The 2026 Columbia University Graduate Conference in Political Theory will examine the current state of democracy in the United States and beyond, with a focus on backsliding, resistance, and reform. The program will be organized around four panels: Poststructuralism; Corporate Power; Normative Foundations; and Social Structures.
9:00-10:30 AM POSTSTRUCTURALISM
“Emancipation Without Revolution: The Late Foucault on Parrēsia”
Mathis Bitton (Harvard University)
Discussant: Prof. Bernard Harcourt
“The Politics of Deconstruction: Derrida and the Democracy to Come”
Lena Güldner (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Discussant: Prof. Ayten Gündoğdu
10:45-12:15PM CORPORATE POWER
“What is Wrong with Asset Manager Capitalism?”
Hugo Till (University of Oxford)
Discussant: Prof. Dan Luban
“Interest Group Lobbying in the Administrative State: An Epistemic Perspective”
Andrew Hahm (Princeton University)
Discussant: Prof. Turku Isiksel
12:15-1:45 PM Lunch
1:45-3:15 PM NORMATIVE FOUNDATIONS
“Plebiscitary Secession and Democratic Boundary Problem”
Sirwan Renas (University of Pennsylvania)
Discussant: Prof. Jean Cohen
“Reifying the Social Contract: A Hybrid Interpretation of the General Will"
Rachel Lentz (University of Notre Dame)
Discussant: Prof. Nadia Urbinati
3:30-5:00 PM SOCIAL STRUCTURES
“Bodies Dead and Living: Gandhi, Ambedkar and the Problem of Political Form in
Colonial India”
Raghuveer Nidumolu (Cornell University)
Discussant: Prof. Karuna Mantena
“‘It Was a Different World’: How Social Structure Wrongs”
Mengyuan Qi (University of Pittsburgh)
Discussant: Prof. Alyssa Battistoni
5:15-6:45 PM Keynote Address
Prof. Paulina Ochoa Espejo (University of Virginia)
