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The YTL Centre usually holds three 'Law and Justice' forums per year. These are one day events that discuss major questions of the day by bringing to bear inter-disciplinary perspectives from politics, philosophy and law.

The forum on December 6th will be on the broad theme of 'Democracy and citizen participation'. The key question will be the extent to which citizen participation is essential to a healthy democracy and how it relates to democratic political representation. Other question that arise include: ways of fostering citizen participation within a system of representative democracy; the effects of social divisions on political representation and participation; the role of referendums and plebiscites; implications for the role of constitutional courts; the authority of experts, the rise of populism and social media; and the impact of the EU on democratic political participation. The aim of the forum is to foster a dialogue on these matters that is truly international, bringing together three leading legal and political thinkers from Australia, India and the UK.

Main speakers:

Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University
Pratap Bhanu Mehta is Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University. He was previously President, Center for Policy Research. He has been a Professor at Harvard, JNU, and the Global Faculty Program at NYU Law School. He has published widely in political theory, constitutional law, society and politics in India, governance and political economy, and international affairs. His most recent publications include The Oxford Handbook to the Indian Constitution (co-edited with Madhav Khosla and Sujit Choudhary); Rethinking India's Public Institutions (with Devesh Kapur and Milan Vaishnav); Non-Alignment 2.0 (with Srinath Raghavan, Sunil Khilnani et al), The Oxford Companion to Politics in India (with Niraja Jayal); India and Multilateralism (with Bruce Jones and WPS Sidhu) and the Burden of Democracy. 

Professor David Runciman, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge 
David Runciman is Head the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) and Staff Fellow in Politics at Trinity Hall. His recent books include The Politics of Good Intentions and Political Hypocrisy (both Princeton University Press) and How Democracy Ends (Profile Books, 2018) and he has written widely about the history of ideas and contemporary politics. He is a regular contributor to a number of newspapers and journals, including the London Review of Books, and to politics programmes on BBC Radio. He is also a Trustee of the Gates Cambridge Trust.

Professor Cheryl Saunders, School of Law, University of Melbourne 
Cheryl Saunders AO, is Laureate Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne Law School. She has specialist interests in Australian and comparative public law, including comparative constitutional law and method, intergovernmental relations and constitutional design and change. Among other works, she is the author of The Australian Constitution: A Contextual Analysis (Hart Publishing, 2011) and is currently working on a monograph on comparative constitutional law. She is a President Emeritus of the International Association of Constitutional Law, a former President of the International Association of Centres for Federal Studies, a former President of the Administrative Review Council of Australia and a senior technical advisor to the Constitution Building program of International IDEA.

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Programme

11.00-12.30: Professor David Runciman (University of Cambridge): 'Democratic participation, political representation and new social divisions'. Chair: Dr Sarah Fine (KCL). Commentator: David Goodhart (Policy Exchange)

12.30-1.30: Lunch

1.30-3.00: Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta (Ashoka): 'Democracy, Accountability and Social Cooperation'. Chair: Claudia Chwalisz (OECD). Commentator: Professor John Skorupski (St. Andrews University).

3.00-3.15: Break

3.15-4.45: Professor Cheryl Saunders (University of Melbourne): 'Referendums and Representative Democracy'. Chair: Professor John Tasioulas (KCL). Commentator: Professor Peter Ramsay (LSE).

Attendance for the entire event is not compulsory.

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.