1. Political Thought and Philosophy: Historical Approaches

Barbara Arneil, University of British Columbia, arneil@interchange.ubc.ca

The Political Thought and Philosophy: Historical Approaches section invites paper and panel proposals that speak to the 2010 theme: 'Politics of Hard Times: Citizens, the National and the International System.’

We invite proposals that examine the politics of ‘hard times’ in all of its manifestations, including the meaning of crisis, the role of the state either before or after crises, the ideological repercussions of economic or political crises and the implications for diversity and gender equality. Equally, we seek papers and panels that examine whether dominant theoretical frameworks such as liberal or democratic theory are devised with enough consideration for the stresses of hard times.

We also welcome papers that provide theoretical and historical insights into features of political life that either create hard times for people in different parts of the world including economic uncertainty, violence, climate change, religious conflict, racism, economic inequality and/or help to resolve these problems. Papers and panels that address the meaning of democracy and the various threads of democratic theory in relation to this question would be particularly welcome, as well as ones that examine ‘hard times’ or crises in relation to specific historical contexts. Given the impact on states of the current economic crisis, papers and panels examining the relationship between the welfare state, multiculturalism, trust, and/or the economic dimensions of society would be welcome.

The various themes described above are only suggestions – we seek to create a program of papers and panels driven by the interests and suggestions of scholars of political philosophy and theory and by what they see as the cutting edge of research. We also seek to include scholars at different stages of their careers and from different traditions and approaches to the history of political theory.