On October 25-26th, Professor of the Caucasus School of Governance, Giorgi Tskhadaia, attended a two-day conference hosted by Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy.

The conference “Authority and Authoritarianism: Moral, Political, and Epistemic Issues” addressed some of the main philosophical challenges that are associated with the legitimate use of power by a liberal state. The conference also aimed to uncover the origins of modern-day illiberal forms of governance.

Professor Tskhadaia’s paper “Between Autonomy, Truth, and Morality: Liberal Authority and Its Limits” concerned the boundaries of the legitimate use of power by liberal democratic regimes. It was argued that the liberal conception of autonomy, which should be the cornerstone of a legitimate state, contains elements that justify the use of coercive power by a central authority.

This is despite the fact that, on the face of it, autonomy as a moral value is devoid of a coercive dimension.