Primary: William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890): Chapters 12-16
Supplementary: William Morris, ‘Unattractive Labour’ (1885); Attractive Labour’ (1885); ‘As to Bribing Excellence’ (1895)

Primary: William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890): Chapters 8-11
Supplementary: Angela Davis, ‘Abolitionist Alternatives’ in Are Prisons Obsolete? (2003): Chapter 6

Primary: William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890): Chapters 4-7
Supplementary: Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854): Chapters 1-2; Lorna Finlayson ‘I was a Child Liberationist’ (2021)

The Europeanist Society and the Austrian Society are delighted to host Member of the European Parliament Lukas Mandl for a talk on European geopolitics, the urgent need for courage, and the dire consequences of inaction.

Lukas Mandl served as Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence, and currently chairs the European Parliament’s Delegation to the Korean Peninsula. He is also President of the Altiero Spinelli Group and the European Federalist Movement Austria.

‘The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy’ is less well known compared to the texts explored in the previous two weeks. However, it contains Schmitt’s most direct and sustained attack on liberal democracy as a theoretical ideal. The seminar will explore Schmitt’s criticism that liberal democracy is an oxymoron, paying close attention to Schmitt’s understanding of liberalism and democracy respectively. We will then connect Schmitt’s understanding of democracy with his concept of the political and sovereignty.