A new ESA political sociology section

The new ESA Political Sociology research network has been approved at the ESA Executive Committee meeting of 23-24 October 2008

The ESA political sociology network is intended as a site for enduring debate and exchange to measure the scale and scope of the ongoing transformation of political order and authority in Europe and beyond.  The dynamics of political ordering and re-ordering are a classical research field for comparative sociology. Over the last decades, Europe has increasingly turned into an experimental field for the re-structuring of political order. In particular European integration and the consolidation of supranational authority have made it necessary to re-address these classical themes of sociology. The establishment of a political sociology section is therefore meant as an integrating effort for evaluating the challenges to the Westphalian order of nation-states but also for testing out  the opportunities for the consolidation of a new type of political order and its legitimacy. This entails an explicit focus on the advancement of institutional and organizational theory as well as on democratic theory that are detached from their implicit or explicit nation-state foundations.

The new ESA political sociology research network will initially articulate the following set of topics with specific attention to the European dimension. They correspond to the main research interests of the list of signatories of this document. They believe to be representing the concerns of a wider sociological community based in a variety of European countries and expressing a wide geographical distribution.

Citizenship and Governance

This topic correspond to the interest of the set of scholars who write on European citizenship, on comparative studies of citizenship, and often relate them to issues of gender, migration and poverty.

Political Attitudes

This research cluster articulates the research concerns of scholars working on class, voting behaviour, comparative research on European welfare states and political values.

Political Communication

Scholars working in this field would like to propose discussion fora in which comparative studies of the public sphere and European media are examined.

States, Communities, Governance Structures and Political Institutions

This research cluster articulates the research interests of scholars working on political institutions at different levels of governance, their interactions and their modes of operation in specific public policy domains. They also work on theories of the policy process.

Forms of Political Participation

This cluster of themes articulates research on forms of participation and their change. It goes beyond research on social movements to also encompass work on political parties, public interest associations and more generally on party systems and their change. It also includes work on party families such as parties of the extreme right and related issues of racism and xenophobia.

The Promotion Committee

At present the initiative is spearheaded by a promotion committee which consists of the following proponents:

1. Carlo Ruzza – University of Leicester, UK
2. Jens Rydgren – University of Stockholm, Sweden
3. Hans Joerg Trenz – Arena, Oslo, Norway
4. Giovanna Procacci – University of Milan, Italy
5. Donatella Della Porta – EUI Florence – Italy
6. Stefan Svallfors - Umeå University – Sweden
7. Paolo Rosa – University of Trento – Italy
8. Pieter Bevelander - Malmö University – Sweden
9. Virginie Guiraudan – University of Lille, France
10. Roberto Biorcio – University of Milan, Italy
11. Barbara Misztal – University of Leicester, UK
12. Juan Díez Medrano – University of Barcelona, Spain
13. Ephraim Nimni – Queens University of Belfast, UK
14. Paolo Crivellari - Université de Toulouse 3, France
15. Roberto Biorcio – University of Milan, Italy
16. Yasemin Soysal – Essex University, UK
17. Paul Statham – University of Bristol, UK
18. Umberto Melotti – University of Rome, Italy
19. Christian Lahusen – University of Siegen, Germany
20. Adrian Favell - University of Åarhus, Danmark
21. Kazimiera Wódz  - University of Silesia, Poland
22. Jacek Wódz  - University of Silesia, Poland
23. Zdzislav Mach, Jagiollonian University Krakov, Poland<!--[endif]-->

A call for papers for the ESA general conference in Lisbon will follow soon.

The election of the coordinator will take place at the Lisbon business meeting of the political sociology research network

Contact e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Contact person: Prof. Carlo Ruzza, Dept. of Sociology, University of Leicester, University Road, 
Leicester LE1 7RH -- UK

Political Sociology Research Network: Call for Papers

The 9th European Sociological Association Conference
Lisbon, Portugal
September 2-5, 2009

The purpose of the political sociology research network of ESA is to contribute to the on-going reflection on the scope, main themes and theories of political sociology in Europe, and to discuss up-to-date empirical research. For the ESA conference in Lisbon 2009 the network invites paper submissions on the following set of topics:  

Citizenship and Governance (particularly European citizenship, comparative studies of citizenship, and related issues of gender, migration and poverty).  
For the Lisbon Conference: As citizenship tests and civics courses are spreading in European nation-states, non-European migrants seem to be the ones asked to be “good citizens” and to uphold national “values.” Nationals in the meantime are increasingly called upon to react as “consumers”, “inhabitants”, “parents” as they are targeted by public policies and social movements rather than as political citizens. Notwithstanding, empirical developments below and beyond the nation-state suggest that a reconfiguration of citizenship as an institution and a set of practices.  These include the devolution of social citizenship and local participatory forms of democracy, the mobility of European citizens and the situation of “transnational villagers” living across two nation-states. How do these changes alter feelings of belonging and identification with particular levels of governance? The section calls for papers that address these developments as well as their normative implications. Comparative studies across time and place are most welcome. (Virginie Guiraudon will chair this panel) 

Political Attitudes (class, voting behaviour, comparative research on European welfare states and political values).  
For the Lisbon Conference we are particularly interested in empirical and theoretical studies of populism in Europe (Carlo Ruzza and Jens Rydgren will chair this section).  

Political Communication (comparative studies of the transformation of the public sphere and media in Europe are examined). This might include comparisons of media systems and communication cultures, single case studies on the Europeanising trends of political communication in terms of contents and strategies or more theory driven work on the changing relationships between public sphere, political order and democracy.  
For the Lisbon Conference we are particularly interested in assessments of public communications by international organisations such as the EU and the impact of new publics (e.g. as constituted through the New Media) (Hans Joerg Trenz will chair this panel). 

Governance Structures and Political Institutions (political institutions at different levels of governance, their interactions and their modes of operation in specific public policy domains. Policy networks. Theories of the policy process. Political elites and elite structures.
For the Lisbon Conference we are particularly interested in empirical and theoretical studies of political networks (Jens Rydgren will chair this panel) 

Forms of Political Participation (forms of participation and their change. Political parties, public interest associations, party systems and their change. Party families such as parties of the extreme right and related issues of racism and xenophobia.
For the Lisbon conference we particularly invite submissions on the political role of civil society organizations and their impact on decision making. We also welcome submissions on how civil society organizations relate to issues of accountability, internal democracy, transparency and relations between different territorial levels) (Carlo Ruzza will chair this panel). 

The deadline for submissions is 26 February 2009. All submissions must be made through on the online submission form that you can find on the conference website: www.esa9thconference.com. Please indicate your panel preferences

We look forward to receiving your submissions and, hopefully, to meet in you in Lisbon in 2009.