Familiar pressures on democratic institutions are being joined by new challenges: geopolitical instability, technological change, shifting public expectations, attacks on institutional independence, changing information environments, and growing questions about legitimacy, trust and democratic resilience.
At the same time, the field is evolving. Courts, governments, civil society, journalists, researchers and cultural actors are developing new strategies, testing new forms of cooperation and rethinking how the rule of law can be protected, renewed and made meaningful in changing societies.
With this conference, we want to strengthen a robust, impact-oriented and critical community working on the rule of law across disciplines and Europe. For this, we also welcome comparative perspectives from other regions, as well as views on European developments from outside of Europe. We want to provide a space for strategic exchange, solution design and serious debate about what comes next. It will also have real discussions of people who disagree, encouraging critical dialogue between differing political and professional perspectives.
Parallel sessions will:
We welcome formats such as:
Workshop formats, e.g. fishbowl, Oxford-style debate, world café, hackathon/ideathon, design sprint, barcamp, scenario walk, open space/unconference, lightning talks / Ignite, Samoan circle, red team / blue team (one group stress-tests a proposal while another defends it), legislative or forum theatre, constellation / systemic mapping, speed consulting / “human library”, games and quizzes;
Training or skills sessions;
Panel discussions with a maximum of three panellists, opening statements of no more than three minutes, and strong audience interaction;
Roundtables without set speeches, working towards a shared outcome such as findings or recommendations (e.g. ten recommendations to improve the EU Rule of Law Report);
Closed door conversations;
Networking and community-building activities;
Cultural interventions (e.g. film or short screenings, rule of law related art or music);
Diversity and participation
We value proposals that bring together a diversity of professional and disciplinary backgrounds, geographical and cultural perspectives, social origins, genders, ages, religions, political and intellectual perspectives, abilities and sexual orientations. In discussion and debate formats, we expect participants to hold significantly different views.
Proposal submission
In the form for proposal submissions on the platform you will be asked to provide the following:
session title;
proposer name(s) and affiliation(s);
2–3 keywords on the session;
proposed session format, including audience engagement and visualisation approach;
session objectives;
a short abstract of 2–5 sentences.
It is not necessary to have confirmation from all proposed speakers or facilitators at the time of submission.
Please submit your proposal via the submission platform until 18 October 2026.
Proposals will be assessed by the re:constitution team (Democracy Reporting International and Forum Transregionale Studien) and members of the re:constitution Alumni network.
Please submit your proposal here
Dates and deadlines
25 October 2026 — Deadline for submission
17 November 2026 — Acceptance notification
11–12 May 2027 — European Rule of Law Conference, Brussels
We look forward to bringing together a diverse community of rule of law protagonists for two days of critical, open and constructive debate about the present and future of the rule of law.
If you would like to reach us, please don't hesitate to send an email to reconstitution(at)trafo-berlin.de.
