Facing the State. Left Analyzes and Perspectives

Friday, September 22nd and Saturday, September 23rd, in Athens, Greece, Transform! Europe presents its yearbook «Facing the State. Left Analyzes and Perspectives«, with the participation of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences represented by Karina BatthyányExecutive Director, and Pablo Vommaro, Director of Research.

The organizers argue that over the years, the left has confronted the state in various ways and has developed theoretical and political tools for analysis and understanding that have led to different political approaches. However, it seems that new circumstances require new ideas and tools. Confronting the state today means asking new questions about its form, its role, and the positioning of the 21st-century left in relation to it, both in terms of theory and strategy as well as practice.

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Karina Batthyány and Pablo Vommaro together with Marga Ferré, Co-President of Transform! Europe, and Cristina Lustemberg, Uruguayan Deputy

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Program

Friday September 22

13:45 (local time): Social and environmental challenges of the State

Participants: 

Giulia Russo, PhD candidate in Political Science and Sociology at the Scuola Normale Superiore

Franz Segbers, Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, University of Marburg

Hans Thie, author, formerly economic and energy policy advisor to the Left Party in the German National Assembly

Hilary Wainwright, Co-editor of Red Pepper magazine

Moderator: Conny Hildebrandt, Co-President of transform! europe

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16:00: The State and forms of authoritarianism

Participants:

Steven Forti, Historian, Autonomous University of Barcelona

Katerina Papanikolaou, PhD in Public Law, member of the Hellenic Authority for Communications Security and Privacy

Gavin Rae, Associate Professor of Sociology at Koźmiński University in Warsaw

Sophia Vidali, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Policy, Department of Social Anthropology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences

Moderator: Danai Koltsida, Director of the Nicos Poulantzas Institute, Co-Vice President of transform! europe

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18:15: From Marxist to Post-Marxist Theories of the State and Beyond

Participants:

Athena Athanasiou, Professor of Social Anthropology-Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences

Étienne Balibar, Visiting Professor, Kingston University, London, United Kingdom

Yohann Douet, PhD and associate researcher at Sophiapol Lab (Paris Nanterre)

Dunja Larise, Coordinator of the "Austro-Marxism" project supported by transform! europe, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and the City of Vienna

Göran Therborn, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Cambridge, Affiliated Professor, Linnaeus University, Sweden

Moderator: Michalis Spourdalakis, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

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Saturday September 23    

12:00: Feminist Perspectives on the State

Participants:

Karina Batthyány, Executive Director of CLACSO, Full Professor and researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of the Republic of Uruguay

Ankica Čakardić, Associate Professor, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, member of the Editorial Board of The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg (Verso, London/New York)

Angeliki Drongiti, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Sociology at the University of Crete

Moderator: Aliki Kossyfologou, PhD in Political Science, researcher

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15:15: The left in government and the state

Participants:

Marga Ferré, Co-president of transform! europe

Cristina Lustemberg, Member of Parliament for Montevideo, Uruguayan Parliament (2020-2025)

Hanna Sarkkinen, Member of the Finnish Parliament, former Minister of Social Affairs and Health (2021-June 2023)

Euclid Tsakalotos, Professor of Economics, National and Kapodistrian University, Syriza MP, Former Minister of Finance (2015-2019)

Moderator: Haris Golemis, Editor-in-Chief of the transform! europe yearbook

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17:30: Nation-states and the breakdown of the international order

Participants:

Volodymyr Ishchenko, Research Associate at the Institute of Eastern European Studies, Freie Universität Berlin

Maria Eleni Koppa, Professor of Comparative Politics, Panteion University of Political and Social Sciences

Antonis Tzanakopoulos, Professor of Public International Law, University of Oxford

Susan Watkins, Editor, New Left Review

Moderator: Walter Baier, President of the European Left

Sputnik Lounge – Keramikou 46, Athina 104 36, Greece

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