ETHNICGOODS and the Quality of Government Institute Organize Workshop on ‘Information Capacity’ at the University of Gothenburg
ETHNICGOODS and the Quality of Government Institute (QoG) join forces to organize a workshop titled “The Informational Turn in the Study of the State: Taking Stock and Moving Forward.” The event will be held at the QoG Institute from June 12-14.
This workshop will bring together, for the first time, a rapidly expanding community of scholars focusing on information capacity from various prestigious institutions across Europe, America, and the Middle East. Participating universities include IBEI, University of Gothenburg, Trinity College Dublin, Lund University, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University of Oxford, Universidad de Barcelona, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, University of Denver, Temple University and NYU Abu Dhabi.
Information capacity refers to the ability of a state to collect and organize information about its subjects and territory. This capacity is vital for state development as it is linked to a state’s ability to enforce laws, regulate social and political life and extract taxes, a field that EthnicGoods Principal Investigator Dr. Matthias vom Hau has contributed to extensively as well.
The workshop will provide an occasion to showcase EthnicGoods by bringing the topic of ethnic diversity into conversation with the information capacity scholarship and exploring their links for state development.
In addition, the event will offer a unique opportunity for scholars to review the current state of research on information capacity, identify the frontiers of the field, and explore ways to achieve greater synergy in empirical data collection.