XXI. Slovenian Political Science Conference,

Grand Hotel Metropol, Portorož, Slovenia, May 27-29 2010

»POLITICS IN CRISIS: CRISIS POLICIES, CRISIS OF POLITICS«

XXI. Slovenian Political Science Days will address the current crisis in Slovenia and the world at large. The topic of the conference will therefore be political, economic, security, administrative and other crises that have spread around the world and taken Slovenia by surprise. Ability and efficiency in administering crises have become the most important features of governance today as in the time of crisis the community as a whole as well as individual citizens expect of their leaders to minimize or even neutralize the impact of the crisis, while various critics of authority attempt to make use of the crisis situation to criticize the ruling elites, their policies and governance procedures. In such circumstances policy makers are expected to bring the society back to the climate of “normality” and to learn adequate lessons from the crisis experience. In discussions on the current crisis we shall consider the following starting points: a) we shall focus on multiple crises that we experience at present in Slovenia and the world as a whole and analyze the causes and impacts of crisis in the fields of politics, the environment, finances, economy, society and value systems; b) as academic observers of political scene we shall aim at producing knowledge on the scope and possible outcomes of the crisis by contextualizing the current crisis in long-term historical processes; c) optimally objective and constructive scientific analysis may also result in recommendations on concrete actions to end the crisis; d) for politics and political science the crisis represents an opportunity for self-reflexion and awareness that politics may today be more necessary than ever and that the crisis might have been even greater without political intervention; e) we shall contribute to the debate on whether methods of decision-making and governing political communities are still adequate in our times, whether territorially grounded democracy remains the best framework to solve issues that are becoming increasingly globalized and whether we will have to learn to live in a long-term crisis. In theoretically and practically oriented thematic panels we shall consider the current crisis in the following forms: crisis of democracy as ideology and political system; crisis of international relations; current issues in political economy; security crisis; crisis of administration and governance; crisis of public health and public education; crisis of decentralization and crisis of civil society as well as climate change and environmental crisis. At a special round table we shall invite our foreign colleagues to a comparative analysis of national responses to the crisis i.e. of methods of dealing with crises in other European countries in order to come to a better understanding of the crisis in Slovenia and the world as a whole. At the principal conference event we shall attempt to summarize the outcomes of the conference into conclusions on why and how the complex global and national crisis has modified politics and political science of today and what we may expect of tomorrow.

Paper proposal is to include the title and a short abstract (one page at most). Deadline for submission of abstracts is January 10 2010. Abstracts may be sent electronically to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . In the latter case, supply us with an electronic address for swift exchange of further information. In February 2010 organizers will design the final program of the 2010 Slovenian Political Science Days. Our response to your paper proposal is therefore to be expected by early March at the latest.

We hope to see you in Portoroz and wish you all the best!

President of SPSA