Deadline: December 1, 2007

The 2008 American Political Science Association (APSA) Annual Meeting will be held from August 28-31 in Boston, Massachusetts. The overarching theme of the conference, “Categories and the Politics of Global Inequalities,” is an invitation for a “close examination of the construction, interpretation and maintenance of categorical boundaries.”

The category “consolidation” has resonated deeply in the field of political science. It is a tension-filled conceptual category. In one sense it connotes a sort of finality, yet it also recognizes the complexities and unpredictability of politics. The call for 2008 CGOTS papers is a broad invitation to further interrogate this concept. With two important elections in Taiwan during early 2008, revisiting the consolidation concept in the context of democratic development seems entirely appropriate. But we should not limit ourselves to this particular rendition of consolidation. For instance, what is the relationship between nation-state consolidation (or the absence of it) and sovereignty in Taiwan? How has Taiwan’s political economy been re-constituted and re-consolidated in the face of current domestic and global challenges? How have Taiwan’s political institutions, associational groups (parties, interest groups, social movements, etc.) and informal institutions been re-organized and re-consolidated under eight years of DPP government? What does the future hold in this regard? How does the re-configuration and potential consolidation of the post-9/11 global security order affect Taiwan’s position in the international arena? How have the processes of democratic consolidation in Taiwan shaped its foreign policy and Taiwan’s role in international politics?

Please send your proposals to Professor Joseph Wong (joe.wong@utoronto.ca), CGOTS Coordinator, and to Professors Yuan-Kang Wang (ykwang@niu.edu) and Jih-Wen Lin (ljw@gate.sinica.edu.tw), our North American and Taiwan-based Deputy Coordinators, respectively. The deadline for proposals is December 1, 2007. Decisions on the proposals will be communicated to you in late January / early February 2008. Travel support for CGOTS panelists is subject to the availability of external funding.