Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
White Spaces? Racialising White Femininities and Masculinities Conference July 9th 2009
Research Events and Seminars08 July 2009 - 09 July 2009 Start time to be announced Conference
Weetwood Hall
Weetwood Hall
This Conference is an opportunity to draw and extend insights from the international and interdisciplinary field of 'white studies' (Bonnett, 1996; 2007) in organisational and policy analysis.
These new theoretical understandings of whiteness and white identities and ethnicities have been developed and debated in the US, Australia, New Zealand and more recently Europe, including the UK. These developments have taken place within disciplines such as communication and cultural studies, sociology, critical race theory, feminism, social geography, history and literary studies. They have profoundly changed conceptualisations of racialisation and gendering, that is the processes by which we are produced as raced and gendered beings.
For example these debates trouble the distinctions between 'race', racism and anti-racisms paving the way for more fluid understandings of the productiveness of power, its uneven and distributed nature. Such approaches develop forceful critiques of the work that goes into creating and maintaining racialised privileges. They also open up the possibilities for more 'positive' and unpredicatble racialisations.
The key themes and questions to be explored are:
How can we understand whiteness in organisations - as property, identity, discursive position, privilege, relations, embodied practices, emotions, imaginaries, temporalities?
What codes of whiteness are reproduced in contemporary social politics?
How do these codes configure relations with the past and future as well as the present?
What new constituencies and claims can be brought into being through concepts of whiteness, white making, white spaces, white gendering and gendered whiteness?
What is the relationship of these codes and constituencies to organisational practices and other social relations? For example those of class, gender, age and sexualities?
How does this play out in different organisational contexts?
Are there differences in public and private sector whitenesses?
How does this play out in different national contexts?
How does organisational policy and practice sustain whiteness?
What are the dangers in making whiteness an object of organisational analysis given its power to attached itself to a range of political and social agendas including 'progressive' postures?
What do these questions mean theoretically, methodologically and practically for critical organisational analysis going forward?
What does this mean for scholars working in this area?
The conference builds on the success of an earlier conference stream at the 2007 Gender Work and Organization conference. The aim is to extend and consolidate this earlier work and the debates it engendered to connect with other work in this area in order to establish an ongoing forum for future collaboration and collective work.
It aims to bring together contributors to the intial stream with a broader range of contributors from different international contexts and disparate fields, including feminist social politics, organizational sociology, public policy, management and governance. The conference also seeks to include a broader range of postgraduate students and participants outside academia with an interest in critical 'race', feminist and other cultural perspectives on organisation power.
Because the conference aims to facilitate ongoing collaborations amongst participants, its design aims to maximise debate around how these new agendas might be incorporated into organisation, management and policy studies fields and into organizational practice more broadly; and how this sort of work may be developed going forward. Thus, it uses a variety of formats for conference contributions including larger key note and plenary sessions, smaller paper sessions and facilitated dialogue and debate sessions focused around particular conference themes.
In order to maximise the number of contributions we are also welcoming proposals for poster presentations which will be displayed in the communal conference areas and will serve as points of further discussion and debate.
Our Plenary Speakers will be:
Aida Hurtado, University of California, USA, Director of Chicano/Latino Research Centre 2005-2008 And author of The Color of Privilege: Three Blasphemies on Race and Feminism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996
Gail Lewis, Reader in Identities at the Open University, UK, Director for the Identities research strand for the Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance (CCIG) and author of 'Race', Gender, Social Welfare: Encounters in a Postcolonial Society, Polity Press, 2000
Nirmal Puwar, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Goldsmiths, UK, member of the Feminist Review Collective and author of Purwar, N (2004) Space Invaders: race, gender and bodies out of place, Oxford: Berg
Mick Rowlinson, Professor of Organization Studies in the Centre for Business Management, Queen Mary University of London, UK, writes and researches into organizational memory.
Melissa Steyn, Director of Intercultural and Diversity Studies at the University of Cape Town, Soth Africa and author of Whiteness just isn't what it used to be: White identity in a changing South Africa (2001, State University of New York Press)
Vron Ware, Research Fellow at the Open University, UK and author of Who cares about Britishness? A global view of the national identity debate London: Arcadia Books, 2007 Beyond the Pale: White Women, Racism and History London/New York: Verso 1992
Runnymede Trust, London, UK
Other Contributors include: Diane Grimes, Syracuse, USA Berit Gullikstad, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Shona Hunter, University of Leeds, UK Pauline Leonard, University of Southampton, UK Jennifer Mease, University of North Carolina, USA Patricia Parker, University of North Carolina, USA Elaine Swan, Lancaster University, UK
For further information visit:
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Development Studies Association Conference September 2009
Contemporary Crises and New Opportunities
University of Ulster, Coleraine Campus
2nd – 4th September 2009
University of Ulster, Coleraine Campus
2nd – 4th September 2009
Background to the Conference theme
The year 2009 may well be viewed in future as a ‘turning point’ in the historical evolution of the world economy. Perhaps the last such ‘turning point’ occurred in the 1970s with the demise of the original version of the Bretton Woods system. Living through what many feel are momentous events and historically significant changes there is much to preoccupy us in trying to understand three co-variant sets of crises and their implication for international development.
These 3 sets of crises comprise the organising themes of the conference, each one having its own plenary session:
Climate Change and Energy (1)
Global Economic Crisis (2)
Clashing Values and Lifestyles (3)
The interdisciplinary pursuit of development studies can lay claim to a perspective on these contemporary crises precisely because we have a long established familiarity with the interconnections between them. The forms of globalisation over the last four decades have brought these themes closer together causally. The critique of the limitations of capitalism has to involve resource scarcity, environmental mismanagement and cultural differences about wellbeing and the good life, alongside the delinquency of banks as well as market and regulatory failure.
If we are at some kind of crossroads, then this conference provides an opportunity for a wide range of disciplinary contributions to analysis and understanding. It will be exciting to participate in the exchanges between economic historians, financial analysts, climate change experts and cultural anthropologists and psychologists. The conference can contribute to national and international debates, and lay the basis for future research agendas that combine fresh thinking with prospects for innovative policy.
Parallel Sessions—‘Ground rules’
We will have 40 slots for panels/study groups (hereafter ‘panels’): 8 parallels across 5x 1.5 hour sessions.
As far as possible, we would like panels to relate to the main 3 plenary themes.
We have decided to have no more than 2 presenters per 1.5 hour panel session plus Q&A, to enable depth of presentation and discussion.
We would encourage Study Groups and individual panel convenors to bid for 2-3 sessions in their concept notes—thus having 4-6 presenters per theme across 2-3 sessions. In this way, we hope to encourage more in depth intellectual debate and knowledge progress.
2 papers per slot = 80 papers. Abstracts for this category of papers will be required to be quality reviewed by the panel leaders and one other panel member.
Candidates whose papers are accepted (at all levels) will need to prepare a presentation based on their paper to be with the Conference organisers no later than Friday 21st August 2009
Themed Panels
Those panels that have been chosen will be notified by 27th March and be given a number. Panel convenors will then need to issue their individual Calls for Papers very shortly after this.
The Conference Organisers will need to notify bursary awardees by 1st May to allow them time to organise visa applications and travel arrangements. We therefore suggest that the Call for Abstracts have a deadline no later than Monday 27th April and would welcome Convenors’ views as to which papers they would consider putting forward for either bursary (please see criteria below – and it will be up to each individual submitting to each panel to indicate that they wish to be considered for the bursary awards).
When issuing individual Calls for Abstracts under the Panels, convenors will need to use the form under Annex I and request that participants adhere to the file naming protocol of their Word documents as follows:
“DSAconf09-panelnumber-abs-yourname-papertitle”, keeping the paper title very brief.
Some prompting suggestions (grouped by plenary theme) for Themed Panel Titles might be, but not limited to:
Climate Change and Energy:
Can the Science be Disputed?
Sustaining Behaviours
Gender and Energy
Oil and Water (Wars?)
Green Keynesianism
Intergenerational Transfers
Obama’s Environmental New Deal
Economic Crisis:
Future of the Collier Thesis: adding to the billion?
What must America do?
Can the BRICS regenerate capitalism?
Is a global recession good for long term development, despite short term poverty?
A New Bretton Woods?
The answer: Marx, Polanyi or Keynes?
Moral Hazards and Market Failures
Clashing Values:
Recessions and Social Cohesion
Faith and Millenarianism
Rise of Fascism: migration and xenophobia?
The Politics of Identity
Conflict Contagion and Domino Effects?
State Society Relations: Secularism and the Ummah
Wellbeing: Relative or Universal?
Combined and Exclusionary Development: the alienation problem
Individual and Jointly Authored Papers
We recognise the above process means fewer papers than usual, with several implications:
The theme/quality hurdle for acceptance of abstracts for papers will be more selective:
Attendees often only get funded from their HEI if presenting a paper;
Early career researchers (PhD, post-Doc, or early staff) need conference opportunities;
Bursary supported attendees will need presentation outlets.
Thus, in addition to ‘themed’ panel sessions, there will be 5 or 10 ‘open’ parallels (i.e. 7.5 or 15 hours, 1 or 2 rooms, depending on demand) for up to 4 presentations per parallel session (i.e. an additional 20-40 papers). These may be ‘orphan’ papers, i.e. not panel/theme related and within each session, the presentations may not be related to each other. Abstracts for this category of papers will be quality reviewed by the conference steering group and we would attempt to place papers on similar themes together.
We would also hope to provide a Poster Exhibition facility, either in one of the ‘open’ session rooms, or alongside the publishers’ exhibition space. Therefore, colleagues who do not want to submit a standalone paper are invited to submit a poster with the same deadline for individual papers as below. Poster submissions are not eligible for bursaries and all expenses associated with printing posters will be borne by those submitting.
Information, Queries and Submissions should be directed in the first instance to:
Frances Hill
Executive Director
Development Studies Association
POB 108
Bideford
Devon EX39 6ZQ
Telephone: 01288 331360
Email: conference@devstud.org.uk
Frances Hill
Executive Director
Development Studies Association
POB 108
Bideford
Devon EX39 6ZQ
Telephone: 01288 331360
Email: conference@devstud.org.uk
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
The Global Food Crisis Conference August 2009
13 August 2009 - 15 August 2009
Location
Zacatecas, Mexico
Speaker(s)
Susan George, Walden Bello
The Critical Development Studies (CDS) network Announces an international conference, Inviting participation and submission of a paper on any conference subthemeOrganised by the The Critical Development Studies (CDS) network the conference is hosted by the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas and co-sponsored by the Journal of Agrarian Change (JAC), the Journal of Peasant Studies (JPS), the Canadian Journal of Development Studies (CJDS), Globalizations, the Review of International Political Economy (RIPE), Routledge and Fernwood Books. Editors of these journals will be in attendance. Institutional and programmatic support is also provided by the Transnational Institute (Amsterdam) and Food First.The aim of the conference is to review the latest research on the complex dynamics of diverse developments related to an incipient global food crisis. The world economy is beset with a number of critical problems that are assuming—or in the near future might be expected to reach—such proportions so as to not only threaten the livelihoods and development prospects of communities and societies all across the world but the very foundation of the global food productionsystem. There are diverse dimensions of this looming crisis. They include systemic financial crisis, which threatens to deepen into a broader economic and production crisis, and, an underlying ecological crisis that not only threatens the survival and development prospects of communities and societies across the world, but puts at further risk the efforts of the world’s poor tochange the system that keeps them in poverty. The conference will focus on one particular dimension of this global crisis, namely developments that are undermining or threaten the ability of the poor to meet their fundamental need for food and water—i.e., what we can conceive of as a global food crisis. Dimensions of this crisis – subthemes of the conference – include:- The new economic model--The policy and institutional framework of ‘pro-growth’ neoliberal policies designed to adjust local and national economies and societies to the requirements of the world order of neoliberal globalization.- The crisis of over-production / consumption, and its impact on the global food production system.- The policy and structural dynamics of international trade, and the workings of market forces and the nation state in these dynamics as regards food production and distribution.- Dynamics of the global food production and the ascension of China and India in the global economy.- Financialization of global production and its impact on the food production system and the price of food.- Land and food: Questions of land, economies of scale and the social organization of food production.- Via Campesina and the viability of small-scale ‘peasant’ agriculture and sustainable rural livelihoods.- Out of the crisis: Internationalizing the politics of resistance and alternative development, at local, national, regional and global scales.Keynote conference speakers will include:
Susan George— author of more than a dozen books, including her famous exposé and treatise on world hunger, How the Other Half Dies. She is Chair of the Planning Board of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam, a decentralised fellowship of scholars living throughout the world whose work is intended to contribute to social justice and who are active in civil society in their own countries. Between 1999 and mid-2006 she served as Vice-President of ATTAC France.
‘Alas, food and hunger have returned to the top of the international agenda and, yet again, the same tired old technological solutions are proposed. The new twist may be that speculation on food prices has recently replaced speculation on subprime mortgages in the fast-moving capital markets, but essentially everything remains the same, particularly the injustice. As far as capitalism is concerned, food is a commodity like any other. It is not because everyone on earth needs it every day that agribusiness and traders' behaviour will change—quite the contrary. Corporate profits in this sector have skyrocketed since 2007, proving once more that there's nothing like a good crisis for boosting business. Too bad for the millions of people dying for want of land to produce their own food or of money to buy it.’ (Susan George)
Walden Bello President of Freedom of Debt Coalition, Senior researcher with the Focus on the Global South (Bangkok), recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (a.k.a Alternative Nobel Prize) and the Suh Sang Don Prize for Outstanding Contributions to Global Justice, board member of the International Forum onGlobalization and diverse academic journals such as Review of International Political Economy; and academic activist in the cause of global justice.
Submission of abstracts and proposals: The conference organizers invite submissions from scholars engaged in International Development Studies as well as research and study in related fields. Participation and submissions of papers for conference presentation (with possible publication in one of the sponsoring journals) from graduate and postgraduate students are particularly welcome and encouraged.
Deadline for submission: March 15, 2009.Actual papers due June 15, 2009.Please send proposals, with a title and brief abstract, to:critdev@gmail.com (Subject: Global Food Crisis)
Location
Zacatecas, Mexico
Speaker(s)
Susan George, Walden Bello
The Critical Development Studies (CDS) network Announces an international conference, Inviting participation and submission of a paper on any conference subthemeOrganised by the The Critical Development Studies (CDS) network the conference is hosted by the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas and co-sponsored by the Journal of Agrarian Change (JAC), the Journal of Peasant Studies (JPS), the Canadian Journal of Development Studies (CJDS), Globalizations, the Review of International Political Economy (RIPE), Routledge and Fernwood Books. Editors of these journals will be in attendance. Institutional and programmatic support is also provided by the Transnational Institute (Amsterdam) and Food First.The aim of the conference is to review the latest research on the complex dynamics of diverse developments related to an incipient global food crisis. The world economy is beset with a number of critical problems that are assuming—or in the near future might be expected to reach—such proportions so as to not only threaten the livelihoods and development prospects of communities and societies all across the world but the very foundation of the global food productionsystem. There are diverse dimensions of this looming crisis. They include systemic financial crisis, which threatens to deepen into a broader economic and production crisis, and, an underlying ecological crisis that not only threatens the survival and development prospects of communities and societies across the world, but puts at further risk the efforts of the world’s poor tochange the system that keeps them in poverty. The conference will focus on one particular dimension of this global crisis, namely developments that are undermining or threaten the ability of the poor to meet their fundamental need for food and water—i.e., what we can conceive of as a global food crisis. Dimensions of this crisis – subthemes of the conference – include:- The new economic model--The policy and institutional framework of ‘pro-growth’ neoliberal policies designed to adjust local and national economies and societies to the requirements of the world order of neoliberal globalization.- The crisis of over-production / consumption, and its impact on the global food production system.- The policy and structural dynamics of international trade, and the workings of market forces and the nation state in these dynamics as regards food production and distribution.- Dynamics of the global food production and the ascension of China and India in the global economy.- Financialization of global production and its impact on the food production system and the price of food.- Land and food: Questions of land, economies of scale and the social organization of food production.- Via Campesina and the viability of small-scale ‘peasant’ agriculture and sustainable rural livelihoods.- Out of the crisis: Internationalizing the politics of resistance and alternative development, at local, national, regional and global scales.Keynote conference speakers will include:
Susan George— author of more than a dozen books, including her famous exposé and treatise on world hunger, How the Other Half Dies. She is Chair of the Planning Board of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam, a decentralised fellowship of scholars living throughout the world whose work is intended to contribute to social justice and who are active in civil society in their own countries. Between 1999 and mid-2006 she served as Vice-President of ATTAC France.
‘Alas, food and hunger have returned to the top of the international agenda and, yet again, the same tired old technological solutions are proposed. The new twist may be that speculation on food prices has recently replaced speculation on subprime mortgages in the fast-moving capital markets, but essentially everything remains the same, particularly the injustice. As far as capitalism is concerned, food is a commodity like any other. It is not because everyone on earth needs it every day that agribusiness and traders' behaviour will change—quite the contrary. Corporate profits in this sector have skyrocketed since 2007, proving once more that there's nothing like a good crisis for boosting business. Too bad for the millions of people dying for want of land to produce their own food or of money to buy it.’ (Susan George)
Walden Bello President of Freedom of Debt Coalition, Senior researcher with the Focus on the Global South (Bangkok), recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (a.k.a Alternative Nobel Prize) and the Suh Sang Don Prize for Outstanding Contributions to Global Justice, board member of the International Forum onGlobalization and diverse academic journals such as Review of International Political Economy; and academic activist in the cause of global justice.
Submission of abstracts and proposals: The conference organizers invite submissions from scholars engaged in International Development Studies as well as research and study in related fields. Participation and submissions of papers for conference presentation (with possible publication in one of the sponsoring journals) from graduate and postgraduate students are particularly welcome and encouraged.
Deadline for submission: March 15, 2009.Actual papers due June 15, 2009.Please send proposals, with a title and brief abstract, to:critdev@gmail.com (Subject: Global Food Crisis)
Monday, 23 February 2009
The Future of Interdisciplinary in International Relations
A conference organized by the Midlands Regional IR Network
Hosted by the Department of Political Science and International Studies
University of Birmingham, Tuesday 15th September 2009.
Call for papers:
The study of International Relations (IR) has often borrowed from, and built upon, the work produced in diverse academic disciplines. These range from philosophy to economics, sociology to criminology, geography to cultural studies, and from international law to the philosophy of science. Despite the significant debt that the development of IR as a field of study in its own right owes to interdisciplinary scholarship, debates over the future development of interdisciplinarity in IR are too often treated as a marginal concern. In addition, while many IR scholars borrow from the research insights of other disciplines, disciplinary boundaries such as the organizational structures of universities and the specialization of academic journals and publishers often inhibit rather than facilitate dialogue between scholars and students working in similar research areas.
This one-day conference aims to bring together scholars working on contemporary issues in International Relations from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds to discuss the future of interdisciplinarity in the study of International Relations.
The organizers invite potential participants to submit one of the following two types of proposals:
1. Individual conference paper proposals that directly address issues related to interdisciplinary scholarship in IR. The organizers are especially interested in papers that draw on the wide pool of relevant scholarship from outside the traditional 'IR canon', but which also seek to address the challenges involved with producing interdisciplinary scholarship that attempts to engage with an often sceptical 'mainstream' IR audience.
2. Research project proposals that will contribute to - and draw on - interdisciplinary scholarship in IR. This may include PhD research proposals, post-doctoral research proposals, or academic research grant proposals, and may be completed project designs that have already been submitted or works-in-progress. Successful proposals will be presented in a similar manner to conference papers, but with the specific aim of strengthening scholarly dialogue and knowledge exchange over interdisciplinary project design, access to funding for interdisciplinary research projects, and how to publish interdisciplinary research outputs.
Additional information:
The deadline for paper proposals and research project proposals is 1 June 2009. Successful conference applicants will be notified by e-mail by 30 June 2009. Further additional information, including the conference programme, will be published on the conference website in July 2009.
Conference organizers:
Dr. André Broome
a.broome@bham.ac.uk <mailto:a.broome@bham.ac.uk>
Dr. Nicola Smith
n.j.smith.1@bham.ac.uk <mailto:n.j.smith.1@bham.ac.uk>
Dr Annika Bergman-Rosamond
abr3@leicester.ac.uk <mailto:abr3@leicester.ac.uk>
Hosted by the Department of Political Science and International Studies
University of Birmingham, Tuesday 15th September 2009.
Call for papers:
The study of International Relations (IR) has often borrowed from, and built upon, the work produced in diverse academic disciplines. These range from philosophy to economics, sociology to criminology, geography to cultural studies, and from international law to the philosophy of science. Despite the significant debt that the development of IR as a field of study in its own right owes to interdisciplinary scholarship, debates over the future development of interdisciplinarity in IR are too often treated as a marginal concern. In addition, while many IR scholars borrow from the research insights of other disciplines, disciplinary boundaries such as the organizational structures of universities and the specialization of academic journals and publishers often inhibit rather than facilitate dialogue between scholars and students working in similar research areas.
This one-day conference aims to bring together scholars working on contemporary issues in International Relations from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds to discuss the future of interdisciplinarity in the study of International Relations.
The organizers invite potential participants to submit one of the following two types of proposals:
1. Individual conference paper proposals that directly address issues related to interdisciplinary scholarship in IR. The organizers are especially interested in papers that draw on the wide pool of relevant scholarship from outside the traditional 'IR canon', but which also seek to address the challenges involved with producing interdisciplinary scholarship that attempts to engage with an often sceptical 'mainstream' IR audience.
2. Research project proposals that will contribute to - and draw on - interdisciplinary scholarship in IR. This may include PhD research proposals, post-doctoral research proposals, or academic research grant proposals, and may be completed project designs that have already been submitted or works-in-progress. Successful proposals will be presented in a similar manner to conference papers, but with the specific aim of strengthening scholarly dialogue and knowledge exchange over interdisciplinary project design, access to funding for interdisciplinary research projects, and how to publish interdisciplinary research outputs.
Additional information:
The deadline for paper proposals and research project proposals is 1 June 2009. Successful conference applicants will be notified by e-mail by 30 June 2009. Further additional information, including the conference programme, will be published on the conference website in July 2009.
Conference organizers:
Dr. André Broome
a.broome@bham.ac.uk <mailto:a.broome@bham.ac.uk>
Dr. Nicola Smith
n.j.smith.1@bham.ac.uk <mailto:n.j.smith.1@bham.ac.uk>
Dr Annika Bergman-Rosamond
abr3@leicester.ac.uk <mailto:abr3@leicester.ac.uk>
Monday, 16 February 2009
European Consortium for Political Research
5th ECPR General Conference, Potsdam 10 - 12 September, 2009
The 5th ECPR General Conference will be held at Potsdam Universität from 10-12 September 2009. The Academic Convenors for the conference are Professor Luciano Bardi (ECPR Executive Committee) and Professor Martin Bull (ECPR Academic Director). The main academic programme will be organised in the format of sections and panels, with each Section Chair organising a variety of panels in a different field. The programme is intended to be very broad, with over 50 accepted sections. Further information will be continually added to this website, so check back regularly!
WELCOME WORDS FROM THE LOCAL ORGANISER
Dear Colleague,
I am delighted to be able to welcome you to the ECPR General Conference 2009, which will be held at the University of Potsdam on 10-12 September 2009. The University was founded in 1991, partially on the grounds of research institutions established during Socialist rule. With approximately 16,000 students enrolled in the University’s five faculties, including about 1,300 foreign students from more than 85 countries, the University of Potsdam is the largest research institution in a city that prides itself on having the highest density of academic and scientific facilities in Germany. The campus site at Griebnitzsee, where the General Conference 2009 will be held, has just been transformed by the addition of a new building, in which most of our events will be held. The Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, which acts as our host, focuses on public policy and public management (broadly understood). It offers BA degrees in political science and public administration, sociology and economics as well as a range of postgraduate degrees, including a Master of Public Management, a Master of Global Public Policy, a Master of European Governance and Administration (offered in cooperation with ENA and Sorbonne in Paris and Humboldt-University in Berlin), and an Executive Master of Public Management with the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
Potsdam -- a brief look at history
Beyond offering the comforts of a generously refurbished campus, the conference location at Potsdam also serves as a stark reminder of the turbulent history that is the backdrop of modern-day European politics. Throughout modern times, the city and region of Potsdam have served as the stage for some of Europe’s defining movements and moments. In 1685, the Edict of Potsdam ended religious discrimination and triggered an influx of immigrants to the city, most notably of French Huguenots. During the reign of Frederick the Great, the city and, most of all, the Prussian monarch’s summer residence Sanssouci became almost synonymous with European enlightenment. Voltaire joined Frederick’s court, where French was the official language, and stayed at Sanssouci for extended periods.
But Potsdam also played its role during dark moments of German’s more recent history. In 1933, the city hosted the meeting during which Germany’s ailing President Hindenburg shook hands with the newly elected Chancellor Hitler. The ‘Day of Potsdam’ came to symbolise the tragic miscalculation of Germany’s old elites and the rise of the national-socialist movement to power, as the Weimar Republic collapsed. Less than ten years later, a mansion at Lake Wannsee just outside Potsdam hosted the notorious meeting of Nazi officials charged with organising the deportation and extermination of European Jews.
After the Second World War, the allied forces chose Cecilia Court Palace as the site of the ‘Potsdam Conference’ to negotiate the terms of German occupation and Europe’s post-WWII order. The Cold War that soon split the continent saw some of its most secretive moments played out in Potsdam. As recently as during the mid-1980s, Glienicke Bridge, separating the East from the West, was used to exchange captured spies and political prisoners. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, and in recognition of its architectural and landscape treasures, Potsdam was declared UNESCO world heritage site in 1990.
We hope you will enjoy your stay at the University of Potsdam and also find the time to experience some of the unique sites this city and region have to offer.
visit:
http://www.ecprnet.eu/ecpr/potsdam/default.asp
The 5th ECPR General Conference will be held at Potsdam Universität from 10-12 September 2009. The Academic Convenors for the conference are Professor Luciano Bardi (ECPR Executive Committee) and Professor Martin Bull (ECPR Academic Director). The main academic programme will be organised in the format of sections and panels, with each Section Chair organising a variety of panels in a different field. The programme is intended to be very broad, with over 50 accepted sections. Further information will be continually added to this website, so check back regularly!
WELCOME WORDS FROM THE LOCAL ORGANISER
Dear Colleague,
I am delighted to be able to welcome you to the ECPR General Conference 2009, which will be held at the University of Potsdam on 10-12 September 2009. The University was founded in 1991, partially on the grounds of research institutions established during Socialist rule. With approximately 16,000 students enrolled in the University’s five faculties, including about 1,300 foreign students from more than 85 countries, the University of Potsdam is the largest research institution in a city that prides itself on having the highest density of academic and scientific facilities in Germany. The campus site at Griebnitzsee, where the General Conference 2009 will be held, has just been transformed by the addition of a new building, in which most of our events will be held. The Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, which acts as our host, focuses on public policy and public management (broadly understood). It offers BA degrees in political science and public administration, sociology and economics as well as a range of postgraduate degrees, including a Master of Public Management, a Master of Global Public Policy, a Master of European Governance and Administration (offered in cooperation with ENA and Sorbonne in Paris and Humboldt-University in Berlin), and an Executive Master of Public Management with the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
Potsdam -- a brief look at history
Beyond offering the comforts of a generously refurbished campus, the conference location at Potsdam also serves as a stark reminder of the turbulent history that is the backdrop of modern-day European politics. Throughout modern times, the city and region of Potsdam have served as the stage for some of Europe’s defining movements and moments. In 1685, the Edict of Potsdam ended religious discrimination and triggered an influx of immigrants to the city, most notably of French Huguenots. During the reign of Frederick the Great, the city and, most of all, the Prussian monarch’s summer residence Sanssouci became almost synonymous with European enlightenment. Voltaire joined Frederick’s court, where French was the official language, and stayed at Sanssouci for extended periods.
But Potsdam also played its role during dark moments of German’s more recent history. In 1933, the city hosted the meeting during which Germany’s ailing President Hindenburg shook hands with the newly elected Chancellor Hitler. The ‘Day of Potsdam’ came to symbolise the tragic miscalculation of Germany’s old elites and the rise of the national-socialist movement to power, as the Weimar Republic collapsed. Less than ten years later, a mansion at Lake Wannsee just outside Potsdam hosted the notorious meeting of Nazi officials charged with organising the deportation and extermination of European Jews.
After the Second World War, the allied forces chose Cecilia Court Palace as the site of the ‘Potsdam Conference’ to negotiate the terms of German occupation and Europe’s post-WWII order. The Cold War that soon split the continent saw some of its most secretive moments played out in Potsdam. As recently as during the mid-1980s, Glienicke Bridge, separating the East from the West, was used to exchange captured spies and political prisoners. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, and in recognition of its architectural and landscape treasures, Potsdam was declared UNESCO world heritage site in 1990.
We hope you will enjoy your stay at the University of Potsdam and also find the time to experience some of the unique sites this city and region have to offer.
visit:
http://www.ecprnet.eu/ecpr/potsdam/default.asp
Sunday, 15 February 2009
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