UACES-JMCT Research Network Workshop: Territorial Politics in Times of Crisis

The UACES-JMCT Research Network ‘Territorial Politics in Times of Crisis’, in collaboration with the Centre on Constitutional Change, invites submissions for its second workshop under the theme ‘Social Actors and Citizens in Territorial Politics’, to be held at the University of Edinburgh, 7-8 June 2022.

Territorial politics is an established subfield of scholarly inquiry, as witnessed by the recent publication of the Handbook of Territorial Politics (2018). The Handbook outlines the state of the art in the literature on territorial politics, showcasing our knowledge about the operation of political parties, governments, and voters in multi-level systems. Largely missing from the debates are actors beyond the immediate political sphere – citizens and organizations/networks – who nevertheless play an important role in these systems. The goal of our workshop is to begin addressing this omission.

We are calling for proposals for papers that examine the place of ‘atypical’ actors in territorial politics. These include, but are not limited to:

• Citizens (in their individual and collective capacity);
• Economic actors (including businesses and trade bodies, labour unions, bond-rating agencies, and international financial institutions;
• Media organizations and platforms;
• Civil society organizations (NGOs, think tanks, religious organizations, professional bodies);
• Illicit organizations or networks;
• Trans-border networks;
• Foreign governments.

Ideally, proposed papers would demonstrate how such actors have influenced – or tried and failed to influence – territorial politics (institutional arrangements, policies, patterns of political activity, etc.), thus shedding light on how our understanding of territorial politics might benefit from the inclusion of a broader range of actors than has been the case thus far. We accept proposals for theoretical, conceptual, or empirical papers (or some combination thereof). We also welcome proposals regardless of their methodological approach.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS:

We invite abstracts for papers to be presented at a 2-day workshop at the University of Edinburgh, on 7-8 June 2022. Proposals from scholars at all career stages are welcome (particularly from doctoral and early career researchers). Workshop organizers will contribute toward travel/accommodation costs for early-career researchers whose papers are selected.

Abstracts should be no more than 500 words, accompanied by a brief CV (2 pages max.) and submitted to uacesterritorial@gmail.com by 18 February 2022.

For further information about the research network, please see: https://uacesterrpol.wordpress.com or contact Paul Anderson: P.D.Anderson@ljmu.ac.uk