CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

For the 6th edition of the international interdisciplinary conference of political research SCOPE: Science of politics, which will take place at the University of Bucharest (Romania) between the 31st of May and 2nd of June 2019, we invite scholars across different disciplines to submit papers, panels or round table proposals on VALUES IN POLITICS, and treat this general theme from various conceptual, empirical and methodological perspectives, while addressing timely case-studies, especially (but not exclusively) around the following core topics: 
  • Ethics and political theory;
  • Ethics and international affairs;
  • Ethics and public policy;
  • Ethics and human rights;
  • Values, beliefs and attitudes in contemporary societies;
  • Populism, social movements and electoral behaviour in the age of social media;
  • Democracy and its critics;
  • Contemporary political ideologies;
  • Identity politics;
  • The politics of entitlement;
  • Transitional justice;
  • Comparative perspectives on civic education and global solidarity;
  • Methodological opportunities and challenges in approaching the study of values in political research;
  • Ethics of contemporary political research.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION


The event takes place at Casa Universitarilor, a historical building of the University of Bucharest, located in the city centre, close to most touristic landmarks. 

Citizens of non-OECD countries, members of IPSA RC33 and doctoral students irrespective of their country of origin enjoy discounted fee rates. 

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

Among the many visiting opportunities available in Bucharest (once nicknamed Little Paris and currently often labelled as Little Berlin particularly for its vibrant nightlife and alternative cultural spaces), the organizers also offer participants guided thematic tours with scholars and practitioners in the field. Read more

KEYNOTES

OPENING KEYNOTE
Julie SMITH 
(Baroness Smith of Newnham)
Cambridge University

Reader in European Politics and Director of the European Centre at the Department of Politics and International Studies, Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge. She previously ran the European Programme at Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs). Baroness Smith’s main research interests are in the history and politics of the EU. Her current work focuses on the UK’s relations with the EU; parliaments and the EU; and parliaments and budgetary politics. She is currently editing the Palgrave Handbook on European Referendums (due out in 2019). Recent publications include: The UK’s Journeys Into and Out of the EU: Destinations Unknown (London: Routledge, 2017; paperback edition May 2018). Read more


Christian W. HAERPFER
World Values Survey Association,
University of Vienna &
United Arab Emirates University

Current President of the World Values Survey Association, Founding Director in 1991 of the Institute for Comparative Survey Research “Eurasia Barometer” in Vienna (Austria), as well as recurrent academic and public policy advisor for the United Nations, UNDP, World Bank, European Commission, EBRD and OECD. His main fields of expertise are the social and political transformations in transitional Post-Soviet and Post-Communist societies; political participation and democracy; social and political capital; support for democracy and other political regimes; and political transition in countries of Middle East and North Africa. Read more


Andrei POAMA
Leiden University

Co-editor of the recent Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy, he is also co-coordinator of the Centre for Public Values and Ethics, and member of the Centre for Political Philosophy at Leiden University. His major research interests include the philosophy of punishment, the ethics of public policy, democratic theory (with an emphasis on juries and jury decision-making), and experimental philosophy. Read more
Abstract submission deadline
Les résumé doivent être envoyés avant le
15 / 03 / 2019

SUBMIT A PROPOSAL / ENVOYER UN PROPOSITION

(300-500 words abstract / résumé 300-500 mots)
(300-500 words abstract, 3-4 paper proposals / résumé 300-500 mots, 3-4 communications) 
(300-500 words abstract, 3-6 invited speakers / résumé 300-500 mots, 3-6 participants)

SPECIAL SESSIONS: THE PROFESSION


WHAT CAN POLITICAL SCIENCE DO FOR LIBERAL DEMOCRACY?
Could our fear of values in the pursuit of science actually limit the value of our discipline for society and thus undermine itself? If yes, under which circumstances are we allowed to take sides and how should we do it in order to maintain both scientific and civic integrity? Read more

CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO FUNDING FOR POLITICAL RESEARCH
Focus on public funding supporting research on democracy, civic education and democratic values. Read more

SPECIAL SESSIONS: EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 2019

Round tables and panels on the outcome and impact of the 23-26 May 2019 elections for the European Parliament, as well as on the various 2019 national and local elections across Europe. The event marks the first Romanian Presidency of the EU Council (1st of January - 30th of June 2019). Read more

SPECIAL SECTION

LANGUAGE IN CONTEMPORARY POLITICS
Special section exploring the role of language in contemporary politics, with a focus on narratives built around vulnerable groups. The event marks the International Year of Indigenous Languages, an initiative of the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/71/178). Read more

BOOK LAUNCHES

https://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9783319916552

DOORENSPLEET, Renske (2019) Rethinking the Value of Democracy: A Comparative Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan.

Presented by: 
Renske DOORENSPLEET (University of Warwick, UK) 
Matthijs BOGAARDS (Central European University, HUNGARY & AUSTRIA)

This book is the first comprehensive analysis of the instrumental value of democracy in a comparative perspective. 

Based on extensive analyses of quantitative studies from different disciplines, it explores both the expected beneficial and harmful impact of democracy. 

Democracy’s reputation as delivering peace and development while controlling corruption is an important source of its own legitimacy. Yet, as this book acutely demonstrates, the arguments tend to be normatively driven interventions in ideologically charged policy debates. 

The book argues that we need neither a utopian framing of democracy as delivering all ‘good things’ in politics nor a cynical one that emphasizes only the ‘dangerous underbelly’ of this form of government. 

The author also raises critical questions about the value of the study of democracy: the choice for particular concepts and measures, the unknown mechanisms, and the narrow focus on specific instrumental values. 

This volume will be necessary reading for anyone interested in debates on democracy in the contemporary global context.
https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Ethics-and-Public-Policy/Lever-Poama/p/book/9781138201279
LAVER, Anabelle, Andrei POAMA, eds. (2019) Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy. Routledge.

Presented by
Andrei POAMA (Leiden University, NETHERLANDS)

What does it mean to do public policy ethics today? How should philosophers engage with ethical issues in policy-making when policy decisions are circumscribed by political and pragmatic concerns? How do ethical issues in public policy differ between areas such as foreign policy, criminal justice, or environmental policy?

The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy addresses all these questions and more, and is the first handbook of its kind. It is comprised of 41 chapters written by leading international contributors, and is organised into four clear sections covering the following key topics:

  • Methodology: philosophical approaches to public policy, ethical expertise, knowledge, and public policy
  • Democracy and public policy: identity, integration and inclusion: voting, linguistic policy, discrimination, youth policy, religious toleration, and the family
  • Public goods: defence and foreign policy, development and climate change, surveillance and internal security, ethics of welfare, healthcare and fair trade, sovereignty and territorial boundaries, and the ethics of nudging
  • Public policy challenges: criminal justice, policing, taxation, poverty, disability, reparation, and ethics of death policies.
The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy, politics, and social policy. It will be equally useful to those in related disciplines, such as economics and law, or professional fields, such as business administration or policy-making in general.
https://www.routledge.com/The-Politics-of-Political-Science-Re-Writing-Latin-American-Experiences/Ravecca/p/book/9780815363088

Presented by
Paulo RAVECCA (Universidad de la República, URUGUAY)

In this thought-provoking book, Paulo Ravecca presents a series of interlocking studies on the politics of political science in the Americas.

Focusing mainly on the cases of Chile and Uruguay, Ravecca employs different strands of critical theory to challenge the mainstream narrative about the development of the discipline in the region, emphasizing its ideological aspects and demonstrating how the discipline itself has been shaped by power relations. Ravecca metaphorically charts the (non-linear) transit from “cold” to “warm” to “hot” intellectual temperatures to illustrate his—alternative—narrative. Beginning with a detailed quantitative study of three regional academic journals, moving to the analysis of the role of subjectivity (and political trauma) in academia and its discourse in relation to the dictatorships in Chile and Uruguay, and arriving finally at an intimate meditation on the experience of being a queer scholar in the Latin American academy of the 21st century, Ravecca guides his readers through differing explorations, languages, and methods.

The volume offers an essential reflection on both the relationship between knowledge and politics and the political and ethical role of the scholar today, demonstrating how the study of the politics of knowledge deepens our understanding of the politics of our times.