With Pasi Ihalainen, Professor in Comparative European History, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
This paper demonstrates how conceptual history, by making use of digitised sources and computer-assisted reading techniques, can help us to understand some of the main redefinitions of democracy as part of political struggles since the late 1960s. We focus on parliaments, and especially plenary debates in Britain, France and Germany, understanding them as conceptual nexuses where various (re)definitions of democracy put forward by representatives of the people compete and where the meaning of democracy is constantly negotiated. We introduce the digital humanities methods applied in the interface, reflect on their application on the practices of conceptual history and carry out contextual analyses on changing discourses on democracy.
Chair: Mats Andrén