42: New Political Science

Margaret Groarke, Manhattan College, Margaret.groarke@manhattan.edu

The Politics of Hard Times: Opportunity or Retrenchment?

In the current economic crisis, we can observe a variety of political responses from citizens, movements, corporations and governments around the world. Governments have intervened more aggressively in the economy, in ways both new and old, and the public debates who will benefit from these interventions and whether they will achieve their stated goals.

As a section founded with a commitment to progressive political change, New Political Science is calling for individual papers and panel proposals that ask the important questions, “Who benefits? Who loses?” in analyzing responses to hard times. How is economic inequality exacerbated or ameliorated by government responses to the economic crisis? Have movements and citizens identified opportunities for greater mobilization and expanded goals, or are they confronting the need to defend past victories from retrenchment? Do economic hard times lead to new openings for citizen voices to be heard, or to greater repression? How can political scientists guide policy formation in ways that protects human rights, the interests of the politically marginalized, and broad public participation?

The section is particularly interested in perspectives that challenge disciplinary and academic boundaries. The section welcomes papers and proposals drawing from a broad range of theoretical and empirical approaches, using alternative methodologies, and bringing together junior and senior scholars, activists and practitioners.