Home

Dara Strolovitch, University of Minnesota, dzs@umn.edu

Arturo Vega, St. Mary’s University, avega2@stmarytx.edu

The 2010 APSA conference theme, “The Politics of Hard Times,” reflects a political landscape that is being altered by a convergence of domestic and global crises and policy disequilibria, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and, more recently, the mortgage and global financial crises.  Without minimizing the gravity of the recent “hard times,” the political terrain also continues to be shaped by significant and ongoing challenges that persist in the face of such episodic crises, among them deep and enduring inequalities based on race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, religious affiliation, national origin, age, physical ability, etc. 

The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section invites papers that examine the political implications of episodic crises in the midst of persistent domestic and international inequalities, particularly as they are related to the politics of race and ethnicity and to the intersections of race and ethnicity with other identities and axes of inequality.  How do periods of crises interact with and also help to constitute and structure racial and ethnic politics, and what are the implications of such interactions for political institutions, processes, identities, attitudes, and behaviors, as well as for public policy?  Are groups marked by racial, ethnic, gender, economic, and other inequalities disproportionately disadvantaged by the instabilities, redirection of resources, and calls for austerity and national unity produced by crises?  Conversely, can crises present marginalized groups with opportunities to press demands for expanded rights and resources and for new policy regimes?  How are national identities forged and reshaped during eras of crisis, and what are the implications of such formations for racial and ethnic politics?  What can we learn from historians, cross-national studies, and American Political Development scholarship about the comparative and long-term implications of crises for marginalized groups?  How do crises intersect with developments such as migration, globalization, climate change, and increased levels of incarceration, as well as with political developments such as the 2008 election of Barack Obama, the changing composition of the U.S. Supreme Court, and partisan shifts in Congress and other legislative bodies?  Individual papers, full panels, and roundtables are all invited. In addition to traditional paper and panel formats, we welcome proposals that bridge theory and practice by bringing together scholars, activists, and other practitioners; that examine the contributions of political science to policy development; that develop resources for community members, advocates, policy makers, and other political actors; and that develop pedagogical tools and resources for students.  We also encourage proposals that examine intersecting inequalities and political identities, and that bring work together from across subfields, methodologies, and epistemologies.