Traditions of Latin American Political Thought and Constitutionalism

January 12-13, 2024
New Orleans, LA
(a conference-within-conference at the SPSA)

Co-hosted by Richard Avramenko (CSLD at the University of Wisconsin–Madison) and Philip Munoz (CCCG at the University of Notre Dame), we will sponsor a two-day conference that piggybacks on the 2024 SPSA conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Scholars will be offered the opportunity to present and workshop papers, which will then be gathered for a special issue of the Political Science Reviewer in mid-2024. The theme is “Latin America”, but we are hoping that scholars will present papers that showcase their particular corner, discipline, and methodology.

The Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy (UW–Madison) and The Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government (Notre Dame) will provide a $1500 travel grant to cover travel, lodging, meals, and entertainment — $750 after the conference in NOLA, and $750 upon submission of a revised paper to the Political Science Reviewer.

Timetable:

January 3, 2024: First draft of paper due (25pp max)
January 12-13, 2024: Paper workshops
March 17, 2024: Revised draft of paper due (submit to Political Science Reviewer)
March 30, 2024: Reader reports due
June 30, 2024: PSR 48.2 (2023) published

Conference Schedule:

Keynote Address

Saturday, 6:00pm-7:30pm (Churchill D – 2nd Floor)
“Power over Energy: Law, Resource Nationalism, and Latin America’s Central Role in the Global Climate Change Crisis”
Diego von Vacano, Texas A&M University

Panel 1: Law, Liberty, and Constitutionalism in Latin America

Friday, 5:00pm-6:20pm (Churchill C1 – 2nd Floor)

Chair: Richard Avramenko (University of Wisconsin)

Paper 1: “The Allure of Jeremy Bentham’s Universal Legislation in the Gran Colombia“
Alejandro Castrillon, Baylor University

Paper 2: “Plurinational Legal Pluralism in Bolivia and Ecuador: An Impossible Mission?“
Guillermo Perez, University of Texas, Austin

Paper 3: “Republican Anarchy: Conservative Reflections in Post-Independence Colombia“
Juan Vargas, University of Notre Dame

Paper 4: NOT ATTENDING “Liberalism and the Constitutional Revolution in Spanish America During the Independence Period”

Roberto Breña, Centro de Estudios Internacionales, COLMEX

Discussants: Castrillon, Perez, Vargas

Panel 2: Latin American Thought in Comparative Perspective

Saturday, 9:30am-10:50am (Churchill C1 – 2nd Floor)

Chair: Diego von Vacano, Texas A&M University

Paper 1: “Lucas Alamán and Tocqueville: Federalism in Mexico“
Luke Foster, University of Notre Dame

Paper 2: “Suppressing the Wicked and Ensuring Order: Lucas Alamán’s Burkean Political Thought in Postcolonial Mexico“
Brendon Westler, St. Olaf College

Paper 3: “Ortega’s Revolt of the Masses and the Future of Liberty“
Pedro Gonzalez, Barry University

Paper 4: “Nostalgia for Empire: Ortega y Gasset on Memory in the Crisis of Modernity“
Phillip Pinell, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Discussants: Foster, Westler, Gonzelez, Pinell

Panel 3: Political Thought on the Rio de la Plata

Saturday, 11:00am-12:20pm (Churchill C1 – 2nd Floor)

Chair: Richard Avramenko (University of Wisconsin)

Paper 1: “Political Theology in Laclau’s Theory of Populism“
Alejandra M. Salinas, Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero

Paper 2: NOT ATTENDING “To Change the Church and to Change the World: Pope Francis Between Tradition and Revolution”
Daniel Mahoney, Assumption College

Paper 3: “Tyranny in Americas: Sarmiento’s Tocquevillian Science and the Causes of Rosas’ Tyranny“
Eduardo Schmidt Passos, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Paper 4: “Before Magical Realism: Facundo, Azul, Ariel and the Literature of Latin American Political Thought“
Nayeli Riano, Georgetown University

Discussants: Salinas, Mahoney, Passos, Riano