CRESC annual Conference—Promises: Crisis and Socio-Cultural Change at the University of Manchester (September 5-7, 2012)

 

Roundtable and Panel Proposal: Promises for a more Responsible Capitalism

 

Roundtable Participants:

 

Richard Murphy (Tax Justice Network), Nick Hildyard (Cornerhouse), Damon Gibbon (Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion), Sargon Nissan (Independent Financial Analyst), Janet Williamson (Trade Union Congress)

 

When the financial crisis began in 2007 governments moved decisively to prop up a collapsing financial system with the promise of reform in the future. Now the financial services industry is back to business-as-usual as the impetus for fundamental reform now seems lost to calls for national competitiveness and claims to necessity in order to prevent deeper economic slowdown. This panel explores the (failed) promises for a more responsible capitalism, in the midst of rolling crises and failed recovery. Our aims to bring together, and to bring into dialogue, papers that address: policy proscriptions, political reform, social movements and/or other forward looking perspectives.

 

• What does a more responsible capitalism look like? How can these goals be achieved by social movements, political reform, new market regulation and/or institutional redesign?

 

• When capitalism and political elite are more than able to out think its critics, how does the need for substantive reform capture popular imagination?

 

• How might ‘the economy’ be made more accountable and how is the idea of social responsibility to be thought into market practices and policies at national and international levels?

 

• How might a reformed capitalism deal with social needs, from access to a living wage to dealing with impact of climate change?

 

If you would like to participate please email me directly at j.montgomerie@manchester.ac.uk and prepare a title and 200 word abstract by Wednesday May 30^th, 2012

 

For more information about the conference including the programme, registration and location details, please follow the link:

http://www.cresc.ac.uk/events/cresc-annual-conference

 

This year’s keynote speakers include:

 

· Barbara Adam (Social Sciences, Cardiff University)

· Robert Boyer (ENS, Paris)

· Aditya Chakrabortty (The Guardian) 

· Will Hutton (Hertford College, Oxford University)

· Paul Mason (BBC Newsnight)

· Elizabeth A. Povinelli (Anthropology, Columbia University)

 

In consideration of the on-going cuts in public spending the cost of this year’s full conference registration (including lunch and refreshments) has been reduced to £175 for those booking before the 31^st July.

Reblogged from WordPress.com News:

As soon as a blogger publishes their first post, their first question is: Where’s all my traffic? Everyone assumes they’re the only one seeking attention, when in truth nearly everyone is. It takes time to build an audience and no one gets much traffic without putting in the effort.

Here at WordPress.com we want you to get more traffic, and we build features and services to help.

Read more… 847 more words

I am currently reading Yale-based political scientist Bruce Russett‘s Hegemony and Democracy, and the very first paragraph elegantly states what I absolutely think is the case (p. 1):

“Dominance is a condition never reached without effort. Achieving superiority over others requires strength, skill, determination, and luck. Even if it comes when a primary opponent collapses, it can be retained only by repeated acts of will —in sport or in the supreme contest of international politics. A hegemony may be honored, respected, feared, perhaps even loved, but its victory must be reconfirmed each day. And, like all other achievements, it will ultimately pass away”

 So how can one disagree with that? I think Bruce’s point is crystal clear; it evades the usual jack-booted, goose-stepping cliches about the notion of hegemony. Indeed, it refines (and even ‘contemporizes’) Gramsci’s path-breaking analysis of hegemony. The past few decades, though, reminded us of the apparent decline of American hegemony in world politics. Some say the decline is imminent and inevitable like what LSE’s Martin Jacques or even NUS’ Kishore Mahbubani would tend to argue. Some say it is here to stay for some time, perhaps the likes of Harvard’s Niall Ferguson would say so; albeit with some key challenges from the East – particularly from China.

What I can say though, phenomenologically, is that the apparent East-West standoff is evident in the line-up of this year’s 100 World Leaders of Tomorrow at the 42nd St. Gallen Symposium at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Selected from a highly competitive pool of applications and nominations from all over the world, the composition of the final list speaks so much about the imminent future of international politics (?).

Coming from the East, yet receiving a large chunk of my graduate education in the West, I am really grateful to take part in this year’s symposium as one of the 100 Leaders of Tomorrow via St. Gallen Wings of Excellence Award (Graduate Student Category). Coming from Berlin, I shall be joining two other emerging leaders in their own fields: Wolfgang Gründinger, a German political scientist based at the Berlin Graduate School for Social Sciences of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (and previously listed by Germany’s leading newspaper as one of the 100 young talents that Germany needs to watch out for), and  a Chinese environmental policy scholar Xinlei Li based at the Otto-Suhr Institue for Political Science at the Freie Universität Berlin (and who does a highly interesting comparative study of renewable energy policy in China and Germany!). Be as it may, by quickly and unsystematically scanning through the list of the Leaders of Tomorrow for 2012 using my St. Gallen online account, I was struck with this observation: the majority of them come from either the US or China, while the rest are from Europe or the rest of the Asia-Pacific. What does this say about the future of world politics? Does this speak of an imminent East-West standoff in the next few decades to come? Let’s see next week in St. Gallen when we will have a great opportunity to meet the Leaders of Today .

Reblogged from Millennium: Journal of International Studies:

Hat tip to Lee Marsden of Uni of East Anglia for the info via US Foreign Policy Working Group of BISA.

 

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/events/events/2012/120510CoxStokesLaunch.aspx 

 

US Foreign Policy Second Edition – Book Launch

Thursday 10th May 2012, 6.30pm, COL 2.01 Columbia House                           Speakers: Professor Michael Cox, Dr Doug Stokes

 

This event will launch the second edition of ‘US Foreign Policy’ edited by Michael Cox and Doug Stokes. The publication comprehensively tracks the United States position in the world from its independence right through to the present day. Throughout the book expect contributors focus in turn on the historical background, institutions, regional relations, and contemporary issues that are key to US foreign policy-making.

As part of this launch event Professor Cox and Dr Stokes will discuss how important recent developments have shaped the content of the new second edition. These include the effects of the global financial crisis, the on-going conflict in Afghanistan, and political uprisings in the Middle East. They will also cover how the US China relationship has been incorporated into the text as well as briefly discussing the two new chapters on Obama’s use of smart power and a debate on the nature of U.S. hegemony.

Praise for the second edition of US foreign Policy

 

“This second edition of one of the best texts on modern US foreign policy is bound to be welcomed by all teachers in the field; crisply written comprehensive in coverage, international in approach, and student friendly, it is certain to remain a text of choice for years to come.”

G.John Ikenberry, Princeton University

Here’s my latest article reviewing the latest work of arguably the most controversial scholar in European political Islam – Bassam Tibi: International Sociology 27 (2) – Access the article

The International Initiative for the Promotion of Political Economy announces a two-day training workshop in Marxist Political Economy to take place on 25 and 26 June 2012 at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. We are seeking an audience of engaged participants, including postgraduate students, junior academics and activists, who have a particular interest in acquainting themselves with the principles of Marxian political economy and their contemporary relevance in a semi-formal educational setting. The workshop will be led by Ben Fine and Simon Mohun. Limited funding is available to support travel costs (from within the UK), but not accommodation costs. If you wish to apply to attend the workshop, please send your name, occupation and a short (one paragraph) account of why you want to participate to ew23@soas.ac.uk before 30 April 2012. The workshop is supported financially by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust.

 

Europe in the Middle East-The Middle East in Europe

Summer Academy for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers

in Cairo, September 16-27, 2012

(deadline for applications: 15 April 2012)

 

The research project Europe in the Middle East-The Middle East in Europe

(EUME) of the Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien and the ‘Center

for Translation Studies’ of the American University in Cairo invite

scholars of Comparative Literature, Cultural Anthropology, Middle East

Studies, Political Science, and Sociology to apply for an international

Summer Academy from September 16 – 27, 2012 at the American University in

Cairo on the theme Aesthetics and Politics: Counter-Narratives, New Publics,

and the Role of Dissent in the Arab World.

 

 

The Summer Academy

is chaired by a group of scholars that include Randa Aboubakr (Cairo

University), Michael Allan (University of Oregon / Fellow of EUME 2011/12),

Sinan Antoon (NYU), Ayman El-Desouky (SOAS London), Elias Khoury

(NYU/Beirut), Samia Mehrez (American University in Cairo), Rachid Ouaissa

(Philipps-Universität Marburg), Friederike Pannewick (Philipps-Universitaet

Marburg), Samah Selim (Rutgers University), and is held in cooperation with

the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies of  Philipps-Universitaet

Marburg.

 

24 doctoral and postdoctoral scholars from different countries and academic

disciplines will be given the opportunity to present and discuss their

current research. Intellectuals, writers and scholars from Egypt will also

participate in the discussions and events of the Summer Academy.

 

The Summer Academy is designed to support scholarly networks and contribute

to closer ties among research activities in and outside Europe and the

Middle East. It is also meant to foster interdisciplinary research fields

that benefit from the sort of intercultural cooperation this forum provides.

In order to promote intensive debate and encourage new perspectives, the

Summer Academy is structured around four main elements: presentations of

individual research projects in small groups, working group sessions for the

participants, general lectures, and panel discussions open to a wider

public.

 

Program

The uprisings in the Arab world have challenged traditional paradigms for

understanding culture and politics in the region and have opened up new sets

of questions in both spheres. ‘Revolution,’ as both concept and

practice, has at once enabled innovative modes of critique, imaginings of

new utopias, re-signified subjectivities, as well as communal solidarities.

What are some of the new terms, frames of understanding, and transformations

that have begun to crystallize through the political and cultural changes in

the aftermath of the Arab uprisings? In what ways do the uprisings across

the Arab world reformulate the relationship between politics and culture in

and outside the region? How might we understand the role of dissent and

counternarratives in the political process? And how should we conceive the

place of literature and the arts in this new context? How might analyzing

the relationship between aesthetics and politics ultimately enrich the way

we understand and position our own work as scholars of the region? How might

we understand and deploy key political terms inspired by the Arab uprisings

emphasizing freedom, human dignity, and social justice-and what do these

terms mean in our academic contexts?

 

Scholars are encouraged to explore aesthetic forms in the broadest

sense-not in only literature, but also in new media, music, film,

performance, fashion and street art. How have these aesthetic forms

facilitated the imagining of political practice and a new public sphere? Can

we trace echoes of this political vocabulary in the novels, art, poetry,

songs, and films of the last decades, many of which deployed emancipatory or

subversive rhetoric? The postmodernism of the 1990s and 2000s in the Arab

world emerged as an explicit rejection of older forms of realism, and

aesthetic-as well as political-commitments: the fragment, the minority,

the personal confession, the pastiche, and the mistrust of representation

itself were all features of this trend. Were the 21st century uprisings

nourished and shaped by this movement, or has their explosion onto the world

stage sounded the death-knell of the postmodern Arab subject? What kinds of

new narrative modes and structures-or even altogether new genres-might

emerge from this revolutionary moment?

 

What is the impact of old and new media on the values and norms of a

society? Do new forms of communication point to new ways of reconstructing

civil society in the Middle East or are these channels limited to

intellectual and social elites? How has new media transformed literature? We

might consider shifts both in style and language (with the influence of SMS

language, cell phone novels and blogs), as well as the new publics imagined

in these textual forms. Is there something like a new aesthetic implicit in

the current revolutionary movement?

 

Part of analyzing the relationship of aesthetics and politics means

rethinking the role of culture and intellectuals in a revolutionary context.

Are intellectuals still relevant in current public debates? Does the term

‘intellectual’ apply to the new actors, movements, and organizations

involved in the Arab uprisings? What does a ‘revolution’ without leaders

tell us about the role of intellectuals in the 21st century?  These

questions are deeply embedded in the ongoing reconfiguration of the idea of

culture as a whole in the revolutionary imagination. How are intellectuals,

artists, institutional actors and the broader public beginning to rethink

the idea of culture as a public good in light of the complex tensions

between the effects of globalization and the marketplace on the one hand,

and established practices of ‘managed’ national culture on the other?

How are we to define public culture in this context, and how can we begin to

map out a revolutionary genealogy of cultural practice relevant to the

changing landscapes of the 21st century?

In what ways do cultural forms inflect the political imaginary, and what

might be the role of the revolutionary state, corporate foundations, and the

market in cultural production and dissemination?

 

Conditions of Application and Procedure

Participants receive a stipend covering travel and accommodation. The

program targets doctoral and postdoctoral researchers of Comparative

Literature, Cultural Anthropology, Middle East Studies, Political Science,

and Sociology, who wish to present their ongoing projects in a comparative

perspective in relation to the questions raised above. The researchers’

work should be clearly relevant to the themes of the Summer Academy. While

the focus of the Summer Academy will be the Arab world, comparative

perspectives on the relation of aesthetics and politics from other regions

are welcome, transregional comparative approaches being especially

encouraged. The working language is English. The application should likewise

be in English and consist of

 

- a curriculum vitae

- a three- to five-page outline of the project the applicant is currently

working on, with a brief summary thereof,

- the names of two university faculty members who can serve as referees

(no letters of recommendation required)

 

sent by e-mail as one pdf file or in one word document.

 

The application should be submitted in English and should be received by

April 15, addressed to eume@trafo-berlin.de

 

Institutional Framework

The Summer Academy is supported within the overall framework of the research

program ‘Europe in the Middle East-The Middle East in Europe’ (EUME),

which focuses on the diverse processes of transfer, exchange and interaction

between Europe and the Middle East. EUME is hosted and supported by the

Forum Transregionale Studien.

 

The Forum Transregionale Studien is a new research platform of the Land of

Berlin designed to promote research that connects systematic and

region-specific questions in a perspective that addresses entanglements and

interactions beyond national, cultural or regional frames. The Forum works

in tandem with already existing institutions and networks engaged in

transregional studies and is supported by an association of directors of

research institutes and networks mainly based in Berlin. It is funded by the

Senate

of Berlin.

 

Contact

Europe in the Middle East-The Middle East in Europe

c/o Forum Transregionale Studien

Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

Attn: Georges Khalil

Wallotstrasse 19

14193 Berlin

Germany

eume@trafo-berlin.de [mailto:eume@trafo-berlin.de]

 

For more information on Europe in the Middle East-The Middle East in

Europe:

www.eume-berlin.de [http://www.eume-berlin.de/]

For more information on the Forum Transregionale Studien:

www.forum-transregionale-studien.de

[http://www.forum-transregionale-studien.de/]

Please find a PDF version of the announcement here:

 

http://www.forum-transregionale-studien.de/fileadmin/eume/pdf/sommerakademie/eume-SummerAcademy2012.pdf

[http://www.forum-transregionale-studien.de/fileadmin/eume/pdf/sommerakademie/eume-SummerAcademy2012.pdf]

Conference “Communicating European Integration”

 

Eighth History of European Integration Research Society (HEIRS) Conference

30-31 March 2012, Humboldt University Berlin

Department of History, Friedrichstraße 191-193, 10117 Berlin

Rooms 5008 & 5009

Organization:

Andreas Weiß (Humboldt University Berlin: weissand@cms.hu-berlin.de)

Tobias Reckling (University of Portsmouth: tobias.reckling@port.ac.uk)

Manuel Müller (Humboldt University Berlin: manuel.mueller@rewi.hu-berlin.de)

 

 

Since the 1990s and in direct connection withthe low turnouts of the European elections the so-called “democratic deficit”of the EU became an increasingly discussed topic in both academic and politicalcircles. In this context, the (apparently insufficient) communication ofEuropean politics to its citizens and the lack of identification with Europeaninstitutions have been of especially great importance. Academic research hasinvested considerable efforts in trying to analyse and explain these problematicrelationships. However, because this still growing area of research is stilldominated by social scientists, historical approaches seem to be somewhatunderrepresented. Against this background, the conference aims to fosterinterdisciplinary exchange in historical research on this crucial aspect of thehistory of European integration.

 

The conference is organized in cooperation with: UACES, Zeit-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, European Commission Representation in Germany, Collaborative Research Centre 640″Representations of changing social orders”/ Humboldt University Berlin and Instituto Cervantes Berlin.

 

No conference fees will be charged.

 

 

 

Conference Programme (draft)

 

Friday, 30 March 2012

13.00-14.00                Registration and Coffee 

14.00-14.30

Greeting: Mr. Stefan Forester, Head of the Department of Communication, Representation of the European Commission in Berlin 

14.30-15.00               

Welcome address: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. em. Hartmut Kaelble, Humboldt University Berlin 

15.00-16.00

Keynote Lecture 1: Prof. Dr. Hagen Schulz-Forberg, Aarhus University

Chair: Tobias Reckling

16.00-16.30                Break 

16.30-18.15               

Panel 1: Sideways: Before Integration and alternative paths

Chair: Dr. Jan-Henrik Meyer, University of Aarhus (History)

Presentations:

Florian Greiner, Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam (History)

Communicating European Integration during the “Second Thirty Years War” – Printmedial Discourses on the Unity of Europe, 1914-1945

Christian Methfessel, Humboldt University Berlin (History)

Communicating Cooperation between European Imperial Powers Before 1914

Jakub Drabik, Charles University Prague (History)

The National Party of Europe and Oswald Mosley’s concept of the United Europe. A contribution to the study of the Pan-European nationalism. 

Panel 2: Representing Europe 1: Films and newsreels

Chair: Dr. Christian Henrich-Franke, University of Siegen (History)

Presentations:

Anne Bruch, University of Hamburg (History, Communication Studies)

‘To Advertise Europe’: The medial Construction of European Identity through Information Films within the Context of European Information Policy. A Multilayered Approach to the Analysis of Political Communication Processes

Eugen Pfister, University of Trento/Goethe University Frankfurt (History)

What did Europeans see of Europe? European identity in Austrian, British, French and German newsreels

18.15-18.45                Break 

18.45-20.00

Panel 3: Communicating Policy Reform

Chair: Laurent Warlouzet, PhD, Université d’Artois (History/RICHIE)

Presentations:

Ulrike Zschache, Lancaster University (Cultural Studies, Communication Studies)

Communicating the European agricultural reform project: A media analysis of the discursive negotiations over the European ‘agricultural turnaround’ in the Spanish and German broadsheet press

Maria Chen, London School of Economics (History)

Communicating Changes in European Community Wine Policy in France: 1974-80

Panel 4: Representing Europe 2: National Images of Europe in the Press

Chair: Dr. des. Christian Domnitz, European University Viadrina Frankfurt/ Oder (History)

Presentations:

Alena Hvozdzeva, University of Vienna (History)

Media Discourses on Europe in Lithuania and Latvia after 1990

Ariane Brill, Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam (History)

From the idea of Europe to a “dying myth”? Discourses on European unity in German, British and American newspapers 1946-1980.

20.00                           Dinner 

Saturday, 31 March 2012

9.00-10.00

Keynote Lecture 2: Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Trenz, University of Copenhagen

Chair: Andreas Weiß

10.00-10.30                Coffee

10.30-12.15              

Panel 5: Communication strategy and public opinion 1: the early years

Chair: Dr. Simone Paoli, University of Padua (History)

Presentations:

Dr. Alexander Reinfeldt, University of Hamburg (History)

Communicating European Integration? – Information vs. Integration

Dr. Nicolas Verschueren, University of Luxembourg (History, Political Science)

The ECSC and the European Working Class: Exclusion and Inclusion

Eric O’Connor, University of Wisconsin at Madison (History)

A Vote for What? Voters Address European Unity, 1950-1979

Panel 6: Enlargement and neighbourhood 1: The North

Chair: Katja Seidel, PhD, University of Westminster (History)

Presentations:

Alice Cunha, Instituto de História Contemporânea – Universidade Nova de Lisboa (History)

Good to Know about EU Enlargement: The EU’s Communication Strategy towards Enlargement

Benjamin Leruth, University of Edinburgh (Political Science)

“Ja”, “Kyllä” and “Nei” : a Comparison of the communication strategies used in the Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian 1994 Referenda campaigns on EU Membership

Dr. Pauli Heikkilä, University of Tartu (History)

European Integration in Finnish History Text Books

12.15-13.30               Lunch 

13.30-14.30              

Keynote Lecture 3: Prof. Dr. Juan Díez Medrano, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Chair: Manuel Müller

14.30-16.15

Panel 7: Communication strategy and public opinion 2: after Maastricht

Chair: Dr. Marianne van de Steeg, Free University Berlin (Political Science)

Presentations:

Annelies van Brussel, University of Ghent (EU Studies)

From informing to interacting? Exploring the European Commission’s interest in keeping its ear to the ground

Nikos Vogiatzis, University of Hull (Law)

Communicating the European Ombudsman’s mandate: An Overview of the Annual Reports

Daniel Ivanus, University of Portsmouth (Sociolinguistics)

European identity, representation and the discourse of self-identification in European Commission speeches: exploring the role of ERASMUS programme

Panel 8: Enlargement and neighbourhood 2: The South and East

Chair: Brigitte Leucht, PhD, University of Westminster/ London School of Economics (History)

Presentations:

Carlos López Gómez, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid (History)

Europe as a Symbol: The Struggle for Democracy and the Meaning of European Integration in Post-Franco Spain

Irena Myzegari, University of Tirana (Communication, Public Relations)

Communicating European Integration in potential candidate countries: The case of Albania

Oleksandr Svyetlov, Public Institute of Historical Memory, Kyiv (Sociology)

Communicating “Europe” within and without: the case of Ukraine

16.15-16.45               Coffee

16.45-18.00

Panel 9: Representing Europe 3: The Euro

Chair: Dr. Aline Sierp, University of Siena (History)

Presentations:

Oriane Calligaro, PhD, European University Institute, Florence (History)

Communicating Europe through its Currency: the Iconography of the Euro

Georgios Papadopoulos, Erasmus University Rotterdam (Economics, Philosophy)

Euro and the Imaginary of European Integration

Panel 10: Representing Europe 4: Alternative views from within and without

Chair: Dr. Jens Ruppenthal, University of Cologne (History/RICHIE)

Presentations:

Natalia Chaban, PhD/Sarah Christie/Aimee Sanders, Univ. Canterbury / Dr Jessica Bain, Univ. Leicester

(European Studies, History, Media and Communication)

Re-tracing Europe: Images and Perceptions of European Integration in New Zealand History (1950s-1070s)

Pieter Huistra/Marijn Molema, University of Leuven (History)

Presenting the European Past: European Integration in Dutch and European History Museums

18.00-18.30               

Closing address: Prof. Dr. Gabriele Metzler, Humboldt University Berlin

International Conference
Social Pathologies of Contemporary Civilisation
Call For Papers

September 13th & 14th, 2012. University of Hull, UK.

This conference focuses on the social pathologies of contemporary civilisation, i.e. on the ways in which contemporary malaises, diseases, illnesses, anxieties and psycho-somatic syndromes are related to cultural pathologies of the social body, how disorders of the collective esprit de corps of contemporary society manifest at the level of individual bodies, and how the social body and bodies politic are related to the hegemony of reductive biomedical and individual-psychological perspectives. The central research hypothesis guiding the conference is that many contemporary problems of health and well-being are to be understood in the light of radical changes of social structures and institutions, extending to deep crises in our civilisation as a whole. A particular focus of the conference is the role of humanities and social sciences, particularly sociology, philosophy and anthropology, in helping to understand the connection between individual and collective experiences of social transformations and of health and well-being.

Now in its third year, the thematic scope of the conference offers an insightful approach to unfolding social, political and cultural processes across disciplinary boundaries, with a focus extending from the experience of the individual to a global scale. Following successful conferences at Aalborg (2010) and Cork (2011), this year the conference is hosted by the University of Hull.

We invite abstracts of not more than 300 words related to any of the above themes to be submitted not later than June 10th to the email address below. All abstracts will be subject to peer-review and should be sent to the conference organisers at:

socialpathologies@hull.ac.uk

Organizers: University of Hull Dept of Social Sciences, University of Aalborg, University College Cork.