Call for Papers:



First Interdisciplinary Network of European Social Democracy Colloquium,



Thursday 2 September 2010, Royal Holloway, University of London (UK), Centre for European Politics



INES is a new, doctoral student-led, independent and non-for-profit forum to exchange ideas and concepts between researchers who share an interest in European social democracy. Our primary aim is to provide a network for postgraduate students working on social democracy, and in particular the issue of socialism within the EC/EU. It is coordinated by three doctoral students, each from different British universities: Royal Holloway (University of London), University of Portsmouth and University of Reading.



Our interest in the first INES colloquium is to lay the foundations for future activities of the network and promote it as a forum for intellectual exchange.



The colloquium will begin with a key note lecture by Dr. Simon Lightfoot (University of Leeds) outlining the current state of research on social democracy in Europe, gaps in research and the challenges and difficulties facing the field. The key note lecture will be followed by a round table on INES’ future activities, where all participants are welcome to bring in ideas for future projects such as online presence, conferences, working groups, publications etc.



We will moreover organise two discussion panels. Both will reflect INES’ aim of interdisciplinary research dialogue; we therefore welcome historians, political scientists, economists, sociologists (and PhD students from other academic disciplines) to contribute.



Panel one will focus on social democratic policy research.



Paper proposals could include the following topics:



• In a comparative perspective, which policy areas have emerged as being typical social democratic/socialist priorities? Is there an EU-wide convergence, or rather divergence?

• What is the historical, economic, sociological impact of social democratic/socialist policies?

• Do centre-right parties social-democratise their policies? Or/and do social democratic parties borrow ideas and concepts from centre right parties?

• Is European Social Democracy facing a crisis? Have social democratic policies failed?

• Are social democratic policies successful in the new EU Member States?





Panel two will discuss European Social Democracy as a network of parties.



Paper proposals could include the following topics:



• Bi-, multi-, and supranational contacts between social democratic parties since their beginnings.

• How can we analyse those networks which have formed in the past and at present?

• Which theoretical concepts can be helpful for the analysis of these networks, and what are the findings?

• Relations between the Party of European Socialists and national social democratic parties in old and new EU Member States

• The role and functions of the Socialist International as a platform for exchange



The deadline for abstracts is July 16 2010.

Abstracts should not be longer than 500 words and should be send to: ines.network@gmail.com



Contacts:

Matthew Broad (m.e.broad@reading.ac.uk)

Isabelle Hertner (I.Hertner@rhul.ac.uk)

Christian Salm (Christian.salm@port.ac.uk)
Http://www.ines-network.org



Venue of the Colloquium:

Department of Politics and International Relations,

Centre for European Politics,

Royal Holloway, University of London.

Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX

United Kingdom.
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/politics-and-IR/