Join the Centre for the Study of Democracy for a talk with Dr Aris Trantidis (Lincoln): In Defence of Democratic Noise: Equality, Voice and Social Knowledge in Climate Governance.
Climate change revives an epistemic objection to democracy. Because citizens lack relevant scientific expertise and may resist measures which experts deem necessary, democratic processes would delay effective action, justifying authoritarian alternatives. I answer this objection on its own ground, effectiveness rather than legitimacy. Policy intervenes in complex social systems, generating grievances and reactions as it unfolds. These reactions cannot be known beforehand but can obstruct policy implementation. Suppressing democratic voice converts early signals policymakers could address into later costs they must confront. Hence, effective action requires tracking how people experience and react to policy. By granting citizens equal standing to speak and welcoming public expression, democracy exposes policymakers to continuous, unsolicited, uncensored and unstructured social feedback. This reveals the content, intensity, and spread of grievances, enabling policy revision or compensation before stronger resistance or public upheaval. Without displacing expertise or guaranteeing results, democracy can reduce the risk of implementation failure.
About the speaker
Aris Trantidis is an expert on democratic politics, with publications exploring democracy’s performance and resilience against authoritarianism, economic crisis, corruption and discrimination based on gender and minority status. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Dr Trantidis was previously a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI), and a Visiting Lecturer and Teaching Fellow at the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London.
Dr Trantidis is the author of the book ‘Clientelism and Economic Policy: Greece and the Crisis’ (Routledge, 2016). His research has been published in several journals, such as the ‘Journal of European Public Policy’, the ‘British Journal of Politics and International Relations’, ‘Politics’, 'Polity', 'Review of Behavioral Economics', ‘Constitutional Political Economy’, and ‘Democratization’ among others. He is the Associate Editor of the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (Sage).
Location
Westminster Forum, 5th floor, 32–38 Wells Street, London, W1T 3UW
The event will take place in person. If you have any questions, please email the seminar convener, Dr Matthew Fluck at [email protected].
About the centre
The Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), established in 1989, is based in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster. At the Centre, academics working in politics and international relations undertake socially engaged, methodologically diverse and often interdisciplinary research that aims to address a range of critical political challenges in relation to democracy worldwide.
CSD has a longstanding international reputation for research excellence through a programme of publications, events and collaborations with academics, practitioners, policymakers, and activists. Research in Politics and International Studies at CSD was ranked 4th highest in the UK for impact in the Research Excellence Framework 2021.
The Centre has established numerous collaborations with scholars and universities around the world and has hosted encounters with public intellectuals including Luc Boltanski, Judith Butler, Stuart Hall, Bruno Latour, Richard Rorty, Quentin Skinner, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Charles Taylor, James Tully, and Michael Walzer. The CR Parekh lecture, instituted by Lord Bhikhu Parekh, has included lectures by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arundhati Roy, and Ashis Nandy.
CSD recognises that responding to contemporary social and political challenges requires engagement beyond the academy, so actively welcomes dialogue and collaboration with researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and activists around the world. The Centre is directed by Professor Nitasha Kaul.
