Vol24 No 4 | 2013 psa.ac.uk

PSAnews

PSA Parliament Week event – Britain’s BME Politicians: The Next GenerationJames Chiriyankandath, Chair, PSA Diversity & Equality Group

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As part of Parliament Week, the annual UK-wide programme of events and activities led by the House of Commons designed to engage and connect people with parliamentary democracy, the Association’s Diversity and Equality Group organised a panel discussion for GCE A and AS level students at Portcullis

House in Westminster on Tuesday, 19 November. In keeping with this year’s focus on “Women in Democracy”, an all women panel discussed the participation of the nearly one in six Britons of black and minority ethnic heritage in democratic institutions – only 1 in 25 members of the Commons and 1 in 20 of the House of Lords

is from a BME background. Over 130 students from fourteen

schools and colleges, the majority BME and female, attended. They heard the veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott, who in 1987 became the first black woman ever elected to the Commons, speak passionately about what inspired her interest in politics and how she first got

involved in local politics and community activism before being selected as the Labour candidate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington. She was followed by Christina Dykes, a senior adviser to Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, and former director of the Conservative Party’s Development

INSIDE THIS ISSUEReport from Universities Matter: how academic

social science contributes to public policy impact

PSA Awards

Is Britain still a ‘civic culture’?

PSA exchangers

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Political Studies Association 30 Tabernacle Street London EC2A 4UE

Tel: 0191 222 8021 Fax: 0191 222 3499 Email psa@ncl.ac.uk Web: www.psa.ac.uk

Chief Executive Officer: Helena Djurkovic

Membership Secretary: Sandra McDonagh

Registered Charity No. 1071825; Registered Company with limited liability

in England and Wales, No. 3628986

To advertise in this Newsletter, please contact Sandra McDonagh at npsa@ncl.ac.uk

Design Creative Team, Deeson Member Communications, deeson-mc.co.uk

FEATURED NEWS

PSA Parliament Week event – Britain’s BME Politicians: The Next Generation 1

New Academicians 3

ESRC funded project on support for democracy in Egypt 3

Political Studies’ first editor honoured by Warwick 4

ASSOCIATION NEWS

Congratulations to the PSA’s first House of Commons interns 4

Is Britain still a ‘civic culture’? 5

PSA Awards Ceremony 2013 6

PSA School Video Competition 2013 - How much is an MP worth? 8

Report from Universities Matter: how academic social science contributes to public policy impact 9

Meet the new Post Graduate Network executive team 9

Chicago and all that jazz 10

Local Democracy Week - Why should anyone bother to vote? 11

A Festival of Social Science 12

DEPARTMENT NEWS

Lecture to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Council on Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament (CCADD) 12

Southampton round-up 13

Glasgow to host the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research 13

University of Westminster welcomes new colleagues to the department 14

Rosie Campbell Editor Email: r.campbell@bbk.ac.uk

Jack Neenan Assistant Editor Email: jack.neenan@psa.ac.uk

Editorial Information

and Candidates Department who emphasised the political value of diversity and gave an insight into the efforts to introduce greater diversity into the party’s parliamentary candidate list. Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece, a Liberal Democrat working peer and the first Turkish Cypriot woman to enter Parliament, then spoke about her experiences as a local councillor and women’s activist in Hackney in the 1990s as well as a member of the Lords since 2010. The panel was chaired by Shirin Rai, professor of politics at the University of Warwick.

After a very lively question and answer session, the panellists, along with James Chiriyankandath (Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London) and Anil Awesti (lecturer and Widening Participation Officer, Department

of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick) talked individually to many of the enthusiastic students at the event.

http://www.psa.ac.uk/psas-diversity-and-equality-working-group

This event was recorded and can be watched in full on the PSA’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/polstudiesassoc1 ■

The PSA is delighted to announce that three of its members have been awarded the honour of Academician by the Academy of Social Sciences. Professor Philip Cowley (University of Nottingham), Professor John Curtice (University of Strathclyde) and Professor Charles Pattie (University of Sheffield). Congratulations to all!

The Academy welcomed 51 social scientists into membership as Academicians. Visit www.acss.org.uk to see the full list. ■

Philip Cowley

John Curtice

Charles Pattie

New AcademiciansProfessor Stephen Whitefield (Oxford) and Dr Mazen Hassan (Cairo University) have been awarded £120,000 by the ESRC to study public opinion in Egypt.

The removal of President Morsi by the Egyptian Army following mass public protests against his rule raises profound questions about the democratic commitments of Egyptian citizens. The ESRC has agreed on the urgent need to collect data on Egyptian public opinion at this crucial point in the country’s political transition.

Previous research by the applicants in 2011 produced three results of great relevance to the present political situation. First, Egyptian public opinion appeared overwhelmingly supportive of democracy as the best way of running the country. Second, differences between supporters of different parties were minimal. A third feature of public opinion at that time, however, illustrated clearly the

nature of the country’s current democratic cross-roads because overall across all parties, we found strong levels of support for a ‘guardian army’.

Clearly – and this is the nub of the set of issues we propose to investigate – Egyptian public opinion cannot now hold on the lines of 2011. But, we ask, in what directions is it breaking? The answers may be crucial to the democratic future and governability of the country.

The project will conduct two nationally representative samples of Egyptians: the first to go into the field as soon as practicable, the second to coincide with elections scheduled for 2014. Using the data, the project will inform beneficiaries about the democratic commitments of Egyptian citizens and will create a new and unique publicly-accessible survey database that can be a basis and anchor for further academic research on Egypt. ■

ESRC funded project on support for democracy in EgyptStephen Whitefield, Oxford University

Tahrir Square during Friday of Departure

Glasgow receive major grant to establish a Q-step centre 14

Royal Holloway welcomes new staff 14

New arrivals at Glasgow 15

New European Research Council Project holds its first international workshop 15

King’s Centre for Science & Security Studies has pioneered the development of professional courses in nuclear security education 16

Throwing the rascals out? 17

Identity, emotions and political mobilization 17

SPECIALIST GROUPS

Beyond the Youth Citizenship Commission: Young People and Politics 18

Annual Workshop of the GPSG 19

Northern Ireland 20 years after the ceasefires: challenges & opportunities 19

News from the PSA Conservatives and Conservatism Specialist Group 20

Political Thought Specialist Group 20

UEA hosts political leadership and statecraft workshop 21

Just Property meeting at the University of Nottingham 21

Mexican PSA holds first world congress 22

Special Issues and Sections in Politics 22

Extend the reach of your research 23

My exchange experience in Australia 24

PSA in Japan 24

PSA exchanger’s experience in Japan 24

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Political Studies’ first editor honoured by Warwick

On 22 September 2013, Warwick University honoured Professor Wilfrid Harrison, founding Professor of Politics, in a rather unusual way. A bus which is used on the U1 service between the campus and Leamington was named after Professor Harrison with a motif on the exterior and a plaque inside summarising his career. Professor Harrison was the first editor of Political Studies and closely involved in the formation of the PSA. The ceremony was attended by his daughter, Jeannie Harrison, and by Professor Wyn Grant, representing the Department of Politics and International Studies. ■

The PSA is delighted to announce that Libby McEnhill (University of Huddersfield) and Karolina MacLachlan (King’s College London) have been selected as our first ever interns for our joint initiative with the House of Commons Committee Office. This scheme, available exclusively for our post-graduate members, provides a fantastic opportunity for a PhD student to gain some real-world experience of working in Westminster.

Libby began her placement back in October and upon hearing about her offer, said: “I am thrilled that I have been given the opportunity to do this and am very grateful to the Political Studies Association, as well as to the University of Huddersfield and my supervisors – Andy Mycock,

Richard Hayton and Brendan Evans - for supporting me.”

Karolina will begin her placement in January:

“I’m really looking forward to working with the Scrutiny Unit. As I was researching my PhD, I came to appreciate the role that Parliament plays in assessing policy and formulating ‘lessons learned’, and I was very pleased to hear that I’ll soon find myself at the heart of this process. It’s a demanding, fast-paced environment, but also one that promises to be very rewarding, and I expect to learn just as much – if not more – as I contribute. Career-wise, I could not imagine a better way to transition from academia into the policy-making world.”

Both candidates will be providing a full report of their experiences, which

TOP: Libby McEnhillRIGHT: Karolina MacLachlan

Congratulations to the PSA’s first House of Commons internsJack Neenan, Communications Officer

will be published on the Graduate Network section of the website: http://www.psa.ac.uk/psa-communities/graduate-network. You can also ‘Like’ us on Facebook and see posts linked to on our wall: https://www.facebook.com/politicalstudiesassociation

The PSA would also like to say a big thank you to our interview panel, Professor Philip Norton, Baron Norton of Louth (University of Hull) and Dr James Sloam (Royal Holloway), who volunteered their time to put all the candidates through their paces.

Future updates for this scheme’s 2014 run will be announced on the PSA website and our social networking channels. ■

Fifty years on from the landmark ‘Civic Culture’ study, seventy policy makers and academics gathered in London to discuss what citizens make of politics and politicians in Britain today.

The conference – funded by the PSA and the School of Politics at Kent University, and chaired by Peter Kellner of YouGov – heard the results of five cutting-edge research projects on citizen discontent. Paul Whiteley presented British Election Study data on trends in political trust since 1997, and showed how trust is strongly shaped by assessments of party leaders, by perceptions of government fairness, and by particular events (including the 2012 ‘omnishambles’ Budget). Drawing on different survey data, Sarah Birch examined how the public judges the conduct of public office holders, showing that negative judgements about politicians’ honesty and integrity reflect the high expectations that citizens hold of their elected representatives. The difficulties

for policy makers in seeking to address citizen discontent were highlighted by Gerry Stoker who showed just how negative British citizens are about politics. Asked to identify one word they associate with politics, just seven of Stoker’s focus group participants selected a positive word against 132 that selected a negative one. Reform of the political system may offer one route to assuaging democratic discontent, albeit reforms only of a particular type. John Curtice and Ben Seyd drew on British Social Attitudes data to argue that only reforms that give citizens greater direct voice – such as referendums or the recall of MPs – appeal to very discontented citizens. Paul Webb showed that, while extending participatory opportunities may appeal to certain groups of discontented citizens, such reforms may further alienate other discontented groups. In probing the nature of citizen discontent with politics, the conference showed how tricky it will be

Is Britain still a ‘civic culture’?Dr Ben Seyd, University of Kent

Over 70 delegates attended to take part in the event

Paul Whiteley and audience members take a look at some worrying British Election Study data on trends in political trust

for policy makers in Britain to devise effective remedies for what is no longer such a ‘civic’ culture.

Details of the conference, along with papers and presentations, can be found at: http://www.kent.ac.uk/politics/

research/comparativegroup/conference-2013.html.

The presentations were all filmed are can be viewed on the PSA’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/polstudiesassoc1 ■

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The twelfth PSA Annual Awards Ceremony was held on the evening of the 26 November in the heart of Westminster at Church House. Michael Crick of Channel 4 News acted as this year’s Master of Ceremonies, presiding over a splendid evening which honoured the contribution made by politicians, academics, journalists, and campaigners to another historic year of political activity.

As always, the event was filmed and broadcast the

following Saturday evening on BBC Parliament.

For more photos and information on all the winners from 2013, please visit the PSA website: https://www.psa.ac.uk/events/psa-annual-awards

Two of our award winners, Stella Creasy MP and Natascha Engel MP, were invited to speak on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour about their PSA Awards, in light of the fact that 9 women MPs are set to stand down at the next general election. You can listen to the broadcast at http://

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03jdy3r. The interview begins at 13:28.

The PSA wishes to thank the sponsors of the 2013 Awards: Wiley-Blackwell, Routledge, Higher Education Academy, Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and SAGE Publications Ltd. A special thank you also to Louise Bates, PSA Events and Marketing Manager, and Sandra McDonagh, PSA Membership Secretary, for organising the evening.

The night in photos: ■

PSA Awards Ceremony 2013

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Lord Bhikhu Parekh receiving his ‘Special Award for services to the Association’ from Charlie Jeffery, PSA Chair

Stella Creasy receiving the ‘Campaigner of the Year’ award from renowned cartoonist Steve Bell alongside Michael Crick, Master of Ceremonies

Andrew Sullivan was this year’s ‘Policy Innovation’ award winner – a new category for 2013

Danny Dorling, Oxford, was the recipient of this year’s ‘Political Studies Communicator’ award

The team from Full Fact receiving their ‘Political Transparency’ award from Peter Kellner, President of YouGov

Andrew Tyrie receiving the ‘Politician – Best Use of Evidence’ award

Lord Anthony Giddens and Michelle Phillips presented the ‘Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for Lifetime Contribution to Political Studies’ to Joni Lovenduski, Birkbeck

Caitlin Moran was the recipient of this year’s ‘Enlightening the Public’ award

Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart, Nottingham, were presented with the ‘Innovation in Teaching Politics’ award from Sue Inglish, BBC

Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Alex Salmond were the joint winners of the ‘Democratic Innovation’ award. Sir David Steel presented the award to Lord Wallace of Tankerness and Angus Robertson, SNP, who collected the award on the winner’s behalf

Polly Toynbee, The Guardian, presenting Dr. Jean Paul-Faguet, LSE, with the ‘W.J.M Mackenzie Book Prize’ for his book Decentralization and Popular Democracy: Governance from Below in Bolivia alongside Michael Crick, Master of Ceremonies

The British Election Study Team past and present receiving the ‘Judges’ Award’ presented to them by Ben Page, Chief Executive of Ipsos MORI standing alongside Michael Crick

Natascha Engel receiving the ‘Parliamentarian of the Year’ award

Patrick Dunleavy, LSE, receiving the ‘Special Recognition Award’

Andrew Neil, BBC, was this year’s ‘Journalist of the Year’

Jack Straw was the winner of the ‘Lifetime Achievement in Politics’ award at the 2013 PSA Annual Awards Ceremony

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The school video competition is now an established part of the annual programme of events and competitions that are arranged by the Political Studies Association. This year’s theme was ‘How much is an MP worth?’ and was sponsored by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Three videos were shortlisted from a large number of entries and the teams behind each video were invited to the House of Commons to participate in the final round of the competition. The three shortlisted entries were: Cheadle Hulme School, Greater Manchester, King’s High School, Warwick and North Halifax Grammar, West Yorkshire.

On a rather dark and dreary November evening the private rooms of the Speaker of the House of Commons provided a warm and splendid setting in

which to explore exactly how and why each of the shortlisted teams had approached their videos in such different ways. The judging panel was chaired by Professor Matthew Flinders (University of Sheffield) and consisted of Rt Hon. John Bercow MP, Helena Djurkoic (PSA), John Sills (IPSA) and Ellie Crisell (BBC). After watching each of the three shortlisted films the teams of students were invited to respond to a range of questions that sought to go beyond a simple discussion of the films themselves and into a more complex discussion about the underlying issues and tensions that the short video was trying to bring to the fore. What was particularly interesting from the position of the judging panel was how the process of making the video had for nearly all the participants provided not only a valuable learning experience

PSA School Video Competition 2013 - How much is an MP worth?Matthew Flinders, PSA Trustee

all the participants aware of how and why it is so difficult to compare the role of an MP against other professions.

In the end – and after a very long discussion amongst the judges – this year’s prize was awarded to the team from King’s High School, Warwick. The winning video was aimed to capture the attention of other 16-18 year olds and achieved this through the lens of an MP filling in a lonely hearts column and then being torn between the various and competing loyalties that an MP often faces.

As in previous years, the winning team was invited to attend the PSA Annual Awards Ceremony to receive their prize. The video was played on the big screen to a packed Church House, and on being announced as the winners, the students from King’s High bravely took to the stage and spoke of how they made their film with the hope that it would inspire more young women to enter into politics. A message which the PSA fully supports! ■

Charlie Jeffery and John Sills, IPSA, presented the team with their award at the Annual Awards Ceremony in London

The winning team from King’s High School, Warwick: Alexandra Bland, Nicola Chesney, Amy Francombe, Chloe Hammond-Oliver and Caitlin O’Driscoll with Speaker of the House of Commons and guest judge John Bercow.

Working in conjunction with the London School of Economics, the PSA took forward an idea conceptualised by the Higher Education Policy Group at an event held at the LSE on the 26 September. In an environment when social science in higher education is experiencing a number of challenges, this event offered an opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved in terms of ‘impact’ but also the opportunities to take this further.

The day started with introductions and welcomes from Professor Stuart Corbridge (Deputy Director, LSE) and Professor Charlie Jeffery (PSA Chair) who set out the challenges at hand – in the USA, Congress funding decisions (via the Coburn Amendment), whilst in the UK REF, RCUK and funding councils are setting high stakes – though we feel we have an ally in David Willetts who has spoken in

favour of the social sciences on numerous occasions.

Professor Nicholas Barr (LSE) outlined the lessons from economic theory for social justice in Higher Education to advocate the principle of variable fees, and pointed out that there is much to be done in turning evidence into policy impact.

Professor Helen Margetts (Oxford) illustrated the opportunities for both governments and citizens in using ‘big data’ (large scale real time transactional data) though warned that this is not only technologically challenging and requires multi- disciplinary expertise, but raises moral and ethical concerns.

Jane Tinkler (LSE) outlined the streams of government funding of social science – political science being the 4th largest recipient (after economics, geography and social policy). The challenge in relation to impact is the relatively

weak presence of what can be described as a 'mediating middle' to bring together academics and policy makers – this is less of an issue for STEM subjects where the mediating middle is better established and better funded.

Ross Neilson offered a fascinating insight into the Cabinet Office’s What Works Network. He emphasised the evident political appetite for Evidence Based Policy Making - especially fiscal evidence. The key challenge is getting the message through – and key hurdles are an appreciation of the issues for which there is a demand for evidence and the way in which evidence is presented.

.Professor Conor Gearty (LSE) tied up the day by emphasising the need to be flexible, seek opportunities and seize opportunities – a little media coverage can go a long way! Compared to commentators and those working in think tanks,

academics tend to suffer from a ‘culture gap’ which creates a dead time challenge – delivery of knowledge is traditionally slow and often misses opportunities for engagement.

This event attracted delegates from a wide range of backgrounds, including Lisa Bandari and Andy Stephenson (FCO), Tim Leunig (Department for Education), May El Komy (Ministry of Justice), Ross Neilson (Cabinet Office), Jessica Mulley (House of Commons’ Scrutiny Unit), Tanja Siggs (BPS), Roger King (Higher Education Commission) and Rebecca Fairbairn (ESRC).

Many thanks to the PSA Head Office for assisting in the organisation of the event. In addition to the presentations, the day offered an excellent networking opportunity for academics and practitioners from a range of government bodies. ■

Report from Universities Matter: how academic social science contributes to public policy impactDr. Lisa Harrison, PSA Trustee

Orland Ward – ChairOrlanda Ward is an ESRC-funded Political Science

MPhil/PhD candidate at UCL’s School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on gender, race and news media coverage of political campaigns in the UK and US. She has previously worked for a frontbench MP and for several NGOs focusing on gender issues. Orlanda holds an MA in Gender Studies from UCL.

Javier Sajuria – Communica-tions OfficerJavier Sajuria is a PhD researcher and a Post

Graduate Teaching Assistant (PGTA) in Research Methods at University College London. He holds a Licentiate in Law (J.D.) degree from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and an MSc in Democracy and Democratisation from UCL. His doctoral research analyses the formation of social capital in online platforms. Using social network analysis, survey data,

Meet the new Post Graduate Network executive team

and experimental approaches, his thesis aims to understand the influence of online connections on individual political behaviour.

Jennifer Thomson – Conference Co-ordinator Jennifer Thomson is an ESRC funded

Doctoral student in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London. Her research focuses on the politics surrounding the issue of abortion in contemporary

Northern Ireland. She holds an MA in Political Science from the New School for Social Research, New York, and an MA in English Literature from Girton College, University of Cambridge.

Visit http://www.psa.ac.uk/psa-communities/graduate-network to keep up-to-date with the latest news from the PGN executive team.

The PGN also has a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/295262400488759/

If you wish to get in contact with an executive member of the PGN, you can email them at pgn@psa.ac.uk. ■

but also how undertaking this project had altered the views and opinions of the video-makers. This may not have led to a simple ‘pay them more’ or ‘pay them less’ position but it undoubtedly seemed to make

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Born in Maresfield, Sussex, Carole has taught in Europe, Australia and the USA. In 2004 she received the Political Studies Association’s award for Lifetime Achievement in Political Studies and in 2012 she won the Johan Skytte Prize for her outstanding contribution to the discipline. In addition to her teaching, research and academic publications Carole Pateman has also played major practical roles in IPSA (President 1991–94) and APSA (President 2010–11).

The Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom was highly active at the American Political Science Association 2013 Annual Meeting in the Windy City

The annual meeting of APSA took place in Chicago from 29 August to 1 September and the Political Studies Association was much in evidence. In addition to the Association’s annual reception, it was involved in organising two panels and was also a ‘bronze sponsor’ of the APSA meeting. It had a booth in the publishers’

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Chicago and all that jazz

Carole Pateman and John Benyon

Members of the panel on Understanding Newness and Institutional Change: A Gender Perspective (left to right):Georgina Waylen, Manchester; Rachel Johnson, Manchester; Fiona McKay, Edinburgh; Elisabeth Friedman, San Francisco; Louise Chappell, New South Wales; Karen Beckwith, Case Western Reserve; Emily Waller, New South Wales

Members of the panel on Rhetoric, Politics and Conflict: Theories, Debates and Case Studies at the APSA panel in Chicago: Giuseppe Ballacci, Universidade do Minho; James Martin, Goldsmiths; Judi Atkins, Leeds; and Libby McEnhill, Huddersfield.

exhibition and members of the Executive Committee took part in meetings with senior APSA personnel which should further deepen relations between the two bodies.

Special recognition award for Carole Pateman A special recognition award to Professor Carole Pateman (UCLA) for her exceptional scholarship and achievements in political studies was presented at the annual Political Studies Association APSA Reception on Thursday 29 August.

Lively discussions at the Association’s panelsThe Association was involved in two panels at the 2013 Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA). The first panel, co-sponsored by Women and Politics Research, met on the morning of Friday 30 August. It was entitled ‘Understanding Newness and Institutional Change: A Gender Perspective’ and the room was packed out with standing room only.

The second panel, co-sponsored by Foundations of Political Theory, was on ‘Rhetoric, Politics and Conflict: Theories, Debates

and Case Studies’. It took place on Saturday 31 August during the afternoon. The papers and discussion were at all a high level.

The Political Studies Association has good relations with APSA and is awarded one or two panels each year, often co-sponsored with other groups. This is a significant benefit to Association members wishing to raise their international profile and benefit from papers and contacts at the world’s largest political science meeting. All fields and aspects of the discipline are represented there, including many specialisms that are relatively unknown in the UK. Opportunities for participation are advertised to members each year and applications should be made to Professor Terrell Carver (Bristol).

British Politics GroupThe British Politics Group (BPG), with which the Political Studies Association has close links, held a number of successful panels. Its reception was at the apartment of the Her Majesty’s Consul General on the 61st floor of 161 East Chicago Avenue, with spectacular views across the city enlivened by dramatic thunder and lightning. Speeches were given by Stephen Bridges, the Consul General, and Professor John Curtice (Strathclyde), who paid particular tribute to Terrence Casey (Rose-Hulman), who will be stepping down in 2014 after nine years as Executive Director of the BPG. ■

As part of this year's European Local Democracy Week, Portsmouth City Council, University of Portsmouth and the Political Studies Association ran a challenge exercise to consider voting and electoral turnout - Why should anyone bother to vote? The event sought to identify current barriers to voting, why turnout at all-level elections is falling and how we could address some of these problems through real-life examples and real-time solutions. Our guest speakers were:• Dr James Sloam, Co-Director

of Centre for European Politics, Department of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway (University of London)

• Dr Robert Frith, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR) at the University of PortsmouthTeams of delegates were asked

to address four key questions and create a three minute pitch to present back to the speakers. The questions included: Are there innovative ways to address falling voter turnout at a Local, National and European level? And what does voting say about our wider political culture?

Amongst the pitch ideas were better publicity including MTV

style coverage of hustings and elections, easier on-line voting and registration, holding elections on a Sunday, synchronisation of different tier voting (Local, National, European), and better promotion of voting as a civic duty in an attempt to avoid the 'stigma of voting'. Delegates were generally against the idea of compulsory voting or offering incentives to vote.

The winning team comprised Vladimir Bortun, Ben Goldring, Hannah Lucas, and Melissa Bishop all students at the University of Portsmouth. Each contestant won a free year’s subscription to Political Insight.

European Local Democracy Week 2013 is a Congress of Europe initiative to promote 'Active citizenship: voting, sharing, participating' across Europe and beyond and takes place from 14 to 20 October 2013.

Slides from the challenges session can be found at: http://portsmouthlocal.blogspot.co.uk/

The speaker’s presentations can also be viewed on the PSA’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/polstudiesassoc1

James Sandy is Communities Engagement Manager at Portsmouth City Council and a PSA member. Contact: james.sandy@portsmouthcc.gov.uk ■

Local Democracy Week - Why should anyone bother to vote?

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As with last year, the Political Studies Association organised two events as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Science (which this year ran from the 2 to the 9 November). Once again, one event was aimed at young people and the other targeted our teacher membership. The first of these events took place in Edinburgh on the 5 November in the auspicious surroundings of St Cecilia’s Hall in the Grassmarket area. The theme of the event was Scottish Independence and Young People. Chaired by the PSA Vice Chair, Dr Jacqui Briggs, the speakers were Professor Margaret Arnott from the University of the West of Scotland who referred to general themes and issues in relation to the referendum and Professor Lindsay Paterson and Dr Jan Eichhorn from the University of Edinburgh who spoke about young people and their attitudes towards the referendum. All three speakers were extremely thought-provoking and provided a wealth of interesting facts and

figures. The debate was lively and the youthful audience clearly engaged with the subject matter. The PSA is looking to host similar events in the coming months as the referendum date (September 18 2014) fast approaches.

The second event hosted by the Political Studies Association and targeted at school teachers focused on the continuing debate surrounding the controversial Leveson Inquiry: The Post-Leveson Scenario.

The event was chaired by PSA Trustee Dr Lisa Harrison and included an impressive panel of speakers: Chris Bryant MP and Dr Evan Harris spoke passionately in favour of Leveson, while Brendan O’Neill (Spiked Online) spoke against the proposed statutory regulation. Professor Jean Seaton (University of Westminster), author of Power Without Responsibility, took a more nuanced position.

The debate was filmed and can be viewed in full on the PSA’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/polstudiesassoc1 ■

Chris Bryant MP supports Leveson’s proposals

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A Festival of Social ScienceJacqui Briggs, Lisa Harrison and Jack Neenan

Lecture to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Council on Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament (CCADD)David Fisher, Co-Chairman of CCADD and Teaching Fellow, King's College London

Professor Sir Adam Roberts

On 15 October 2013, Professor Sir Adam Roberts, former President of the British Academy and Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, gave a lecture on Ethics, law and security in the Great Hall. This marked the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Council on Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament (CCADD). The Principal, Sir Rick Trainor, presided and the discussion was chaired by Lord Harries (President of CCADD). A second anniversary lecture was

held on the 10 December at which Lord Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, explored The changing moral map of war.

“CCADD and War Studies at King's both arose from the same period in Britain when there was acute concern over the strategic and moral implications of nuclear weapons. Nuclear anxieties may have lessened but, as Sir Adam underlined in his lecture, there are still many concerns to be addressed over the morality and legality of how, when and where force should be used.” ■

David OwenReverse brain-drain is occurring at Politics and International Relations (PAIR) at the University of Southampton with a number of new appointments including several from North America. Professor Tracy B Strong, Distinguished Service Professor at the University of California, San Diego, has joined as Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy. Professor Strong's most recent book Politics without vision (University of Chicago Press, 2012) which was reviewed in the THES (17 May 2012) has just won the David Easton Award granted by the American Political Science Association. Ana Margheritis (Reader) and Nestor Castaneda-Angarita (Lecturer)

have arrived from Florida and Pittsburgh respectively to join Pia Riggirozzi in developing our research capacity on Latin American politics. Ana’s work also strengthens current research in PAIR (alongside David Owen) and in the School of Social Sciences on transnational migration, while Nestor joins a fellow newcomer Justin Murphy (Lecturer) from Temple University in working with Will Jennings on quantitative research methods. Meanwhile, the public policy team that already encompassed Gerry Stoker, Rod Rhodes, Will Jennings and Alex Kelso has been further strengthened with the appointments of John Boswell (Lecturer) from ANU and Ingi Iusmen (Lecturer) from an

ESCR postdoctoral fellowship at Sheffield. A final North American addition is Jonathan Havercroft (SL) previously at the University of Oklahoma whose research spans IR theory (alongside Kamil Zwolski and John Glenn) and International Political Theory (alongside Chris Armstrong and David Owen) and whose recent book Captives of Sovereignty was published by Cambridge University Press in 2012.

Two forthcoming open events may be of particular interest to colleagues:• December 6 Symposium on Joseph H. Carens The Ethics of Immigration (OUP 2013) with Joe Carens (Toronto), Rainer Baubock (EUI), David Miller (Oxford) and David Owen.

Southampton round-up

The University of Glasgow will host the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) on 3-6 September 2014. Since its inception in 1970, ECPR membership has grown to include more than 350 institutions across Europe. Their general conferences have attracted between 2,000 and 2,500 political scientists from all over the world.

The plenary lecture will feature

speeches by Ms Nicola Sturgeon, current Deputy First Minister of Scotland, and Professor Iain McLean from the University of Oxford. The speeches will focus on territorial politics, devolution and fiscal federalism. Two academic roundtables, chaired respectively by Professor Sarah Birch and Dr Kelly Kollman, will address Representation and Its Discontents and Contested Human Rights. A side event, hosting representatives from the

Glasgow to host the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research

Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee, will explore and examine the significance of

the independence referendum in Scotland for the UK and for Europe more generally. ■

Nicola Sturgeon will provide a keynote address at the conference in Glasgow

© Crown

• December 19 Symposium on Predistribution led by Martin O’Neill (York) with responses by academics and policymakers.

People interested in attending should email Lisa Then at Lisa.Then@soton.ac.uk.

You can follow us at our blog: http://sotonpolitics.org

Or on twitter: @sotonpolitics ■

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The Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster welcomed three new colleagues at the start of the academic year.

Dr Jamie Allinson has research interests in historical sociology,

international relations theory and political economy, the politics of the Arab world, and critical war studies, particularly drone warfare. Jamie is currently working on the significance of development in the geopolitical alignments of the Jordanian Hashemite regime during the 1950s.

Dr Hannah Cross works on the political economy of migration and

mobility, focusing on the dialogue between IPE and

development studies. Her interests include processes of displacement, borders, regional boundaries, securitisation, militarisation, international labour regimes, and remittances and development. Hannah’s most recent book is 'Migrants, Borders and Global Capitalism: West African labour mobility and EU borders' (Routledge 2013).

Dr Magdalena Frennhoff Larsén is a specialist in EU trade and

development policies and is working on the application of principal-agent theories to EU trade and economic partnership negotiations. Together, our new colleagues bring expertise in development politics, particularly in African and Arab debates; global trade and migration; and IR theory to our research platforms and teaching programmes. ■

University of Westminster welcomes new colleagues to the department

Royal Holloway welcomes new staffDr Alister Miskimmon

Royal Holloway, University of London is pleased to welcome five new permanent members of staff to the Department of Politics and International Relations from 1 September 2013: Dr. Michelle Bentley, Dr. Antara Datta, Dr. Anja Jakobi,

Dr. Kaat Smets, and Dr. Cristian Vaccari. We are also delighted to have Professor Donald Searing, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, joining us as Leverhulme Visiting Professor in autumn 2013. ■

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Politics at Glasgow University is delighted to welcome six new members of staff: Professor Sarah Birch (Comparative Politics) joins the Department from Essex, Dr Phillip Habel (Political Communication) joins from Southern Illinois University in the USA, Dr Georgios Karyotis (International Relations) from Strathclyde University, Professor Lauren McLaren (Comparative Politics)

joins from Nottingham, Mr David Tobin (Chinese Politics) moves over from Manchester and Dr Ty Solomon (International Relations) joins the Department from the University of South Florida in the USA.

These new colleagues bring a wealth of experience to Glasgow and will strengthen and add to Politics at Glasgow’s core areas of teaching and research in comparative politics. ■

New arrivals at Glasgow

Sarah BirchPhilip Habel

Georgios Karyotis Lauren McLarenDavid Tobin Ty Solomon

Glasgow receive major grant to establish a Q-step centreThe University of Glasgow has been awarded a grant of £1.44million from the Nuffield Foundation and the ESRC to establish a Q-step centre to address the shortage of quantitatively trained UK social scientists and to pursue its long term ambition of becoming a major centre for training and innovation in quantitative

methods. The Q-step centre will employ four lecturers, two in the School of Social and Political Sciences, who will develop new badged degrees to interface with the MA (SocSci) in Politics and will work with lecturers in the subject area to embed quantitative methods across all undergraduate teaching. ■

Understanding Institutional Change: A Gender Perspective, a new 5 year European Research Council (ERC) Project funded by an ERC Advanced Grant held its first international workshop entitled ‘Gendering ‘New’ Institutions’ at the University of Manchester on Nov 7/8, 2013. In addition to the project team, the speakers included Shireen Hassim (Witswatersrand), Joni Lovenduski (Birkbeck), Vivien Lowndes (Nottingham), Aili Tripp (Wisconsin-Madison) and Laurel Weldon (Purdue).

This project is investigating the gender dynamics of institutional change and reform. There have been big changes in recent years in the position of women. But many institutions in Europe are still male dominated despite attempts to change them. Understanding how institutions

work is an important priority for academics, politicians and policymakers, and particularly important if we want to understand why many attempts to change and reform institutions have not been effective.

The research is therefore examining how institutional change is gendered as well as looking at policy interventions to change institutions, and will try to explain the outcomes of those efforts. To do this, it looks not just at the formal changes in rules and structures but also at the informal norms, institutions and practices that may impact (both positively and negatively) on attempts to create and design new institutions and change existing ones. The research uses a range of case studies (predominantly from UK, South Africa and Chile).

New European Research Council Project holds its first international workshop

Led by Professor Georgina Waylen (Manchester), the full-time project team currently comprises three research associates: Faith Armitage, Rachel Johnson and Laura McLeod, a PhD student, Leah Culhane, and a project co-ordinator, Lisa Jenkins (who will be joined by a further research associate next year). There are a further three external team members: Francesca Gains (Manchester), Fiona Mackay,

(Edinburgh), and Louise Chappell (UNSW) and an international advisory board.

If you would like any further information about the workshop, the research project and its activities, please contact Georgina Waylen (georgina.waylen@manchester.ac.uk) or Lisa Jenkins (lisa.jenkins@manchester.ac.uk) or visit the project website (www.manchester.ac.uk/uic). ■

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An experimental approach to electoral punishment: Professor Catherine E. de Vries (Principal Investigator, Oxford), Professor Sara Hobolt (co- Principal Investigator, LSE) and Dr Hector Solaz (co- Principal Investigator, Birmingham).

With the generous support of the OUP John Fell Fund (122-674), this one-year project develops an experimental approach to electoral punishment and examines the conditions under which voters are able to punish governments for policy. In the midst of the economic crisis sweeping across Europe today, austerity dominates the political

agenda. The bleak financial and economic prospects encourage governments of all political stripes to implement major reforms. Against this backdrop, it is of the uttermost importance to study voter responses to changes in public policy and spending.

Insights from political science and economics suggest that, as economic conditions deteriorate and austerity measures affect households, voters are likely to vote for opposition parties and ‘throw the rascals out’. This model is also at heart of theories of representative democracy where elections function as a sanctioning

mechanism. Yet, empirically we often observe deviations from this model, and find that many governments are re-elected despite implementing cuts or dire economic conditions. This project aims to address this puzzle. We maintain that current work has not gone far enough in constructing realistic choice models that incorporate insights from psychology and economics about human decision-making when dealing with risk. We start from the assumption that there should be little difference between political decision-making and decision-making in other parts of life, such as consumer or work behaviour.

King’s Centre for Science & Security Studies has pioneered the development of professional courses in nuclear security education

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Dr Christopher Hobbs from the Centre for Science & Security Studies (CSSS) in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London has been leading global efforts to produce a new cadre of nuclear security education and training experts by designing and delivering a series of professional development courses (PDCs) in nuclear security education.

These ‘train-the-trainer’ courses are for Lecturers and Professors interested in setting up academic courses in this area. As of September 2013, King’s has run four two-week nuclear security PDCs, training more than 40 individuals from 17 different countries.

King’s pioneering work in this area was recognised by the International Atomic Energy Agency in their 2012 annual nuclear security report. The PDCs are funded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and supported by the US State Department.

Over the next 30 months

King’s will be working with partner universities in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South Asia in a mentor/protégé relationship to develop indigenous PDCs, starting with the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. Once completed, the project will enable those who have attended the course to develop and conduct nuclear security education in their own countries and mentor other institutes in their region.

Teaching Collaboration with Brunei Ministry of Defence

The Centre for Defence Studies within the Department of War Studies is conducting its 10th annual Executive Development Programme (EDP) for senior officials at The Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Ministry of Defence in collaboration with the King’s Professional and Executive Education.

King's is the first European

institution to run the 13 week programme which deals with public policy, leadership and communications, public management, international public policy and government and business. The course is being delivered by faculty from across the School of Social Science and Public Policy and will include a visit to London by the course and classes at King's Strand Campus. Brunei is an important partner of King's with the renewal last year of a three year arrangement between the King's Dental Institute and the Brunei Ministry of Health for the training of dental care professionals.

Professor Gearson, Director of the Centre for Defence Studies said, ‘We are particularly pleased to be working on this programme

because of the opportunity to share our experience with, and in turn learn from, the diverse group of senior officials that this course involves. There can be few programmes that bring officials together from six different countries and from seven different ministries and departments to think about the challenge of public policy, leadership and governance. The Department of War Studies with its inter-disciplinary approach, supported by colleagues from across the School of Social Science and Public Policy, is well placed to support this programme and its objectives. We hope this is the start of a deepening relationship between King's and the Brunei Ministry of Defence.’ ■

Throwing the rascals out?

Catherine E. de Vries

Our main modes of inference are laboratory and online survey experiments in the United Kingdom. ■

Identity, emotions and political mobilizationA project funded by a Leverhulme Trust Fellowship, 2012-2013

Montserrat Guibernau, Professor of Politics, Queen Mary, University of London

This research project explores the relevance of emotions as a trigger for political mobilization in Western liberal democracies. This is not to assume that emotions are the only trigger for political mobilization. Instead, the research considers to what extent emotions have the power to modify and transform the ways in which people, circumstances, actions and objectives are evaluated thus affecting individuals’ disposition to act.

This research studies the role of emotions in selected processes of political mobilization related to nations, nationalism and national identity thus opening up a novel avenue to the study of social movements and complementing other approaches.

The project examines three case-studies: Britain, witnessing a rise in hostility towards EU membership and growing euro-scepticism; Catalonia, where a strong secessionist movement has achieved 55.6 percent support in recent opinion polls (June 2013); and Greece, unwilling to be ruled according to the austerity measures imposed by the EU and the IMF. ■

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The Annual Workshop of the German Politics Specialist Group (GPSG) took place on 11 October 2013 at the Institute for German Studies, University of Birmingham. The workshop was based around the theme Germany as a global actor. The main theme was addressed alongside four different panels: German activism within CFSP, The ‘Europeanisation’ of German foreign policy, Germany’s global action: responsibility vs. instrumentalism, and Germany’s identity as a European actor and featured ten papers of scholars from British and German universities.

One of the main issues that seemed to come up often in the workshop was whether German foreign policy continues to

have a ‘European vocation’, or whether this has been replaced with more mercantilist power politics. The workshop also helped to identify areas that require further research. These include a better representation and understanding of Germany’s relations with countries and regions outside the European neighbourhood, on the need to devise a theoretical framework to understand the “economization” of German foreign policy, and to further address the issue of de-politicization, and the lack of contestation, of German foreign policy within Germany. Other areas identified for further discussion included, but are not limited to, the domestic foundations of German foreign policy such as “Merkelianism” (leadership analysis.) ■

Northern Ireland 20 years after the ceasefires: challenges & opportunitiesPete Shirlow and Katy Hayward, Queen’s University Belfast

Beyond the Youth Citizenship Commission: Young People and PoliticsA workshop organised by Professor Jon Tonge (Liverpool) and Dr. Andy Mycock (Huddersfield) was held in Liverpool on November 1 2013 to discuss youth citizenship and democratic participation. The workshop was supported by the PSA and involved members of the Young People's Politics specialist group, which was formed in 2012 and has been active in developing knowledge about how young people understand and engage with Politics. The PSA has adopted a proactive approach to the development of political literacy and democratic participation amongst young people, and this has been reflected in the growing numbers studying

Politics in secondary, further and higher education. Scholars have also been active in promoting politics through youth engagement events based in their host universities, schools and local communities as well as contributing to national initiatives such as the Economic and Social Research Council's annual Festival of Social Science.

Members of the PSA have also proven instrumental in developing evidence-based policy responses to issues of youth political activism through cutting-edge research. Professor Tonge was invited to chair a Youth Citizenship Commission (YCC) in 2008, with two other PSA members: Professor Philip Cowley (Nottingham) and Dr.

Mycock who were also appointed to serve as commissioners. The YCC reported directly to then UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in June 2009, outlining sixteen policy proposals to increase young people's participation in politics and promote active citizenship. It also recommended that the voting age should not be lowered, but that the UK government should consider allowing devolved administrations to do so. The Labour government accepted most of the YCCs proposals in a response published in January 2010.

The workshop brought together PSA members to encourage governments across the UK to adopt proactive

approaches to encouraging youth political literacy, particularly through the study of Politics, and democratic participation.

As a result of the group’s work an executive summary of policy proposals to strengthen youth citizenship and the study of politics in schools, colleges and universities will be published. The intended publication date will be March 2014 and it will be formally launched at the PSA annual conference in Manchester and two special events to be held in London and Edinburgh. A special panel will be convened on the initiative at a PSA Young People's Politics specialist group conference to be held at the University of Lincoln in June 2014. ■

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A conference ‘Northern Ireland 20 years After the Ceasefires: Challenges & Opportunities’ was held in Queen’s University Belfast, 20 September 2013, supported by a PSA Specialist Group award. Our intention as organisers of this conference was to facilitate scholarly debate and reflection in preparation for the coming anniversary of the paramilitary ceasefires of 1994. A priority was that this discussion be both interdisciplinary and intergenerational.

In sum, the day provided a voice for scholars at various points

in their careers and created an environment that demonstrated the continued robustness of ‘post-conflict’ studies on island of Ireland and the value of inter-generational contact and discourse. We wish to pay special acknowledgement to the PSA (through the Specialist Group on Irish Politics) for their financial support, Dr. Cathy Gormley-Heenan for her support on the day, and QUB’s Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice for additional financial and administrative assistance. ■

Pete Shirlow, Katy Hayward and Hastings Donnan

Annual Workshop of the GPSGTathagata Sarkar, Institute for German Studies, University of Birmingham

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It has been a busy few months for the Conservatives and Conservatism (C&C) specialist group. August saw a contingent of members travel to sunny Chicago to participate in the APSA annual meeting, and the associated APSA British

Politics Group one-day conference. Just in time for the party conference season in September, articles that will form a special section of the January 2014 issue of Parliamentary Affairs were published online via EarlyView.

The collection assesses the Conservative Party in Coalition and grew out of the group’s main biennial 2-day conference, which was held in conjunction with the Centre for British Politics (CBP) at the University of Hull in June 2012.

The PSA’s specialist group on the Politics of Property met recently for a two-day workshop at the University of Nottingham. The (broad) theme of our deliberations was just (and unjust) property. The workshop attracted contributors from across the UK and from Europe. The themes addressed included the nature of slave societies (in Brazil and North America), the uses of the idea of property

in the moral economy of Grotius and the early Jesuits, the idea of property as a motif in Shakespeare’s Othello and the contemporary politics of security, as well as the character of property in the contemporary global politics of migration. We also heard an excellent paper on the methodology of contemporary studies of alternative property regimes and a short history of theft (down to the end of the

Political Thought Specialist GroupAnnual ConferenceDr Evangelia Sembou, Convenor, Political Thought Specialist Group

International financial austerity has had dramatic consequences for political leaders around the world, in and out of office. For many it has undermined their political capital as they campaign for (re)election with public deficits and stagnant economies.

The University of East Anglia

is hosting the annual PSA Workshop on Political Leadership on 17 January 2014 on Political Leadership and Statecraft in Challenging Times to unpack this problem.

The keynote speaker is Tim Bale (Queen Mary, University of London) who will address the workshop on If opposition is

an art, is Ed Miliband an artist?. Other speakers include Paul Whiteley, Jo Silvester, Andrew Gamble, Mark Bennister, Alan Finlayson and many more.

Panels will focus on how we should conceptualise political leadership and the nature of the challenges facing leaders. They will also explore a range of cases

of how leaders have confronted these challenges in the UK and elsewhere.

Registration is now open. It is free for paper givers and £21.95 for non-paper givers. For further information, see: http://politicalleadership.org/events/uea-2014/ or contact Toby James (t.s.james@uea.ac.uk). ■

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UEA hosts political leadership and statecraft workshop

Just Property meeting at the University of NottinghamChris Pierson, Convenor, PSA specialist group on the Politics of Property.

seventeenth century).Nottingham provided a

beautifully-autumnal venue for an event from which everyone who attended learned a great

deal. The group’s A.G.M. was held during this meeting and it was resolved that we would seek to put our workshops on a more regular footing. ■

Evangelia Sembou and Thom Brooks

The Political Thought Specialist Group held its annual conference on Saturday 26 October 2013 at King’s College London. The theme this year was Contemporary Political Theory: Analytical and

Continental. We had papers on liberalism, communitarianism, multiculturalism, multilingualism and its theoretical implications, democratic authority and the legitimacy of the state, and humanitarian intervention. ■

Some of the participants at the Conservatism and Unionism in the 21st Century conference at the University of Ulster

News from the PSA Conservatives and Conservatism Specialist Group

20Meanwhile in October, the

group and the CBP facilitated a stimulating 1-day workshop on the theme of Conservatism and Unionism, held at (and kindly co-sponsored by) the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Ulster.

Other exciting developments include a forthcoming special issue of the Taylor and Francis journal Global Discourse, and a strong line-up of panels for the April 2014 PSA conference in Manchester. Plans are also being developed for a significant group event later in 2014.

The group’s aim is to bring together and create a stronger sense of identity and common purpose amongst those with an academic interest in Conservative politics, broadly defined, from a wide variety of methodological perspectives. It does not endorse or promote any particular viewpoint, but encourages rigorous academic study from scholars across the ideological spectrum. Our membership has recently hit three figures and our website, www.psa-conservatism.org.uk, receives an average of 1000 hits a month. Membership is free to PSA members, so please don’t hesitate to contact the Convenor, Richard Hayton, if you would like to join: r.hayton@leeds.ac.uk ■

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Mexican PSA holds first world congress Publishing in the PSA’s journals

is a great way to make your research available to PSA members. However, you may not realise just how extensively your work will be available around the world.

The PSA Journals are available globally in lots of different ways – through individual membership of the PSA, via library subscription, via a Wiley Collection sale (where libraries purchase access to a complete list of journals), and via philanthropic arrangements in the developing world such as Research4Life, which supports training for librarians and researchers as well as providing access to journals. Altogether, readers in over 8,000 institutions have access to articles from the journals as soon as they are published. Older content (more than a year old) is also being accessed by over 4,000 institutions via EBSCO aggregated databases, and many libraries have purchased access to pre-1997 content from Political Studies and Politics from Wiley.

The vast majority of subscriptions, including PSA

member subscriptions, are now online only, and the number of article downloads across the five PSA journals increased by nearly 20% from 2011 to 2012, with well over half a million article downloads in total! Users of the online version (and authors) benefit from earlier availability of articles, which generally appear online well in advance of print issue compilation, and online articles can include direct links to supporting information and appendices that do not appear in print.

The top accessing countries for each journal are perhaps not surprising, with the UK and USA generally followed by Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany and China. However, articles from each of the journals were also being downloaded in Kazakhstan, Malawi, and even the world’s newest country, South Sudan. Political Studies had the most globally diverse readership in 2012, BJPIR was the PSA journal that was most read in developing countries, and Political Studies Review had the greatest proportion of its usage – over 75% – outside the UK.

The Politics editorial team are keen to receive proposals for Special Issues and Special Sections. Politics has recently published a special Issue on Security and the Politics of Resilience. The Special Issue is edited by James Brassett, Stuart Croft, and Nick Vaughan-Williams (Warwick University) and focuses on the nature and complexities of the concept of resilience. The collection outlines an agenda for resilience research in Politics and International Relations, covering issues as diverse as cyber-security, international state-building, and the 2011 UK riots. Additionally, the Special Issue features an interview with leading resilience practitioner Helen Braithwaite OBE, head of the resilience and emergencies division of the UK government’s Department of Communities and Local Government. The volume is free to access until February 2014: http://onlinelibrary.

wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ponl.2013.33.issue-4/issuetoc. Politics has three further Special Sections scheduled for publication in early 2014: The Politics of Cyberspace and Social Media; Russian Politics; and Politics and Popular Culture.

Politics encourages anyone interested in publishing a Special Issue or Section to send a proposal to the editors at politicsjournal@ncl.ac.uk. Special Issue/Sections should feature new, original and timely research-led articles on any area of politics and international studies including pedagogy. Proposals should outline a rationale for publishing the articles as a collection and include abstracts for each article. The journal will peer review all article submissions independently. All submissions should observe the style requirements for Politics: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9256/homepage/ForAuthors.

html).#Why publish a Special Issue/

Section with Politics:Politics accepts pieces

between 4000 and 8000 words in length allowing for a range of research-led articles from research notes to research articles

Politics has a fast peer review and publication schedule, reaching a first decision (i.e., whether an article is suitable for review) within 7 days, an initial decision (i.e., after review) in 8-10 weeks and often publishing accepted articles in 9-12 months.

Politics will publicise your articles both to PSA members and more widely, particularity through social media. We aim to engage a broad audience to ensure the work is widely disseminated and accessible (working with Wiley to offer limited free access if this will help engage a wider audience).

Politics is available in over 3000 libraries around the world. ■

(from left to right) EC member Jesús Tovar, Terrell Carver and José Manuel Luque, President of AMECiP

The Asociación Mexicana de Ciencias Politicas (AMECiP) held its first Congreso Internacional in Guanajuato, Gto, Federal Republic of Mexico, 26-28 August 2013. Over 500 presenters were registered and, with student attendance, participating

numbers reached an estimated 1000.

Terrell Carver attended to represent the PSA amongst other invited guests, which included the Chair of the ECPR, and committee members from the PSAs of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Spain and Uruguay. ■

Special Issues and Sections in Politics

Extend the reach of your researchRachel Smith, Journals Publisher, Wiley Blackwell

Journal Top-accessed article from 2012 Top-accessed article from the archive

Political Studies

Norris and Inglehart, Muslim Integration into Western Cultures: Between Origins and Destinations 1,669 downloads in 2012

Hall and Taylor, Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms 44:5 7,300 downloads in 2012

Politics Coole, Population Growth in the UK : An Issue for Political Debate and Policy Intervention 1,348 downloads in 2012

Grix, Introducing Students to the Generic Terminology of Social Research 22:3 5,116 downloads in 2012

BJPIR Shephard and Johns, A Face for Radio? How Viewers and Listeners Reacted Differently to the Third Leaders’ Debate in 2010 1,184 downloads in 2012

Street, Celebrity Politicians: Popular Culture and Political Representation 6:4 3,713 downloads in 2012

Political Studies Review

Keaney, Tackling the Financial Crisis 691 downloads in 2012

Dowding, Three-Dimensional Power: A discussion of Steven Lukes’ Power: A Radical View 4:2 2,058 downloads in 2012

Political Insight

Benyon, England’s Urban Disorder: The 2011 Riots 1,646 downloads in 2012

Cini, European Governance and the Democratic Deficit: Where does Power Lie in the EU? 2:1 546 downloads in 2012

PSA Members will notice some differences in the way articles appear in Wiley Online Library (accessible through the PSA website once you have logged on as a member) over the next few months as it is optimised for use of mobile devices, and with the integration of web reader “ReadCube” enhancing the functionality of PDF files. ReadCube is a PDF organiser that embeds links to supplementary articles in downloaded PDFs and includes built in search functions so that you can search all of the

PDFs on your computer for key words, titles and authors. There are too many features to go into here but you can have a look at an online demo here http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1002/adma.201103727. Best of all, it’s free!

To sign up for Content Alerting, so that you are alerted when new articles or issues are published in the journals, you will first need to register with Wiley Online Library http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/user-registration.

Once registered and logged in you can click on ‘Get New Content Alerts’ on the journal’s homepage:

RSS Feeds: Wiley journals also offer the latest issue's table of contents or Early View articles via RSS, featuring article titles, authors, online

publication dates, and links to the abstract. To obtain a feed for any specific journal, click the Get RSS Feed link. You can also simply add /rss/ into any Wiley Online Library journal home page URL like so: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/rss/journal/ ■

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I had the pleasure of attending the annual conference of the Australian Political Studies Association in October 2013, thanks to the exchange agreement which the PSA has in place with its sister organisation. The event was held at the Murdoch University, a short train/bus ride from the city of Perth in Western Australia. It was well organised, friendly and attended by approximately 150 delegates, which makes it much more accessible than, for instance, the other APSA, i.e. the US one. I was struck by the presence of a number of UK-based academics, and by the steadily growing group of ex-pats from the UK who have decamped to Oz and are now prominent in Australian political science.

One of the notable features of the Australian conference is that it incorporates papers that fall under the headings of IR and IPE, as well as the other main sub-fields within the Political Science discipline. This gave many of the discussions a more international flavour than is the case at our own annual conference. Attending the event enabled me to explore more fully the comparative dimensions of the research I’ve been doing into the politics and political theorising of nationhood, and to compare notes with scholars interested in the same broad issues and theoretical approaches.

This is certainly an opportunity that I’d urge others to take up, but make sure that you allow yourself enough time to conquer the jetlag when you return! ■

With the support of the PSA, Felix Rösch, a senior lecturer in International Relations at Coventry University, recently had the opportunity to present his latest research project on Unlearning in International Relations at the Japanese Political Studies Conference in Sapporo from 15-16 September 2013. With this project, Felix seeks to contribute to the growing literature on classical realism in International Relations by elaborating on realist approaches to knowledge-construction through a reading of mid-twentieth century Western and Japanese political thought. At the JPSA-conference, his paper was being discussed by one of the leading Japanese political theorists, Tadashi Karube (Tokyo University). Since he also was awarded a small grant from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Felix was able to extend his stay in Japan

and he was hosted by Kunihiro Wakamatsu as a visiting scholar at the Institute of International Relations at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. This allowed him to do further research, particularly on the work of Masao Maruyama. Felix also had the opportunity to further present his research at the Social Science Research Institute at the International Christian University in Tokyo. ■

PSA in JapanPaul Cairney, University of Stirling

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My exchange experience in AustraliaProfessor Michael Kenny (Queen Mary, University of London)

I was invited by colleagues in Japan to apply for the Japan PSA exchange this year, so that we could strengthen links within the field of regional/devolved studies. Some academics and policymakers in Japan are interested in the UK devolution experience, and this forum gave us the

chance to talk some issues through (my session was also attended by a member of the National Diet Library, since I will present a paper at the Diet in November).

Events like the JPSA give you that opportunity to network intensively, in person, and come back with a brain full of ideas. ■

(from left to right) Professor Mikine Yamazaki (Hokkaido University), Mr Yoshihiko Tanaka (National Diet Library), Paul Cairney, Professor Kunihiro Wakamatsu (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)

(from left to right)Tadashi Karube (Tokyo University), Felix Rösch (Coventry University) and Motomichi Igarashi (Hokkaido University)

PSA exchanger’s experience in Japan

If you are interested in applying for any of the PSA annual travel grants, please visit the PSA website: https://www.psa.ac.uk/members/membership-benefits/grants