RC08-Legislative Specialists and RC13-Democratization in Comparative Perspective Conference

IPSA's two Research Committees RC08 - Legislative Specialists and RC13 - Democratization in Comparative Perspective are organizing an international conference in collaboration with the Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) to bring together academics and practitioners from around the world to discuss topics related to modern legislatures and the processes of democratization and de-democratization.

We are inviting papers on a broad range of topics, including (but not limited to) the role of legislatures and their capacity to address the most pressing challenges that our world is facing, such as crises (including economic, migration and pandemic crises), legislative decline, and the rise of strong executives, corruption, and overall democratic/ authoritarian tendencies. When faced with challenges domestically and internationally, what roles and how do legislatures play? 

We are also interested in papers addressing the roles of legislatures in a time of war or military aggression domestically or internationally. Given the current crises precipitated by Russian aggression in Ukraine, we welcome papers that address the role of Ukrainian and other world legislatures in dealing with the consequences of the aggression and discuss the consequences of it for the future of democracy. 

In addition, we would like to pay a particular attention to the rise of authoritarian tendencies in the world and challenges to other democratic institutions than parliaments. We are interested in the process of democratization and de-democratization themselves, their current status and trends, and related topics. We welcome also discussions of solutions to the de-democratization problems. 

Submission Instructions

Please, send the paper proposal, including your name, institutional affiliation, the title, and a short abstract of your paper (up to 250 words) to Associate Professor Adam Szymanski (University of Warsaw, Poland) at: ar.szymanski@uw.edu.pl 

Queries should be submitted as e-mails also to Prof. Szymanski at: ar.szymanski@uw.edu.pl:

Location: “Tradewinds Island Resort at St. Beach, Florida, USA (details on the location/ venue can be found here: https://www.tradewindsresort.com/index)

Dates of the Conference: 11-14 January 2023

One of the main objectives of the conference is to allow for an exchange of ideas, comments, and discussions that can potentially lead to either individual publications or to a submission of the entire panel for publication as a special issue to one of the journals or edited volume.