance of Law at a Time of Crisis

The Annual Conference of the IVR International Association of Legal and Social Philosophy, UK Branch
The London School of Economics and Political Science
25-26 October 2014

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De-juridification: Appearance and Disappearance of Law at a Time of Crisis

It was not too long ago that many legal philosophers and sociologists were expressing deep concerns about juridification, i.e. law’s expansion as a mode of governance and its distorting effects on social relations. 

Now, however, under conditions of globalisation and in the midst of a global crisis, there are several indications that the trend of juridification is being reversed, that law is subsiding and giving way to other modes of governance. With governments offloading many of their central tasks to civil society, with international economic agencies exercising normative authority, with people seemingly recognising each other more as economic actors than as legal subjects, and with the interpretation of indeterminate laws being carried out not by courts but by actual power-holders, to mention only very few examples, it seems appropriate to ask questions regarding a process of de-juridification which seems to be afoot. 

The main aim of the conference is to explore various aspects of de-juridification. Contributions are invited from legal philosophy, socio-legal theory, legal anthropology, and other law-related disciplines to tackle questions such as the following: Is a process of de-juridification underway? In which contexts does law recede? What replaces it and how? Does less law mean more or less politics? Does it entail a shift in the meaning of legitimacy? 

Keynote speakers: Professor Antje Wiener (Hamburg) and Professor Peer Zumbansen (Osgoode Hall). 

Abstracts of up to 200 words should be sent to the treasurer of the UK IVR executive, Dr Emmanuel Melissaris (e.melissaris@lse.ac.uk), by 1 July 2014. 

Full rate: £50 - UK IVR members: £40 - Students/unemployed: £30