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Mark Peterson, University of California, Los Angeles, markap@ucla.edu

“The Politics of Hard Times,” the general theme of the 2010 annual meeting, is especially fertile territory for analyses of public policy.  Governing and policy-making systems at all levels, from the local, state, and federal arenas in the United States to those abroad in the developed and developing worlds to international institutions are all being challenged by economic and social stresses more pronounced than anytime since the Great Depression of the 1930s.  In some places, such as the state of California, the mismatch between the nature of the ensuing policy problems and the instruments of policy making has perhaps never been more evident.  We are also witnessing worldwide tests of how well various kinds of policy-making arrangements, and the divergent policy responses they produce, are able to meet the global challenges experienced in the context of specific social, political, economic, and cultural settings.  Both mature and insipient welfare states are caught in the vice of rising demands for services and increasingly problematic financing.  Trade policies, economic development programs, and even international food and nutrition initiatives are destabilized by the disruptive features of the current economic climate.  Foreign and security policies have to adjust as well.  Political scientists, especially those working with collaborators from other disciplines, should have much to contribute to understanding and informing these policy processes. 

Proposals for papers, panels, and posters that tackle these kinds of issues and are informed by multidisciplinary approaches are particularly encouraged, including those that cover more than a single policy area, or that deal with public policy in more than one political system, or that investigate policy making at the nexus of the public and private sectors, or that make original theoretical or methodological contributions.  Those who submit proposals are urged to incorporate empirical, theoretical, and normative concerns in their papers and to involve scholars from a variety of fields of inquiry in their panels. Comparative work across disciplinary boundaries, historical periods, and with reference to several nations or political systems are appreciated.  Proposals may also focus on international organizations, the international system, or politics within developing countries in addition to addressing the United States and developed nations.  Explorations in the context of public policy of the relationship between “hard times” and equality, class, gender, race, ethnicity, and other forms of human identity are strongly encouraged as well.

Proposals are welcome from all theoretical and methodological orientations and from all segments of the field, including panels that bring together papers representing divergent analytical perspectives.  Those with broader theoretical and practical applications or lessons, and those with the potential to feed especially robust generalizations about public policy, are especially encouraged.  In addition, proposals that break free of convention and offer innovative panel formats, beyond the traditional four-papers-and-a-discussant, are also desired.  In sum, a wide range of proposals of all types reflecting the healthy diversity of approaches to the study of public policy are welcome.