PLEASE NOTE: As catering is provided at this event, please only register if you are sure you will be able to attend. If you have registered and subsequently cannot attend, please de-register and/or let us know (Email: admin@isrf.org)

The Independent Social Research Foundation (www.isrf.org) is dedicated to advancing the social sciences through the promotion of new modes of inquiry and the development of interdisciplinary expertise and methods, and through better understanding of social entities and processes. To achieve this objective, the ISRF offers research grants and enters into partnerships with institutions that promote development in interdisciplinary social research.

One such partner is The Conversation (theconversation.com/uk), an online news platform that derives its current affairs stories by guiding academics to write about their current research in a style more accessible to popular audiences. The ISRF funds the post of Interdisciplinary Editor at The Conversation UK - the Editor, Josephine Lethbridge, works with scholars at The Conversation’s member universities, as well as past and present Fellows of the ISRF, to bring interdisciplinary social research to millions of readers worldwide

At two related but distinct research events in The Netherlands - at Universiteit Leiden (2nd October 2018) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (3rd October 2018) - the ISRF intends to facilitate conversations around pressing political issues facing Europe - Referenda and Euroskepticism - whilst highlighting the value that publications such as The Conversation can bring to widening public debate. Each event will comprise a presentation from Stephen Khan, Editor of the U.K. branch of the The Conversation about the value of such a news platform: the benefits that it can bring to universities and the professional trajectories of individual researchers, and also, its important role in countering ‘fake news’. This presentation will be followed by specially invited lectures on ‘Referenda’ (Universiteit Leiden) and ‘Euroskepticism’ (VU Amsterdam), responses from ISRF Fellows, and plenty of time for open discussion among the audience.

DAY ONE: REFERENDA

Referenda seem to be en vogue in Western democracies. Since the adoption of its constitution in 1848, the Netherlands have seen three nation-wide referendums: one in 2005 about the Constitutional Treaty of the EU, another in 2016 about the EU’s Association Agreement with Ukraine, and the last one in 2018 about the Intelligence and Security Services Act (2018), (while initiatives to have a fourth one on the opt-out organ donation system just recently failed). In all three cases, a majority of the voters went against the wishes of the mainstream political elite. In response, the current government has decided to abolish citizen-initiated, consultative referendums. This means there is now effectively no possibility to have national referendums in the Netherlands.

Undoubtedly, the subject will continue to engage many Dutch citizens, politicians, and academics. A number of broader questions arise e.g. what makes referendums so popular? Do referendums undermine representative democracy or strengthen it? What effect does the possibility of referendums have on political compromise-making and consensus-seeking? Are citizens sufficiently qualified for participating in them? Which subjects – if any – are (un)suitable for different types of referendums? What is the effect of referendums on the quality of policies and laws? To what extent are national referendums compatible with international political cooperation? These are questions of immediate academic and civic importance that we intend to address in the seminar.

DOWNLOAD PROGRAMME (Includes Day Two)

CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE

• Annelien de Dijn - Professor of Modern Political History, Universiteit Utrecht
• Stephen Khan - Editor, The Conversation UK
• Matt Qvortrup - Professor of Applied Political Science and International Relations, Coventry University
• Geerten Waling - Researcher in History of Democracy, Universiteit Leiden

For more information about the EUROSKEPTICISM day in Amsterdam on 3rd October, and to register for that day, CLICK HERE.