Call for Papers
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT), the Digital Revolution and European Democracy
Europe in the Face of the Digital Challenge: Historical Paths and Political Perspectives
The Call was born as one of several initiatives planned by Artificial Intelligence for European Integration (AI4EI), the name/project of the Centre of Excellence “Jean Monnet” at University of Turin. AI4EI aims to promote a new and original line of study on integration and European governance models with a focus on AI. AI4EI brings together a group of experts in European studies and conduct multidisciplinary research (social, political, legal, communication sciences) on the impact of AI on the European integration process.
The Background, Rationale and Purpose
The Call aims to promote a new and original line of research on the AI and ICT impact on the integration and European governance models. The Call has a dual approach, one “historical” and one more of “political analysis” on the evolution of European Policies and Institutions. The Digital Revolution (DR) is the result of the technological development that took place in the advanced world during the 20th century, which political analysts and theoreticians have taken note of, as well as the EEC/EU institutions by extending their competences beyond the economic field since the 1970s. In this perspective, the Call aims to promote research on these particular aspects:
1) how the scientific-technological-IT dossier has become a matter of interest for the European integration process (historical analysis); 2) the effects of those transformations on political culture between the 20th and 21st centuries (historical analysis); 3) the connection between AI, ICT (DR) and the theory of democracy, highlighting opportunities and results (political analysis); and 4) how this phenomenon is expressed in relation to the construction of a European supranational democracy (political analysis).
On the one hand, given the current growing demand for direct/participatory democracy technological advancement is a way to involve an increasing number of people in the decision-making process (e-democracy); on the other hand, the question arises whether this scenario is in fact destined to exclude from the political circuit those who do not have access to the material resources and/or digital abilities it requires. The instrumental and “political” use of AI and ICT (DR) thus creates a conflict between inclusive and exclusive dynamics that can change profoundly the current state of equality/inequality among the system’s players.
In the light of this scenario, it is therefore relevant to pay attention to the historical development of DR in the European integration process. At regard, the Call would also like, on the one hand, to focus on the historical perspectives reconstructing the interest of the European institutions in technological, IT and digital developments, and the concrete policies the EEC/EU has dedicated to them, up to the current issue of AI and robotics. On the other hand, it will gladly welcome contributions by scholars of history of political thought and institutions, political philosophy and political science, aiming to grasp the consequences of technological-IT progress on the balance of national democracies and the complex system of EU governance, also through the ideas of contemporary political theorists and writers.
Research and publishing purpose
The Call aims to collect a wide range of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research contributions to be presented and discussed during an International Conference to be held at the University of Eastern Piedmont (UPO), Department of Law and Political, Economic and Social Sciences (DiGSPES) in October 2022.
Selected papers will be published in different editorial projects, that will be identified at the end of the conference, also according to the different disciplinary approaches involved.
Call for Abstracts/Draft articles
The Call on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT), the Digital Revolution and European Democracy is inviting the submission of abstracts/draft articles in two main themes that broadly concern:
- Digital Technology in the History of European Integration, with a historical-political approach aimed at reconstructing the context, modalities and objectives whereby the EEC/EU began to address these topics over the last decades of the 20th century, as well as the developments of European policies in the current phase;
- European Democracy and Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Risks, which will focus on the issues raised by the “political” use of AI and ICT, towards which theoretical-political research should be directed, in the light of inclusion/exclusion, equality/inequality and freedom/oppression.
N.B.: The two themes above indicate thematic areas and should not impede the submission of draft articles and abstracts that are in line with the Background and Rationale and with the Call for Articles indicated above.
Selected papers will be presented during the International Conference (October 2022); papers have to be sent for double peer-review a month after the Conference (November 2022) and they will be collected and published as above mentioned.
N.B. : Please remember that papers have to be sent in English or Italian; abstracts have to be sent in English and in the paper language.
Abstract Length, specs and deadlines
- 28/02/2022: submission of abstracts (max 600 words, containing the main research question(s) addressed, the methodology used in the study and an indication of the main findings of the research), or draft articles, should be sent via e-mail to: jmcoe@unito.it (subject “Call AI and ICT, the DR and EurDem”)
- 04/04/2022: notification of acceptance of abstracts communicated to authors
- 27-28/10/2022: Conference
- 28/11/2022: submission of papers for review (5,000–7,000 words)
- January 2023: papers reviewed to the authors
- Summer 2023: publication
The participation to the Conference is free of charge
Scientific Board
Santiago Arguello (Università di Mendoza), Giorgio Barberis (Università del Piemonte Orientale), Paolo Caraffini (Università di Torino), Manuela Ceretta (Università di Torino), Stefano De Luca (Università Suor Orsola Benincasa – Napoli), Massimo Durante (Università di Torino), Filippo Maria Giordano (Link Campus University – Roma), Francesco Ingravalle (Università del Piemonte Orientale), Maria Laura Lanzillo (Università di Bologna), Corrado Malandrino (Università del Piemonte Orientale), Umberto Morelli (Università di Torino), Serena Quattrocolo (Università del Piemonte Orientale), Stefano Quirico (Università del Piemonte Orientale), Miguel Saralegui, Giuseppe Sciara (Università di Bologna), Francesco Tuccari (Università di Torino)
Secretariat
Filippo Maria Giordano, Stefano Quirico, Giuseppe Sciara
For any informations: jmcoe@unito.it
