Working Groups
Participants are asked to sign up for one working group which they will participate in during the entire conference.
1. Political Theory
Working group chairs: Ludvig Beckman (Stockholm University) and Lina Eriksson (University of Gothenburg).
We welcome submissions in political theory broadly conceived, including normative political theory, the history of political thought, and positive political theory, as in theoretical work on problems in contemporary politics and public policy, as well as discussions of fundamental political concepts, methods and phenomena. The texts can be in Swedish or English. The seminars will be in Swedish unless the author of the paper (or the discussant) prefers that the seminar is in English.
2. European Studies
Working group chairs: Anna Michalski (Uppsala University) and Linda Berg (University of Gothenburg).
This workshop welcomes papers on a wide range of topics, dealing with European politics in a broad sense. Themes can include, but are not limited to European integration, the EU’s political system, its institutions and policies, and the EU as an international actor and its position in a geo-political world. We also welcome papers that deal with theoretical or methodological developments within these fields. Papers can be written in English or Swedish, however, the default workshop language will be English unless all the participants are Swedish speakers.
3. International Politics
Working group chairs: Lisa Dellmuth (Stockholm University) and Magnus Lundgren (University of Gothenburg).
The expectations on global governance and its institutions to deliver on solving problems have never been higher, yet this system also appears more contested than ever before. Citizens are divided over the appropriateness of global governance, rising powers are challenging the Western liberal order, nationalist political forces are seeking to delegitimize global governance, and civil society actors are demanding a more adequate and just system. SWEPSA’s IR section welcomes panel and paper suggestions on a wide range of topics, dealing with international relations in a broad sense. Themes can include, but are not limited to, foreign policy, diplomacy, globalization, global security, international public administration, international law, peace and conflict, development, human rights, international political economy, norms and structures, public opinion, and political psychology. We welcome panels and papers that deal with theoretical or methodological developments within these fields. Panels should at least have four papers. Papers can be written in English or Swedish, however, the default language in the panels will be English unless all the participants are Swedish speakers. We are open to all methodological approaches and encourage participation from both junior and senior scholars.
4. Environmental Politics
Working group chairs: Nagmeh Nasiritousi (Swedish Institute of International Affairs and Uppsala University) and Sverker Jagers (University of Gothenburg).
The corona pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis have exerted massive disruptions on societies around the world. In parallel, we see several pro-environmental developments indicating political demand for more ambitious environmental politics, such as the EU Green Deal, the US Inflation Reduction Act and sealing international agreements on the protection of terrestrial and ocean biodiversity (30/30). Environmental politics needs to navigate this more turbulent political landscape. While crises can be windows of opportunity for more transformative change, they can also distract from environmental issues if other issues are prioritized on the political agenda. Understanding inertia and change in environmental governance is thus an important task for scholars. This workshop welcomes papers on a broad range of topics that examine environmental politics from the local to the global level. Themes can include, but are not limited to, green transformations, democratic legitimacy, contestation, the role of experts, environmental diplomacy and crisis trends in environmental politics. The workshop welcomes papers with different theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches, and contributions can be written in English or Swedish. The workshop will be held in English if non-Swedish speakers attend.
5. Political Behaviour - Ideology, Trust & Participation
Working group chairs: Sirus Håfström Dehdari (Stockholm University), Henrik Ekengren Oscarsson (University of Gothenburg), Maria Tyrberg (University of Gothenburg) and Johannes Lindvall (University of Gothenburg).
This workshop welcomes normative, theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions within the field of political behaviour, elections and political parties. The overall aim of the workshop is to gather researchers engaged in on-going research about e.g. vote choice in elections, political turnout and participation, political recruitment and representation, political leadership, legislative behaviour, political parties' goals and organization, party competition, government formation and policy-making, social movement activism, responsiveness, and knowledge resistance. The workshop welcomes submissions from junior as well as established scholars who are interested in the topics outlined. Contributions can be written in English or Swedish. The workshop will be held in English if non-Swedish-speakers attend.
6. Political Behaviour - Parties & Elections
Working group chairs: Sirus Håfström Dehdari (Stockholm University), Henrik Ekengren Oscarsson (University of Gothenburg), Maria Tyrberg (University of Gothenburg) and Johannes Lindvall (University of Gothenburg).
7. Public Administration in the era of permacrisis
Working group chairs: Gissur Erlingsson (Linköping University) and Marina Nistotskaya (University of Gothenburg).
Non-elected public officials at various levels of government are key actors of the political process. Civil servants and political appointees critically influence both the policy-making (through, for example, the agenda setting and expert advice) and the implementation of policies, thereby shaping the societal response to rapidly changing circumstances. It has been said that we live in the era of a permacrisis – a lasting period of major, parallel crises (Zuleeg et al 2021). From climate change and pandemics to economic and political turmoil – these challenges have threatened security and prosperity of individuals and societies. The overarching objective of this panel is to bring scholars from various fields to explore how has public administration responded to permacrisis?
This workshop invites papers that address this broad question theoretically, empirically and normatively. The workshop invites studies on policy and processes adaptation and innovation; the use of new technologies (such as AI, robotics, block chain and cloud technology); interagency coordination and collaboration; the interactions between politicians, civil servants and other parties in the context of co-production; strategic planning and risk managements; communicative strategies and trust in government. The workshop welcomes studies on different levels of governance and from diverse political contexts, and also papers using a broad set of theoretical lenses, methodological approaches and methods.
8. Authoritarian Politics
Working group chairs: Felix Wiebrecht and Fabio Angiolillo (University of Gothenburg).
This workshop welcomes papers on all aspects of authoritarian politics spanning across the subfields of comparative politics, international relations, political economy, political behavior, and public administration. Themes can include but are not limited to, elite politics, regime stability, public opinion, opposition, propaganda, and conflict. We are open to contributions that are explicitly cross-national as well as those that focus on specific cases of authoritarian regimes. We welcome all different methodological approaches including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. We only accept submissions in English.
9. Politics and Gender
Working group chairs: Lena Wängnerud (University of Gothenburg), Ann Towns (University of Gothenburg) and Pär Zetterberg (Uppsala University).
This workshop is open for all researchers interested in gendered analyses of power and the political sphere. We welcome submissions where sex/gender categories and dynamics are at the center of analyses but also submissions where gender is integrated with other sociopolitical categories or axes of differentiation. We welcome theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions, in English or Swedish, from political theory, comparative politics, international relations, public administration and beyond. The workshop will be held in English if there are non-Swedish speaking participants attending.
10. Experimental Political Science
Working group chairs: Elisabeth Ivarsflaten (University of Bergen), Jordi Munoz (University of Barcelona) and Peter Esaiasson (University of Gothenburg).
This working group is conceived to bring together researchers who use experimental methodology to address political phenomena. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of published articles in political science that use experiments. Experimentalists are exploring topics that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. This working group will bring together a diverse set of research, but papers will be united by their use of randomized or natural experiments. Empirical works from any subfield of the discipline are welcome, and we welcome experiments in surveys, the field, or the lab. We also welcome methodological contributions. We encourage submission of either advanced papers or experimental designs and analysis plans.
11. Critical studies of power and the political
Working group chairs: Andreas Öjehag-Pettersson (Karlstad University) and (TBA).
This workshop is open for all researchers interested in critical studies of power and the political. In short, this means that we welcome submissions that draw on critical approaches in the social sciences to explore political phenomena as they manifest in traditional politics and policy, events, organizations, practices, and knowledge production in past or contemporary societies. Such approaches include, but are not limited to, post-structuralism, critical discourse analysis (CDA), Feminism, Foucauldian analysis, post-colonial studies, Marxism and post-humanism (for instance ANT, STS or new materialism). Papers are not limited to any specific sub-field of political science or any particular topic. That said, they often revolve around questions of (in)equality, the workings of power, subjectivities, otherness or questions of governing in an era marked by neoliberal forms of rule. We welcome theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions, in English or Swedish. The workshop will be held in English if there are non-Swedish speaking participants attending.