Alessandro Ferrara, Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, gives the keynote address at the 2017 Oxford Graduate Political Theory Conference.
Professor Ferrara's discussion of democracy and dissent revolves around the Rawlsian paradigm. He raises the question of whether the Rawlsian concept of political liberalism still provides an adequate liberal democratic model for today's society. In an effort to update Rawl's paradigm to reflect the context of the 21st century, Professor Ferrara looks at how the paradigm can be made more responsive to hyper-pluralism, how political liberalism can help us make sense of the various manifestations of populism, and how we can deal with the challenges of post-liberal democracy.