ABSTRACT: Although one can hardly conceive of democracy without reference to political parties, news outlets, and social media platforms, these intermediary bodies face profound challenges in the present. If intermediary bodies are a necessary feature of modern democratic rule, then what are the organizations, technologies, professional norms, and theoretical assumptions that make this interrelation possible? In this workshop, we will treat such intermediary bodies as a distinct research agenda. We ask:

• What kind of professional associations, if any, should regulate intermediary behavior?
• What kinds of moral dispositions do intermediary institutions call for?
• How do intermediary bodies secure deference from the public?
• Does intermediation have an anti-democratic lineage? 
• How do technological innovations motivate new forms of intermediation? What kind of legal status ought intermediary bodies enjoy?
• Does intermediation represent a stable transhistorical category?

Schedule

November 3, 2023

10:00 AM - 11:50 PM: Reframing Parties
     Panel: Lisa Disch, Chris Bickerton, Carlo Invernizzi Accetti
     Discussant: Nikhil Menezes

1:30 PM - 3:20 PM: Situating Media
     Panel: Nikhil Menezes, Victor Pickard, Paolo Gerbaudo
     Discussant: Utku Cansu

3:30 PM - 5:20 PM: Intermediation and Democracy
     Panel: Nadia Urbinati, Paul Starr, Simone Chambers
     Discussant: Max Ridge

November 4, 2023

10:00 AM - 11:50 AM: New Realms of Intermediation I
     Panel: Max Ridge, Jennifer Forestal, Bernardo Zacka
     Discussant: Gaby Nair

12:00 PM - 1:50 PM: New Realms of Intermediation II
     Panel: Peter Giraudo, Dongxian Jiang, Kim Lane Scheppele
     Discussant: Darius Weil

Papers will be pre-circulated. Email Kim Girman, [email protected], for access.