Appel à communication: European Integration and Global Political Economy Network’s 2018 Pre-Conference Ph.D. Workshop

[ANGLAIS SEULEMENT]
The European Integration and Global Political Economy Network’s 2018 Pre-Conference Ph.D. Workshop
March 27th, at the University of Illinois, Chicago (hosted by the School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics)

Tackling uncertainty: Methodological diversity in explaining Europe

The European Union and scholars who study it are in the midst of increasing empirical uncertainty. Radical changes in domestic politics within EU member-states demonstrate that social scientists have failed to fully understand and predict the behavior of European voters. Brexit and the 2017 UK and Dutch General Elections have highlighted that even the most sophisticated (polling) methodologies can be inaccurate. EU policy-makers, too, have failed to fully comprehend the observable implications of their economic (austerity) and social (migration) policies on their citizens. This steady stream of faulty prediction in European politics and political economy over the past several years highlights the need not only for greater scrutiny of popular methodologies, but also for greater methodological diversity in studying Europe.

In line with this objective, the European Integration and Global Political Economy’s pre-conference Ph.D. workshop seeks to address the following questions: 1.) what methodologies have been most widely used to understand European political economy, and what are their strengths and weaknesses?; 2.) what political or economic phenomenon within Europe have proven most difficult to predict and study under popular methodological approaches, and; 3.) what can new methodologies, including those from other disciplines, teach us about analyzing the political economy of Europe?

This workshop will occur the day before the Council of European Studies’ 2018 Annual Conference (March 27th). It will provide participants with extensive feedback from senior scholars on their graduate research in general, and their chosen methodologies in particular. The workshop will also include an introductory lecture on mainstream methodological approaches to the study European political economy, a roundtable discussing alternative methodologies that challenge or complement these approaches, and an information session on career and publishing advice in the profession.

How to Apply:
Interested graduate students should submit an application of no more than 750 words that includes the following information: your area of research, primary research question, the literatures that you are challenging and the theoretical insights you hope to provide, and your methodological approach and the data you intend to collect (or have collected) in order to execute it. We strongly encourage first and second year Ph.D. students to apply who are in the process of structuring their Ph.D. dissertations. Applications should be sent to Alison Johnston (Alison.Johnston[at]oregonstate.edu) or Regine Paul (regine_paul[at]fas.harvard.edu). The deadline for applications is January 15th, 2018.

There is no registration fee for the workshop. This event is generously hosted by the University of Illinois, Chicago’s School of Literature, Cultural Studies and Linguistics.