CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Why, when and whom do we trust? And why does it matter?

Trust and the multiple related lenses through which it can be approached, such as reputation (-building), rule-based systems, corruption or dis-/mis-information, are classic areas of political and social research, including comparative politics, political theory, political economy, public policies and international relations. However, the matter of trust is still not only far from being fully understood conceptually or explored in all its aspects, but also continuously evolving. This makes its study necessary for both academic and practical reasons. In practical terms, for instance, the various crises of the last two decades - from climate change to the COVID-19 pandemic, and from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the recent multiple turmoil points in the Middle East - have kept the issue of trust in politics high on the public agenda, at both national and international levels. At the same time, as new digital technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), are increasingly present in the public space, so are the concerns about the distortions of reality for political and / or economic purposes which may radically alter the democratic landscapes and even the very fabric of contemporary societies. At the same time, such substantive issues cannot be fully grasped and tackled without addressing the contemporary dynamics of trust as topic of different areas of political research or without investigating their connection to democratization processes, human rights concerns, or their international impact and socio-economic implications for politicians, political researchers and other policy and political stakeholders, at both national and international level.

At the moment, there are several regional and (sub)disciplinary clusters of research on trust, including the teams of the Horizon Europe project TrueDem: Trust in European Democracies and the World Values Survey Association, which partner with this edition of SCOPE. However, there are few occasions for these clusters to meet. At the same time, there are many researchers from different areas (e.g. international relations, political theory, political economy, sociology, gender studies, history) and from different countries or international research teams who touch on trust and its related lenses as a secondary focus, but whose work is extremely valuable for advancing knowledge and methodological innovation in the field. All these also rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to engage in a global conversation on the matter, beyond the limited scope of their specific investigations. SCOPE 2024 aims to provide this opportunity.

Marking also 160 years since the establishment of the University of Bucharest as a modern higher education institution, this edition is introduced through a special keynote lecture on the latest global trends on trust offered by Prof. Christian WELZEL (World Values Survey Association), and, in addition to the regular academic panels, it is creating the space for multidisciplinary debates around several recent/upcoming book launches. At the same time, with the support of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) - Research Committee 33 (The Study of Political Science as a Discipline), participants have the opportunity to reflect on the state of trust in political research publications and political science as a discipline. Given the high relevance of the topic for the 2024 electoral year worldwide, the issue of populism and trust in democracies will be also addressed through a keynote offered by Sorina SOARE (University of Florence). Not least, on the last day of the conference, SCOPE also brings together scholars, diplomats and civil society representatives in a special event marking the International Day of Peace, introduced by a special keynote on the role of digital diplomacy in trust-building  by Corneliu BJOLA (University of Oxford). Additional keynotes and opportunities for participants are also soon to be confirmed. 

With such questions in mind, SCOPE 2024 invites scholars across different disciplines to submit papers, panels or round table proposals that explore from various conceptual, empirical and methodological perspectives especially (but not exclusively) the following core topics: