Laws of Sovereignty - program

THE LAWS OF
SOVEREIGNTY
Upholding State Sovereignty
in a Globalized and Digitalized World
Friday, 8 November 2024
Mathias Corvinus Collegium
1113 Budapest, Tas vezér utca 3-7., Hungary

No concept has been subject to more legal and theoretical debates than “sovereignty”.
In modern times, state sovereignty is grounded in the principle of self-determination.
For sovereignty to have any meaning or significance, states must represent
their peoples and reflect national consensus, supported by some degree of common
aspirations. A key aspect of sovereignty is the symbolic or mythic idea of who “the
people” are and their inherent connection to one another. Sovereignty has come to
embody and safeguard common historical experience, political and cultural tradition
and heritage that bind a nation together.
The 21st century has created circumstances that have posed new and increasingly
complex challenges to sovereignty. Certain pillars of sovereignty, previously taken-for-granted,
have become vulnerable. Economic globalization has created many
new opportunities, but it has also led to a global “race to the bottom”. The embrace of
the “Washington Consensus” by the international legal community and adjudication
forums has led to an erosion of state sovereignty and economic self-determination.
Digitization and the growing presence of large platform-based businesses threaten
to exercise “functional sovereignty” by policing transactions, moderating speech
and adjudicating disputes. Furthermore, the question of sovereignty is increasingly
present in the debates around the future of Europe.
09.00-09.30
09.30-09.40
09.40-10.00
10.00-10.45
moderator:
panelists:
Registration
Opening remarks
Zoltán Szalai (Director General, MCC)
Lénárd Sándor (Head of the School of Law, MCC)
Keynote Speech:
The Linchpin Role of Sovereignty on the 21st century
Nelson Lund (Distinguished Professor, Antonin Scalia Law School)
Mathieu Bock-Coté (essayist and political commentator)
Panel Discussion I:
Sovereignty in Different Legal Cultures
Réka Fruzsina Varga (Center for International Law, MCC)
Nelson Lund (George Mason University)
Sergiu Miscoiu (Babes-Bolyai University)
Gonzalo Candia (Catholic University of Chile, Visiting Fellow, MCC)
Xiaohang Chen(Peking University Law School)
Despite these challenges, sovereignty remains a key pillar in today’s world, as it both
connects and represents a community with a shared common destiny. In this vein,
the international conference will explore the contemporary challenges to sovereignty,
ranging from its general philosophical underpinnings to globalization, integration
and digitization.
10.45-11.00
11.00-11.50
moderator:
panelists:
Coffee Break
Panel Discussion II:
From theory to justification
Róbert Papp (European Center for Political Philosophy, MCC)
András Lánczi (Head of European Center for Political Philosophy, MCC)
Jean Yarbrough (Bowdoin College)
Gergely Deli (University of Public Service)
David Tse-Chien Pan (University of California, Irvine)

11.50-12.40
moderator:
panelists:
Panel Discussion III:
International Organizations and Sovereignty
Gabriella Érdi (Center for International Law, MCC)
Michael Herz (International Criminal Court)
Allen S. Weiner (Stanford University)
Aymeric de Lamotte (Thomas More Institution)
12.40-13.45
Lunch Break
13.45-14.30
moderator:
panelists:
14.30-15.15
moderator:
panelists:
Panel Discussion IV:
Sovereignty in Globalization: Erosion or Opportunities
Lénárd Sándor (Head of the School of Law, MCC)
Christopher S. Vajda (King’s Counsel, UK)
Gus Van Harten (York University’s Osgoode Hall)
István Varga (Head of the Center for Private Law, MCC)
Panel Discussion V:
Safeguarding Sovereignty in an Era of Digitization
Ábel Csiffáry (MCC Center for Modern Law Studies)
Edoardo Carlo Raffiotta (University of Milan)
Giuseppe Mazziotti (Católica Global School of Law)
Zsolt Ződi (Institute for the Information Society, UPS)
15.15-15.20 Concluding Remarks
Lénárd Sándor (Head of the School of Law, MCC)
15.20-16.15
Networking Coffee