CfP: Conference on Pluralist Agreement and Constitutional Transformation (PACT) by NLSIU, Bangalore [Offline; Aug 1-3]: Submit by June 15

06 May 2024

About NLSIU

National Law School of India University, or simply National Law School, is a public law school and a National Law University in Bangalore. For over 30 years now, the University has irrefutably remained a leader in the field of legal education in the country. This long-standing record has been possible due to the strong collaborations between legal academics, the Bar, the Bench and the State Government of Karnataka.

About the Conference

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) will host a conference on August 1st to 3rd 2024 in Bengaluru as part of the Pluralist Agreement and Constitutional Transformation (PACT) Project. PACT is an international collaboration, that aims to produce cutting-edge scholarship on India’s constitutional founding, establish a new digital archive on Indian constitution making, and learn from historical and contemporary public engagements with the Constitution. Led by SOAS University of London, PACT collaborators include the Universities of Oxford, York, the Centre for Law and Policy Research, Bengaluru and NLSIU.

Theme

The conference will explore Indian constitution-making as a process of reaching pluralist agreement between contending actors and constitutional transformation over time, through three lines of enquiry.

First, what were the types of counter-majoritarian proposals put forward by advocates of individual freedoms and group rights in India between 1928-50? What were the constitutional alternatives offered by those outside the Constituent Assembly?

Second, what was the relationship between the procedures adopted in the Indian Constituent Assembly’s deliberations, and its outcomes with regard to pluralism? How did the division of the Assembly’s work into various committees, decision making processes and the timing and sequencing of proposals enable or hinder the accommodation of diversity?

Third, what forms of participation and civic engagement are enabled by the extensive constitutional archive available today? In what ways is this archive used to bolster contemporary appeals to constitutional values and principles?

General Details

Date: August 1-3, 2024
Mode: Offline
Venue: National Law School of India University, Bengaluru

Submission Guidelines

Submitted abstracts must not exceed 500 words, must include a title, and be accompanied by five keywords.
Final drafts must be between 5000-8000 words.

How to Submit

To submit a proposal, please write to pact@nls.ac.in, attaching the following:
- Abstract
- Resume
- Short biography
The abstracts will be reviewed, and invitations will be sent from May 20, 2024.