“Governing Out of Crisis”

Call For Papers:

Contemporary politics seems to be defined by the procession of one crisis after another. The current decade began with a spectacular terrorist attack on the centers of global power, and is ending with a global financial meltdown, with a growing realization that anthropogenic climate change threatens unprecedented ecological disaster in between. Institutions from political parties to newspapers to universities to hospitals have recently been labeled as “in crisis.” By definition, crises present serious challenges to political actors. At the same time, changes to the “normal” political environment can provide political actors with opportunities to do things that can’t be done in normal circumstances, from the suspension of constitutional rights to the renegotiation of workplace contracts.

The profusion of contemporary crises raises questions for political science: What are the ways in which governments (or institutions of governance more broadly) might steer us out of crises? What opportunities for new modes of governance emerge out of crises?

We invite papers that engage with these general questions, and are open to multiple definitions of “crisis,” including crises in different spheres (financial crisis, ecological crisis, health care crisis, etc.) and in different locations (body, household, workplace, university, state, economy, etc.)

Papers from students are also particularly encouraged. Efforts will be made to develop dedicated panels for MA and senior undergraduate students to showcase their work.