Topic of the thesis:Democracy as a Battlefield. Contemporary Grassroot Mass Mobilisations in Western Europe, 'Popular Sovereignty' and the Reframing of 'Democracy'.

Abstract: How is 'democracy' (re)framed in contemporary Western Europe? Which are the consequences of such a (re)framing? Are they desirable?
In the conviction that conceptual articulation is dynamic, historical and immanent to political discourses and practices, the starting point of this research is the observation of significant mass grassroot movements in contemporary (2017-9) Western Europe (UK anti-Brexit, French Yellow Vests, Catalan Independentists) both through direct on field observation and through the collection of public sources (public speeches, press releases, parliamentary debates, political campaigns, newspapers articles, official reports). The research focuses on the debates those movements sparked within their national contexts about the meaning of 'democracy' in relation to 'popular sovereignty', and on the ways in which 'democracy' was (re)framed within that scope in relation to some contemporary liberal and proceduralist standards.
Applying the Discourse Theory method, the structuration of such debates will be analysed as a political struggle for the hegemony over 'democracy' between antagonistic discourses, grounded in different ontologies, values, criteria for political legitimation, participation and inclusion/exclusion and in different understandings of political spaces, communities and practices, which can result in serious conflict. One of the most critical differences regards the relation between the acts of foundation and Constitution of a political community, popular sovereignty and the legitimacy of political practices.
Those specific empirical cases, as they explicitly address those issues, are both real examples of a contemporary conceptual reframing of 'democracy' and an opportunity for highlighting pivotal political and philosophical questions. The last part will be a tentative elaboration on the consequences of the reintroduction of a radical understanding of 'popular sovereignty' for political stability, inclusion, participation, equality and freedom, of their desirability and of the possibilities for those conflicts to be solved.

Research interests: Political Philosphy – Philosophy of Language – Critical Theory – Political Theory and Ontology – Democratic Theory – Gender and Queer Studies – Intersectional Transfeminist Theories – Political Conflict – Political Legitimacy and Sovereignty – Contemporary Social and Political Mass Movements.

Degrees obtained:Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy - Master's Degree in Political Philosophy

E-mail address: giulia.visintini@unimi.it