News and Events

April 2, 2025 | 4:30 pm | Classics 110

Law, Letters, and Society with the Chicago Center on Democracy welcome Dirk Jörke for “Democratic Exhaustion”.

READ THE PAPER.

Abstract:

For several years now, people have been talking about a crisis of democracy. Articles and books on the subject often end with proposals for revitalizing democracy, whether through institutional reform or by calling on citizens to defend democracy. However, the possibility that this is not a temporary crisis but a transition to a new regime is ignored.

In contrast to this popular narrative, I would like to argue that the process of modernization is undermining the preconditions for democracy and that we are currently experiencing a kind of tipping point.

I will develop this argument in three steps. First, I will briefly recall theoretical considerations that assert a positive relationship between the process of modernization and democracy. However, the optimism associated with this has been exhausted (1). In a second step, I will argue that modernization and democracy are not mutually supportive, but that modernization undermines the foundations of democracy, at least beyond a certain threshold. I will focus on processes of globalization, heterogenization, acceleration, and digitalization. The thesis is that all of these processes undermine the social preconditions for the existence of democracy. (2). This leads to the conclusion that modern democracies are increasingly confronted with negative "ratchet effects" that cannot be reversed (3).

March 6, 2025 | 5:30 PM | SSRB 122
 

The Law, Letters, and Society Student Board brings together two leading experts in political philosophy to explore Machiavelli’s seminal ideas on power, governance, and tyranny. Professor Giovanni Giorgini will discuss Machiavelli’s perspectives on ancient tyranny, and Professor John McCormick will examine Machiavelli’s critique of the Medici’s rule. This dialogue-oriented event invites attendees to delve deeper into Machiavelli’s enduring influence on discussions of political morality, state authority, and contemporary governance. By juxtaposing two scholarly viewpoints, the conversation will illuminate the complexity of Machiavellian thought and its resonance in modern debates on leadership and ethics.

This event is presented in conjunction with The Forum on Law and Legalities, Fundamentals, The Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory.

February 13, 2025 | 10:00 - 11:30 am | METHODS WORKSHOP BREAKFAST

Prof. John W. Wertheimer leads an informal discussion on participatory methodologies. Presented by The Forum on Law and Legalities and Chicago Center on Democracy. 

This event is free and open to the public.

February 14, 2025 | 12:30 - 2:00 pm | BOOK TALK

Prof. John W. Wertheimer discusses his book, "Race and the Law in South Carolina: From Slavery to Jim Crow". Presented by The Forum on Law and Legalities and Chicago Center on Democracy. 

This event is free and open to the public.

FEBRUARY 12, 2025 | 4:00 PM | REGISTER

Join the Chicago Forum and The Forum on Law and Legalities in welcoming California Supreme Court Associate Justice Goodwin H. Liu for a talk on free speech. The event will be moderated by Natalia Niedmann Alvarez, a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago who studies feminist legal history in the United States.

This event is free and open to the public.

November 20, 2024

Second-year students are invited to learn about the Law, Letters, and Society major, meet some of the faculty, and go over the application process.

Donuts and coffee will be provided.

November 12, 2024

The Forum on Law and Legalities welcomes Petra Molnar in conversation about her book, “The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” with comments by Chiara Cordelli, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, University of Chicago, Department of Political Science.

October 17, 2024
 

The Forum on Law and Legalities presents Prof. Mark A. Graber on “Punish Treason, Reward Loyalty: The Forgotten Goals of Constitutional Reform after the Civil War”. Comments by Prof. Farah Peterson of The University of Chicago Law School. 

This event is free and open to the public.

October 8, 2024

The Chicago Center on Democracy, and Law, Letters, and Society invite undergraduate students to chat with Rick Hasen, the Gary T. Schwartz Endowed Chair in Law at UCLA and author of A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy, over Zoom. 

Our gathering will feature a discussion based around Hasen’s internationally recognized expertise in election law and Americans’ constitutional right to vote ahead of the 2024 Presidential race, allowing students to bring in questions for Hasen to discuss, and provide their own insights and perspectives , anticipating an enriching exchange over Zoom!

MAY 15, 2024 @ 12:30 pm | Social Science Research Building, Tea Room (Room 201)

The Chicago Center on Democracy, and Law, Letters, and Society invite students to chat with New York Times opinion columnist David Brooks over a delicious lunch.

Our gathering will feature an informal discussion on democracy-related topics, allowing students to bring in questions for Brooks to discuss, and provide their own insights and perspectives , anticipating an enriching exchange over lunch!

MAY 9, 2024 @ 5:30 pm | Social Science Research Building, Room 122

LLSO, along with The Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory and The Chicago Center on Democracy welcome Provost’s Distinguished Fellow at Boston College Law School, Aziz Rana, discussing his book, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them with William Baude (Harry Kalven, Jr. Professor of Law andFaculty Director, Constitutional Law Institute).

This is the official welcome event for the Law, Letters, and Society class of 2026.

This event was recorded. You can view the recording here.

November 8, 2023 @ 5:00 pm |Social Science Research Building, John Hope Franklin Room (Room 224)

Law, Letters, and Society is proud to welcome Nelson Lichtenstein for a discussion of his new book, A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism, co-authored with Judith Stein

November 6, 2023 @ 4:30 pm | Stuart Hall, Room 101

with Dima Khalidi, Founder and Director of Palestine Legal

Amid a nationwide push to curtail the teaching of institutional racism and the dark sides of US history, we can learn important lessons from another subject on which campus communities have long experienced attacks on free speech and academic freedom: Palestine. In what can only be characterized as a “Palestine
Exception to free speech,” academics, students, and others who speak out for Palestinian rights are routinely falsely accused, investigated, surveilled, harassed, and sometimes suffer severe consequences to their reputations and careers. Right-wing efforts to dictate what academics and others can and can’t say, teach, or write are proliferating. What is at stake? What can we learn from Palestinians and their allies whose histories, narratives, and experiences are constantly denied, erased, and criminalized, even in academia? How can we ensure that universities and other entities can be bastions of academic freedom and free speech, and not enforcers of corporate, lobbyist, and governmental political litmus tests?

OCTOBER 9, 2023 @ 12:30 pm | Social Science Research Building, Tea Room, Room 201, 1126 E 59th St.

Join CISSR and Law, Letters, Society as we welcome Guido Alfani to speak on his upcoming book called As Gods Among Men: A History of the Rich in the West forthcoming from Princeton University Press.