Political Stability as a Global Normative Concept

Political stability is a topic of utmost and increasing importance in an ever faster changing world. At the same time stability has not yet become the focus of a more global philosophical discourse, nor have any attempts been made to initiate a dialogue between the Western and Chinese debates more specifically. 

The aim of this workshop is to continue the philosophical dialogue on political stability as a global normative concept, which was started at Fudan University in March 2026, and to lay the groundwork for future joint philosophical research. The discussion covers the following issues: 

(1) To engage in a dialogue on political stability, it is necessary to refine our understanding of important Chinese and Western positions on political stability: How is political stability conceptualized in these discourses? What are the important differences and commonalities between the different conceptions of stability? 

(2) Clarifying the normative concept of political stability involves determining its relation to other normative political concepts, such as legitimacy, justice, and overlapping consensus: What weight we should give to political stability? How does it affect our understanding of other central normative concepts? When is stability not desirable from a normative point of view? Under which conditions are disruptions legitimate?

(3) It might be that the relation between stability and other normative concepts is influenced by cultural and socio-economic factors: How do specific contexts determine the understanding of political stability? What impact do they have on the understanding of stability as well as its normative status? 

(4) Given the workshops take place within the field of global political philosophy, further questions relate to the prospects and limits of political stability as a global normative concept: Can we work globally with different conceptions of political stability? And if so, what are the limits of acceptable conceptions of stability on a global level? Also, what are the conditions of global stability as opposed to the conditions of stability on a domestic level? Does stressing political stability affect our understanding of human rights or issues related to humanitarian interventions?

Participants: Bai Tongdong, Philippe Brunozzi, Ronja Hildebrandt, Corinna Mieth, Christian Neuhäuser, Qi Tao, Sun Xiangchen, Marco Antonio Toche Zevallos, Zhang Shuangli, Zhou Aimin.

Further information regarding the workshop, including the full programme, will be provided upon registration at : philippe.brunozzi@tu-dortmund.de. 
 

The deadline for registration is 18 July 2026.