Call for Papers | Pluralist Agreement and Constitutional Transformation (PACT) – NLSIU Conference 2024

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?

We invite paper proposals that engage with the above themes, particularly those that explore the role of marginalized communities in the making of the Constitution. This could mean looking outside the confines of the Indian Constituent Assembly to include a range of voices that are absent from, or marginal in, the official records. PACT understands the marginalized as defined in diverse ways, spanning identities of gender, caste, religion, tribe, class and more.

Submission Instructions

1. To submit a proposal, please write to , attaching the following:

• Abstract
• Resume
• Short biography

2. Submitted abstracts must not exceed 500 words, must include a title, and be accompanied by five keywords.

3. While preference will be given to early career researchers, we welcome papers from scholars at any stage of their careers.

4. We invite abstracts from scholars working in law, social science, and the humanities, employing diverse methodological approaches.

5. Selected papers will be published in an edited volume and/or a journal special issue.

Eligibility

Those who are currently enrolled in a Master’s programme, and those with a Master’s degree and above, are eligible to submit abstracts.

Timeline

• Deadline for abstract submission is June 15, 2024. Abstracts will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
• The abstracts will be reviewed, and invitations will be sent from May 20, 2024.
• Final drafts must be between 5000-8000 words and must be submitted by July 15, 2024 to enable discussants to respond to papers.

Mode

The conference will be held in person at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. The University will provide local accommodation and meals to all participants.

Support

Limited funding is available to cover domestic travel costs for selected participants who demonstrate financial need.

Contact

Please write to the following email address for any queries relating to the conference: