Description
INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPE
International Conference for Young Researchers
April 11 - 13 2008, Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst (Germany)
General Description:
Processes of Europeanization increasingly challenge the ability of integration of European nation-states. In light of a devaluation of national borders and increasing competencies of the European Union, social science research in the past decade has moved from focusing on the nation state to other political entities and processes above and beyond national frameworks. Problems such as inequality, marginalization or political representation of social groups are no longer exclusively viewed with the nation-state as the central point of reference.
Focusing on the distinction between inclusion and exclusion offers an analytical tool to analyze questions of social order and new forms of social and political structures. This is especially true for emerging processes of Europeanization that take place above and beyond national integration and notions of national identity.
The conference will be organized along the following three sub-fields:
1) Processes and phenomena of exclusion in contemporary Europe
This sub-field is concerned with the prevalence and increase of social exclusion against the backdrop of growing interdependence and transnationalization of European societies. Contributions to this sub-field may cluster around the following questions: Are there new risks of exclusion in contemporary Europe? What impact does Europeanization have on the emergence and increase of exclusion as well as the identification of new forms of exclusion? Do new regulative frameworks contribute to the emergence of new types of exclusion, e.g. the case of migration or recent debates on the emergence of a new under-class in European welfare states? How do these processes relate to and intersect with other markers of social differentiation, such as ethnicity or gender? Contributions to this sub-field should address new dynamics and new dimensions of exclusion in Europe deriving from enhancing competition, social mobility and structural change. They may also analyze poverty or unemployment dynamics, processes of social deprivation and spatial segregation. Both large-scale quantitative analysis and detailed qualitative explorations of single cases are welcome. Contributions may focus on individuals or particular groups, but also on European cities, regions and certain European areas.
2) Concepts and politics of inclusion and exclusion in contemporary Europe
This sub-field aims at exploring the different notions and meanings of inclusion and exclusion in contemporary Europe: On what notions do concepts of inclusion and exclusion draw? Where do notions of inclusion and exclusion derive from? And what consequences do these notions have for policy-making guidelines and tools that result from them? Contributions to this sub-field may be both conceptual and empirical in nature. They may analyze the notions of inclusion and exclusion in different social theories or in documents and guidelines for policy-making. They may also focus on the notions and meanings of inclusion and exclusion in different societal contexts based on analyses of public discourses or in political debates. Contributions addressing the combat against social exclusion of the European Union and the adoption of related policies in different countries or in different local and regional contexts are encouraged.
3) New opportunities of inclusion and risks of exclusion in contemporary Europe
This sub-field is concerned with the emergence of new political forms of democratic representation, including new concepts of decision-making within the EU framework. Furthermore, this field deals with the formation and emergence of new actors; their constellation and coalitions in the European public sphere.
Contributions to this sub-field may be clustered around the following questions: What sorts of topics, concerns, politics or practices are read as exclusionary or inclusionary? How do civil society organizations perceive inclusion or exclusion, and how is inclusion and exclusion talked about? Do policy networks, pressure groups, activist groups and social movement advocacy coalitions use European institutions to make their case and if so, how do they do that? What are obstacles to participation and what can be done to solve these problems? Is there regional variance in inclusion and exclusion issues in different regions of the EU; and what are the differences between Western and Eastern Europe, Northern and Southern? Papers that engage with issues such as civil society participation, new forms of governance and deliberation, and altered concepts of membership, citizenship and the role of gender are invited for this sub-field.
Aims, objectives and structure of the conference:
At this conference, we want to bring together young researchers who address issues of inclusion and exclusion in a European context. Presenters from sociology, political science and related social sciences are invited to engage with and challenge concepts of inclusion and exclusion, and to assess whether inclusion/exclusion does indeed provide a promising analytical perspective in the particular theoretical or empirical question they address.
The conference shall furthermore foster a dialogue between junior researchers and invited senior scholars. All papers will be discussed with experts from the respective research fields.
The conference will take place from April 11 to 13, 2008 at Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg in Delmenhorst (near Bremen). PhD students and post-doctoral researchers are eligible for participation in this conference. Every presenter will have twenty minutes to present his/her paper. About the same amount of time will be reserved for commenting and discussing the paper. Conference language is English.
The conference is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Social Sciences, the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation and the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg. For the duration of the conference selected participants are provided with acommodation and lodging. There is NO FEE for admission to the conference. There are some funds available to cover participants' expenses. However, participants are encouraged to seek funding from their home institutions.
Deadline for submission of applications expired in December 2007 already.
Please download the program of the conference here.
You can find more information on the venue of the conference here
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