Democratic and Undemocratic Language. The Parliament as Democracy in Action?

International Conference
in Memoriam Barbara Prammer

in collaboration with the Austrian Parliament

Vienna, 10-11 December 2015, Palais Epstein, Dr. Karl Renner-Ring 1

The conference investigates the relationship between democracy and language of politics with a special focus on parliamentary debate and the development of democracy in post-fascist societies. The conference seeks to research the plenary as a specific aspect of the public political sphere and as a standard setting arena for political (language)culture. Papers discuss the parliament as democratic institution and object of political research. They analyse the role of parliamentary rhetoric in the construction of national identity and the development of democratic citizenship. Furthermore, they explore ‘undemocratic’ processes of othering such as anti-Semitic rhetoric and stereotyping or anti-feminist utterances which challenge (normative) visions of democracy.

Conference languages: German and English

No conference fee. Registration required under http://www.parlament.gv.at/Veranstaltungen

Schedule:

Programme

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Panel 1: The parliament in democracy

Chair: Gisela Riescher, University of Freiburg

Eva Kreisky, University of Vienna: Die Erfindung des Parlamentarismus. Re-Lektüre von Theoriedebatten der 1920er und 1930er Jahren

Kari Palonen, University of Jyväskylä: Parliamentary Thinking as a Political Ideal Type

Nicolas Bechter, University of Vienna: Das Parlament in der politikwissenschaftlichen Forschung

Teemu Häkkinen, University of Jyväskylä: Parliamentary attitudes towards transnational Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Brittain, 1948-1949

Panel 2: Democracy in parliament

Chair: Karin Bischof, University of Vienna

Miina Kaarkoski, University of Jyväskylä: Conceptualization of 'democracy' in the German Bundestag during the antinuclear demonstrations in 1995-1998

Ratih D. Adiputri, University of Jyväskylä: Parliament and the development of democracy: a case study of Indonesia

Marion Löffler, University of Vienna: Practicing Democracy in plenary debates: Theoretical considerations

Panel 3: Parliamentary debates

Chair: Marion Löffler, University of Vienna

Cornelia Ilie, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi: Ritualized Patterns of linguistic stereotyping in parliamentary rhetoric

Maria Stopfner, University of Innsbruck: Female Heckling and Heckling Females in the Austrian National Council

Susanne Wein, FU Berlin: Antisemitismus im deutschen Reichstag. Judenfeindliche Sprache in der Politik der Weimarer Republik

Friday, December 11, 2015

Panel 4: Constructions of the demos

Chair: Werner Bergman, TU Berlin

Ingrid Metzler, University of Vienna: "Dem deutschen Volk": Imaginaries of publics, People, and populations in the German debate on Pre-Implantation genetic diagnosis

Karin Bischof, University of Vienna: On the discursive construction of the demos in parliamentary debates

Edma Ajanovic/Stefanie Mayer, University of Vienna: How "the People" become one. Analysing contradictive constructions of "others" at the heart of the right-wing populist/Extremist "we"

Ville Häkkinen, University of Jyväskylä: (Re)Describing the Nation: Anti-Semitism as a tool of Nation-Building in the Hungarian Numerus Clausus debates, 1920-1928

Panel 5: Post-fascist Democracy 1

Chair: Nicolas Bechter, University of Vienna

Brigitte Bailer, University of Vienna: All the same? Austria's dealing with the victims of Austro-Fascism and National Socialism sice 1945

Kathrin Braun, University of Vienna: Constructing the deserving victim: Coming to Terms (or not) with the Nazi persecution of the so-called "asocials" in Germany

Karin Liebhart, University of Vienna: Talking about the undemocratic past - discursive strategies and realizations

Panel 6: Post-fascist Democracy 2

Chair: Eva Kreisky, University of Vienna

Margit Reiter, University of Vienna: Antisemitismus und (Nicht)Thematisierung der Shoah im "Ehemaligen"-Milieu

Siegfried Göllner, University of Salzburg: Verlaufsskizzen politischer und popularer Diskurse zur Entnazifizierung in Österreich 1947-57

Matthias Falter,University of Vienna: "Sammlung der Mitte". Diskursive Neupositionierung von "Ehemaligen" in der Demokratie