We warmly invite you to the full-day conference on discretion, titled 'The Quest for Controlled Freedom'. The conference will be held on Friday, October 11, 2019, in The Hague, the Netherlands. The venue is the plenary meeting room of the Dutch Senate.

With an eye on the common good, public actors may pursue particular goals. When such a goal has been formulated and decided upon, it is up to the discretion of others to implement that goal. The assumption is that the exercise of discretion is instrumentally aimed at the realization of the goal concerned. To underline the latter, control is needed. Eventually, discretion will be curbed. This is a usual and actually normative view on discretion. In an alternative, empirical, perspective, discretion concerns room to judge and act in skilful and ingenious manners, addressing the situation at hand. Rather than direct supervision, trust in craftsmanship and peer consultation then imply more ’horizontal’ forms of control.

While total control and full freedom both seem illusions, the continuous quest for a dynamic equilibrium in the tension between the two, forms the essence of discretion. When the pursuit of public goals is concerned, while full freedom as well as total control seem illusory, what are the meta-conditions in the public sphere for appropriate action, in terms of accountable ways of dealing with freedom when acting towards such goals?

Exploring these conditions is the aim of this conference. The topic is inspired by a new book, titled Discretion and the Quest for Controlled Freedom, edited by Tony Evans and Peter Hupe (forthcoming with Palgrave Macmillan).

The conference is open to academics and practitioners. Admission is free, but due to the venue, pre-registration is required. For more information and direct registration, see: conference link.