III INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE DEMOCRACY & CONSTITUTIONALISM Democracy Beyond Consensus: Constitutionalism, Power and Plural Futures in a Fragmented World

The International Conference on Democracy and Constitutionalism reaches its third edition in 2026 as a continuing space for international academic dialogue on the transformations affecting democracy, constitutionalism, the rule of law and the institutional organisation of power.
The initiative was established in 2024 from a premise that remains central to its research agenda: constitutional democracy cannot be adequately understood through the isolated examination of constitutions, courts or electoral institutions. Democratic stability is shaped by the interaction of political institutions, social structures, technological transformation, economic inequality, environmental pressures, international relations and competing conceptions of legitimacy.
The first edition, held on 24 and 25 September 2024, framed these problems in a broad comparative context. The second edition, held on 2 and 3 October 2025, shifted from diagnosing democratic pressures to governing interconnected risks. Its programme brought together 26 speakers from 14 countries and deepened the Conference’s international research network.
Across its successive editions, the Conference has sought to place different constitutional experiences, disciplinary traditions and geopolitical locations into dialogue. This network perspective becomes particularly important where contemporary constitutional problems exceed territorial and disciplinary boundaries, while democratic accountability remains largely organised inside national constitutional systems.