Western Political Science Association 2009 Annual Meeting

Dates: March 18 – 20, 2009
Submissions Deadline: September 19, 2008
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Website: http://www.csus.edu/ORG/WPSA/mtgs.stm

If you are interested in shaping the content of the program by serving as a section chair, please contact (or remind if you have already done so):

Shaun Bowler
Department of Political Science
UC Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
shaun.bowler@ucr.edu

The Theme for the 2009 Meeting: Ideas, Interests and Institutions

The study of politics involves the study of ideas, interests and institutions. The theme of “Ideas, Interests and Institutions” may be interpreted in a variety of ways and is meant to accommodate the broad range of scholarly interests and overall inclusiveness of our association. In this conference we would like to pay attention to the interaction between these three different elements of politics.

We invite panel proposals that incorporate the conference theme and encourage all authors to keep the theme in mind as they develop their papers/presentations. It is hoped that one of the features of the conference will be dialogue between scholars working within different areas of the discipline. For example, do political theorists and empirical scholars share common ground when considering political action, agency and expression? What defines and delimits that common ground? How may empirical theories of democracy and representation be informed by newer normative work in those areas? What implications does recent work on diversity and minority politics have for our understanding of established institutions of representation?

While the conference is unlikely to see such questions answered, it is hoped that it will see these questions raised and discussed and that the conference will see the current interest in inter-disciplinary thought accompanied by intra-disciplinary and cross-field discussion.

This conference marks the first meeting by WPSA outside the U.S. In addition to the many possibilities for tourism and sight seeing offered by Vancouver itself, the conference site opens possibilities for greater international collaboration and dialogue in scholarship on common themes and issues.

Please remember that U.S. Passports are now required for travel by US citizens to Canada.

Note: All participants in the program are required to preregister for the meeting by early December.