The YTL Centre in Politics, Philosophy, and Law invites you to a lecture by Professor Tarun Khaitan, ARC Future Fellow, Associate Director (India) Asian Law Centre, University of Melbourne.

Title: Political Insurance for the (Relative) Poor: How Liberal Constitutionalism Could Resist Plutocracy

Date: 28 January 2019 
Time: 5.00pm - 6.00pm
Venue: SW1.17, Somerset House East Wing, The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London, Strand Campus 

Abstract:

Fair value of equal political liberties is a key precondition for the legitimacy of a regime in liberal thought. Preventing a semi-permanent lockout of a social group from all political power is a threat to the stability of liberal constitutional regimes. Given the convertibility, subtlety and resilience of power, gross material inequality—produced by neoliberal economic policies—effectively locks the relative poor (roughly, the bottom 20% of a class hierarchy) out of political power. Such lockout breaches both the legitimacy and the stability constraints of a liberal constitutional democracy. Neoliberal democracies, sooner or later, become plutocracies. This possibility should be of concern not only for liberal political theory but also for liberal constitutionalism. The usual objections to a constitutional concern with gross inequality and plutocracy—based on transparency, countermajoritarianism and flexibility—are useful design instructions, but do not rule out the constitutionalisation of egalitarian and anti-plutocratic norms. A whole panoply of legal and political constitutional measures—already familiar to or incrementally developed from liberal constitutional thought and practice—could be marshalled to promote material equality and prevent plutocracy.

Biography: 

Tarun Khaitan a Future Fellow at Melbourne Law School, working on a project on the resilience of democratic constitutions, with a focus on South Asia. He is also an Associate Professor and the Hackney Fellow in Law at Wadham College, currently on special leave for four years starting 1 September 2017.

He is also the General Editor of the Indian Law Review, an Academic Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, an Affiliate of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and an Associate of the Oxford Human Rights Hub. He completed his undergraduate studies (BA LLB Hons) at the National Law School (Bangalore) in 2004 as the 'Best All Round Graduating Student'. He then came to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and completed his postgraduate studies (BCL with distinction, MPhil with distinction, DPhil) at Exeter College. Before joining Wadham, he was the Penningtons Student (Fellow) in Law at Christ Church.

 

This event is open to the public and everybody is welcome to attend, though everyone must register.

Seats are allocated on a strictly first come, first served basis. 

If you find you can no longer attend please cancel your ticket registration, so that someone else can have your place.