The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded Jonasz Dekkers with a NWO PhD in the Humanities grant. The aim of the PhDs in the Humanities funding instrument is to provide up-and-coming research talent with the opportunity to carry out their own independent four-year PhD project.
Jonasz Dekkers is an alumnus of Erasmus School of Philosophy (2018) and currently a journalist for the Dutch newspaper NRC, where he writes about music, media, books, and broader (youth) culture. His interests lie in political science, philosophy and sustained engagement with questions in and of democratic legitimacy, recognition, and public discourse. Jonasz has a broad background ranging from obtaining two BA/BSc’s and two MA/MScs to (inter)national work experience outside of academia.
About the four-year PhD in the Humanities project
Jonasz’ PhD project is titled ‘Noisy Democracy: Discursive Recognition and Legitimacy in Public Debate’ and focuses on the legitimacy of public debate today. It is everywhere, from television and radio to social media and everyday life. Discussions are louder, faster, and more visible than ever, yet all this talk rarely leads to common understanding, shared decisions, or growing trust in democracy. This project asks how public debate can lose its democratic value when it becomes omnipresent. It argues that democratic legitimacy depends not only on people being allowed to participate, but on whether they (and their arguments) are taken seriously. Introducing the idea of discursive recognition, this project develops a framework for understanding how debates become noisy (energetic but unable to settle disagreement), and what democratic dialogue requires.
This project’s promotor will be prof. dr. Constanze Binder and in collaboration with prof. dr. Stine Jensen and em. prof. dr. Marli Huijer.
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Additional information
For more information, please contact Eddie Adelmund (adelmund@esphil.eur.nl).
