Call for Papers
Two pieces of news:
1. The annual workshop of the development politics group is scheduled for Friday 25 Jan 2008 at the ICS in London. Details and CFP to follow.
2. The next Annual Political Studies Association conference takes place in Swansea (1-3 April 2008). The conference will feature panels in six sessions. The Development Politics, Ethnopolitics, South Asia and Pacific Asia groups are co-sponsoring a number of panels. Three of the groups successfully sponsored Professor Amita Shastri (San Francisco) as a visiting speaker. The South Asia and Development Panels will run in sequence. The panels will be:
1. Visualising Development: The Politics of Media and the Visual Arts
2. Development Politics - Towards a post-Washington Consensus? Emergent development strategies in middle-income countries
3. Elites and democratisation: a comparison of the South Asian experience
4. Ethnicity and Development Politics
5. Re-thinking the Developmental State
6. Roundtable: Contemporary Politics in South Asia
We welcome participation in these panels and invite you to send abstracts for papers to the panel convenors (details below). The deadline for submitting abstracts to the convenors is 21 Sept 2007.
1. Visualising Development: The Politics of Media and the Visual Arts
Abstracts to: Rebecca M. Brown
With roots in the photographic images of famine and poverty from 19th century India and Africa, imagery of the 'developing' world has participated-sometimes quite centrally-in the shaping of politics. This panel seeks to investigate the visual elements of development studies, encouraging contributors to probe critically how photographs, art works, media coverage, mobile phone films, performance art, fictional narratives (in TV and film for example), documentaries, and other forms of creative imaging help to shape our understandings of development and the developing world. Papers from all regions, addressing past or contemporary examples, and reading 'media' 'art' and 'visual' loosely are welcome.
2. Towards a post-Washington Consensus? Emergent development strategies in middle-income countries
Abstracts to: Ben Thirkell-White
The debate on development has shifted terrain from a pure focus on how much or little to liberalise. Within the Bretton Woods institutions, three new themes are gaining prominence: new forms of state regulation; the need to build state capacity and enhance 'participation'; and increased focus on the importance of delivering something for the poor. These same themes also describe much of what is going on in developing countries, particularly in the aftermath of the crises of the late 1990s. However, the ambiguities of the PWC statements themselves (safety nets or pro-poor growth? liberal regulation or industrial policy? participation or renewed democracy?), varying degrees of IFI influence, and the influence of domestic politics mean that these themes have meant very different things in different places. This panel seeks papers that draw on empirical research in one or more middle-income countries to explore questions surrounding the post-Washington Consensus. Are countries embarking on new forms of development strategy or merely adopting new rhetoric? How do these strategies relate to Bretton Woods policy? How should we evaluate them? Are they politically and economically sustainable?
3. Elites and democratisation: a comparison of the South Asian experience
Abstracts to: Katharine Adeney
This panel focuses on the role that individuals play in transitions to, or the consolidation of, democracy. It will feature papers from different countries in South Asia, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. While India is a consolidated democracy, Pakistan and Bangladesh are not and much of Sri Lanka's territory has been excluded from democratic participation. The panel participants will be asked to focus on whether individual decisions and individual agency have been important in understanding the decisions that were taken, and more importantly, the impact these decisions had, for understanding the democratisation process in their respective countries.
4. Ethnicity and Development Politics
Joint panel: Development Politics and Ethnopolitics
Abstracts to: Andrew Wyatt
Discussant: Amita Shastri
Ethnic identity, understood in a broad sense, is an important variable that affects development. Development theory has struggled to come to terms with the importance of identity. Early theorists assumed that 'backward' primordial identities would be displaced by more 'rational' class identities as economic development progressed. Some states have used ethnic criteria as the basis for allocating development projects. Others have attempted to pre-empt ethnic conflict by designing political institutions that protect ethnic and cultural diversity. Donor agencies have accepted the enduring relevance of ethnopolitics and have attempted to account for politicised identity when making policies. Contributors to this panel are invited to explore the complex relationship between ethnicity and development and consider the dilemmas of recognising identity in policymaking and institution building.
5. Re-thinking the Developmental State
Joint panel: Development Politics and Pacific Asia Specialist Groups
Abstracts to: Martin Gainsborough
The idea of the developmental state has long established currency not only in (apparently) explaining economic takeoff in Pacific Asia but also being relevant in other contexts, including where development does not occur. But has the developmental state model passed its sell-by date? Does it actually capture the dynamics of development or does it leave important things out? And what about the statist bias? States remain important, of course, but does the developmental state model actually distort what the state is?
Papers are welcome exploring any or all of these themes, looking at both contemporary and historical cases.
6. Roundtable: Contemporary Politics in South Asia
Joint panel: Development Politics and South Asia Politics
The contributors to this roundtable will discuss leading issues of international relevance in South Asia including foreign policy trajectories and efforts at conflict resolution.