INVITATIONInterdisciplinary colloquiumSeptember 30, 2016

FROM THE PEOPLE TO THE PUBLICThe Significance of Public Opinion, Press and Propaganda from 1750 to 1850

«Après la faculté de penser, celle de communiquer ses pensées à ses semblables, est l’attribut

le plus frappant qui distinguel’homme de la brute. Elle est tout-

à-la-fois le signe de la vocationimmortelle de l’homme à l’état

social, le lien, l’âme, l’instrument dela société, le moyen unique de la

perfectionner, d’atteindre le degréde puissance, de lumières et de

bonheur dont il est susceptible.»

Maximilien Robespierre, Discours sur la liberté de la presse,

prononcé à la Société des Amis de la Constitution le 11 mai 1791.

While Robespierre passionately defended freedom of opinion and freedom of press in 1791, he was to be labelled 'the champion of censorship’ only a few months later. This change in position was of course the result of politicalevents and circumstances, but it might also attest to the significance of therevolution of the press within the revolutionary period from 1750 to 1850. Not only did the printed word become indispensable as a vehicle of informationand debate, it was also at this point that public opinion came to the fore - attimes quite literally and brutally - as a crucial vector of political participation. As such, the revolutionary media contributed to a large extent to the revolutionaryevents that they reported. Today, these newspapers, posters and pamphlets are a key source for historical research and philosophical reflection.

This colloquium brings together both young and established Dutch and Flemishresearches from history, law and philosophy to discuss their theoretical andempirical perspectives on 18th and 19th century transformations of the eliteand non-elite public sphere, propaganda and press, and the influence of these transformations on popular mobilization and political participation.

The event will take place at Hollands CollegeDamiaanplein 93000 Leuven

Participation is free of charge and includes coffee breaksand lunch. Doctoral students are especially welcome.

If you wish to attend, please register via e-mail:nora.timmermans@kuleuven.be.

All presentations will be given in English.

For more information, directions and other practicalities,please contact Nora Timmermans.

The colloquium is jointly organized by

KU Leuven's Faculty of Law and Institute

of Philosophy, within the framework of an

interdisciplinary research project entitled

‘Sovereignty in the Belgian Constitution:

Its 1831 Meaning and its Implications for

Political Participation Today’. The project is

supervised by prof. dr. Raf Geenens and

prof. dr. Stefan Sottiaux and funded by FWO

(Research Foundation - Flanders) and KU Leuven.

This event is a YouReCa initiative and

has received the generous support of

the Doctoral School for the Humanities

and Social Sciences (KU Leuven).

The event will take place at Hollands CollegeDamiaanplein 93000 Leuven

Participation is free of charge and includes coffee breaksand lunch. Doctoral students are especially welcome.

If you wish to attend, please register via e-mail:nora.timmermans@kuleuven.be.

All presentations will be given in English.

For more information, directions and other practicalities,please contact Nora Timmermans.

The colloquium is jointly organized by

KU Leuven's Faculty of Law and Institute

of Philosophy, within the framework of an

interdisciplinary research project entitled

‘Sovereignty in the Belgian Constitution:

Its 1831 Meaning and its Implications for

Political Participation Today’. The project is

supervised by prof. dr. Raf Geenens and

prof. dr. Stefan Sottiaux and funded by FWO

(Research Foundation - Flanders) and KU Leuven.

This event is a YouReCa initiative and

has received the generous support of

the Doctoral School for the Humanities

and Social Sciences (KU Leuven).

PROGRAMME 30 SEPTEMBER 201609.00 – 09.30 : REGISTRATION

09.30 – 09.40 : WELCOME

09.40 – 11.10 : SESSION 1

Chair: Nora Timmermans (KU Leuven)

- Maarten Colette (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): The Expanding Universe of Radical Redefinition: Lessons from the 18th Century- Olga Bashkina (KU Leuven): Sieyès on the Possibility of Dissent- Nora Timmermans and Christophe Maes (KU Leuven): Classical Republicanism and Revolutionary Press: The Work of Camille Desmoulins as a Symbiosis?

11.10 – 11.30 : COFFEE BREAK

11.30 – 13.00 : SESSION 2

Chair: Bas Leijssenaar (KU Leuven)

- Bas Leijssenaar (KU Leuven): ‘Communicative’ Sovereignty: Guizot on Capacity, Publicity, and Reason- Jane Judge (KU Leuven): ‘Jués par le Peuple’: Popular Political Participation in the United States of Belgium, 1790- Frederik Dhondt (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): Legal Literacy and Political Activism from Below: the Case of Jan Joseph Raepsaet (1787-1815)

13.00 – 14.00 : LUNCH

14.00 – 15.30 : SESSION 3

Chair: Ronald Van Crombrugge (KU Leuven)- Raf Geenens and Stefan Sottiaux (KU Leuven): Sovereignty in the Belgian Constitution: Its 1831 Meaning and its Implications for

Political Participation Today- Brecht Deseure (University of Passau): "Nous ne sommes plus dans l'ordre légal". Legal Order, Legitimate Power and Popular Sovereignty in

the Belgian Revolution- Stefaan Marteel: The Political Thought of the Belgian Revolution and the Rise of the Nation-State

15.30 – 15.50 : COFFEE BREAK

15.50 – 17.20 : SESSION 4

Chair: Christophe Maes (KU Leuven)

- Annelien De Dijn (Universiteit van Amsterdam): Freedom, and Democracy and Liberalism in the Early Nineteenth Century: A Historical Analysis- Carmen Van Praet (Universiteit Gent, Liberaal Archief): Liberal Cooperative Movements in the 1860s: A Solution for the Social Question, a Lever for

Emancipation, an Expression of Paternalism or a Means to gain Political Power?- Marnix Beyen (Universiteit Antwerpen): Keeping Power away from the State: the Belgian Constitution in the Life and Works of Barthélémy Dumortier

(1797-1878)

17.20 – 17.30 : CONCLUSION

17.30 : DRINKS (Oude Markt)

An up-to-date programme with all the titels of the presentations is available on: http://hiw.kuleuven.be/fromthepeopletothepublic

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