I2S' CCSD Hosts International Conference on Civility, Politics

LAWRENCE — A group of international scholars convened at the University of Kansas this summer to discuss the state of civility in contemporary politics.

KU's Department of Philosophy and Center for Cyber-Social Dynamics, along with Monash University via the Research Talent Accelerator Fellowship program, hosted Civility and Politics in a Changing World from July 19 to 21. Organizers provided a forum for interdisciplinary debate and, in the long term, and aimed to establish an international network of scholars working in this field.

"Civility seems to be a lost art in this day and age, yet needed as a possible antidote to polarization," said Nancy Snow, KU professor of philosophy and conference co-organizer. "This conference brought together researchers from a variety of disciplines and countries to conduct focused discussions on what civility is, how to achieve it and why it’s important."

Attending were international scholars from the Indian School of Democracy, India; Monash University, Australia; Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona; University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom; and the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

U.S. scholars represented Calvin University, Georgetown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, the University of Arizona, KU, the University of Nevada and Vanderbilt University.

KU speakers were Christopher Koliba, Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Administration, Policy & Governance and director of the Center for Democratic Governance. He presented “Tolerance, Civility, and the Threats to Liberal Democracy” on July 20. Ashley Muddiman, associate professor of communication studies, presented “Public Servants’ Perceptions of Incivility” on July 19.

See a full list of speaker presentations at the conference website.

The free conference took place at the Apollo Auditorium in Nichols Hall. 

The Department of Philosophy is part of KU's College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. The Center for Cyber-Social Dynamics is home for the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural study of the relationship between internet and data-driven technologies and society, politics, and culture; it is housed in KU’s Institute for Information Sciences (I2s).