University of Crete
School of Social Sciences
Department of Sociology
20 ΥΕARS

Postgraduate Programme in Sociology

SURVEILLANCE & DEMOCRACY

International Workshop

‘Xenia’ Cultural Student Center

Rethymno Crete, Greece

June 2 - 4, 2008

DESCRIPTION

The theme of this workshop is designed to encourage a prestigious international group of scholars to contemplate the complex relationships between surveillance and democracy.
Participants will explore this issue from various angles, including: the extent to which surveillance can be a barrier to democratic processes, or, alternatively, when can surveillance become a necessary component of democracy? How are changes in notions of national sovereignty influencing surveillance practices? To what extend can democratic states counter the hegemony of an increasingly international surveillance-industrial complex? What happens to idealized visions of reasoned and rational forms of democratic decision-making on surveillance policies as security measures are increasingly embraced in a context of widespread anxiety or panic? How might the legacy of state surveillance in former totalitarian societies shape their transformation towards democratic forms of governance? As surveillance measures are increasingly justified in terms of national security, is there the prospect that a shadow ‘security state’ will emerge that is cloaked in secrecy and unaccountable to traditional forms of democratic oversight and accountability? How might new surveillance measures alter the conceptions of citizenship which are at the heart of democracy? What are the prospects of success for official privacy offices in terms of thwarting intrusive surveillance measures that have been introduced through democratic means? What implications for democratic discourses of civil liberties and human rights flow from the rise of neo-liberal logics of efficiency and effectiveness?
Presenters will use theoretical, empirical and case-study approaches to contemplate some of these and the myriad other important questions that arise from studying surveillance and democracy.

WORKSHOP CONVENOR & ORGANISER: Minas Samatas, University of Crete
SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR: Kevin D. Haggerty, University of Alberta, Canada

INVITED SPEAKERS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP:

• David Lyon, Queen's University, Canada
• Kevin D. Haggerty University of Alberta, Canada
• Kirstie Ball , Open University, UK
• Torin Monahan, Vanderbilt University, USA
• Mun-Cho Kim ,Korea University, S. Korea
• Anthony Minnaar, University of South Africa, S.A.
• Eric Töpfer, Technical University Berlin, Germany
• Tony Bunyan, “Statewatch” editor, UK
• Ben Hayes, “Statewatch” editor, UK
• Andrea Brighenti , University of Trento, Italy
• Michalis Lianos, University of Rouen-Haute Normandie, France
• Lilian Mitrou, Aegean University , Greece
• Jennifer Whitson, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

INVITED SPEAKERS FOR THE GREEK SESSION

• Nicos Alivizatos , University of Athens
• Yiannis Panousis, University of Athens
• George Katrougalos, Democritus University
• Constantine Tsoucalas, University of Athens

 

 

Abstracts (doc)

 

 

Programme (link)

Greek Session's Programme & Abstracts (doc)(in Greek)

Papers (link)

Poster (doc)

 

 

 

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Minas Samatas
Associate Professor, Sociology Department, UoC
samatas@social.soc.uoc.gr

Maria Kousis
Professor, Sociology Department, UoC
Director, Postgraduate Studies in Sociology
kousis@social.soc.uoc.gr

Aimilia Mavropoulou, Postgraduate Student
Christos Manouselis, Postgraduate Student
Nicos Eftaxias, Postgraduate Student
Angelos Loucakis, Postgraduate Student

Technical assistance:
Tsiridanis Alexandros
Yiannis Efthymiou

Secretarial support:
Anna Maria Pavlaki

Information : tel. +30 28310 77491
fax. +30 28310 77467
socpms@social.soc.uoc.gr
www.soc.uoc.gr/socpms