The fourth CEE Forum will put its special emphasis on recent critiques of contemporary democracy and the rule of law. Current discourses in social sciences as well as in civil society almost daily produce new ideas, suggestions and demands on how to significantly alter the political and legal reality of our societies. The exceptional importance of these questions for our common future has long and clearly surpassed national borders and produced an international discourse. Many distinguished authors like Immanuel Wallerstein, Noam Chomsky, Jürgen Habermas, Stéphane Hessel, Antonio Negri, Igor Štiks or Srečko Horvat have spoken publicly on these pressing issues. They propose the increase of elements of direct democracy in the political process and significant political empowerment of the civil society and each individual. It thus seems appropriate to discuss these and related problems within the Fourth Central and Eastern European Forum. The organizers expecting contributions to the following two major general panels: (1) Reconsidering Democracy: (New) Theories, Policies and Social Practices, and (2) Towards the Rule of Law – Regresses and Necessities. Even though these two general themes are broad enough to meet diverse interests of the Forum‟s participants, the organizers will also convene an (3) Open panel for papers that target other interesting topics from the vast area of legal, political and social theory.