Political communication: Observed with Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory
Time: 29-31 May 2019
Place: International University Centre (IUC), Dubrovnik, Croatia
Conference organizers: Klaus Brønd Laursen and Gorm Harste, Aarhus University, Denmark; Gina Atzeni, LMU Munich, Germany; Steffen Roth, La Rochelle Business School, France, and Yerevan State University, Armenia; Markus Heidingsfelder, Habib University Karachi, Pakistan.
Final programme available for download here.
The conference committee invites contributions which analyse and discuss political communication based on Niklas Luhmann’s perspective on systems theory. The overall theme of the conference is to promote a better understanding of how political communication codes various areas of contemporary society. We welcome contributions from scholars who practice and study political communication at all levels of society. The conference is relevant for theoretical and empirical studies in politics, aesthetics, sociology, theology, history, economics, health, psychology, ecology and organization. Contributions are not limited to studies focusing solely on political systems, but may also include politically coded communication in other areas of society. Analytically, systems theory is empirically open. As it turns out, new semantics, different codes, and changing forms transform and develop structures at varying and opposed levels. As such, contributions could, for example, focus on how the media of power is formed; how the code government/opposition informs communication; how double contingency is handled within politically coded communication; which paradoxes emerge in conjunction with political coding and how they unfold. The conference aims to gather scholars working with theoretical and methodological clarifications, as well as empirical studies. Furthermore, contributions are welcome that compare or combine system analysis with other forms of analysis or aim at developing systems theory by including thoughts from other traditions (e.g. Foucault, Bourdieu, Deleuze, analysis of discourse, ANT, STS).
Abstracts of no more than 400–800 words should be send to the conference organisers by March 1, 2019.
Participants are furthermore kindly invited to consider combined participations in subsequent events @Inter-University Center Dubrovnik such as the Paper Development Workshop on “NOR. Reverse engineering the Laws of Form” (3-4 June 2019) and the 18th International Social Theory Consortium Conference (5-7 June 2019).
Luhmann Conference 