CfP - PSA22 Annual Conference (deadline 4 October 2021)

Political Studies Association Annual International Conference 2022
University of York – 11-13 April 2022 - #PSA2022
Call for papers and panels of the Italian Politics Specialist Group - IPSG

Within the broader theme of ‘Politics at the margins’, the Italian Politics Specialist Group, in collaboration with the Italian Political Science Association’s Standing Groups on ‘Regional and Local Policies’ and ‘Political Science and Public Policies’, invites papers and panels that deal with the following topics and questions:

The economic and social effects of the Covid-19 pandemic – What has been the impact of Covid-19 on Italian polity and economic fabric? To what extent has this impact been differentiated territorially and among different groups of individuals? Which factors have played a role, e.g. pre-existing levels of GDP, social capital, labour market structure, institutional quality and administrative capacity, etc.?

Public policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic – What policies have been put in place to tackle the effects of the pandemic – economic, social, institutional - at different levels, for example to support firms and the young, to tackle poverty and the furthering of territorial disparities, to promote digitalisation and a reform of public administrations, etc.? What kind of bottlenecks might hamper the effectiveness of these policies?

The political consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic – What has been the impact of the pandemic on the Italian party system, e.g. coalition dynamics, polarisation, fragmentation? How have populist and/or non-populist actors framed their pandemic narratives? To what extent the Covid-19 has impacted the fortunes of political parties, and what explains the different trends? What is the role of experts and technocracy in today’s party politics?

Papers and panels are invited that address with these topics from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, including exploratory papers that utilise new research methods and techniques. Comparative panels and papers, that couch the Italian case within a comparative perspective, are particularly encouraged.

The PSA Italian Politics Specialist Group is strongly committed to equality and to the support of early career researchers. A balanced gender representation will be ensured in all panels, as well as a ring-fencing of places for ECRs and scholars from underrepresented groups.

Submitting through our Specialist Group provides with several benefits including a better within-panel coherence and a high quality of accepted submissions thanks to a thorough and constructive review process.

Individual papers as well as full panel proposals will be accepted to feature within the section. Proponents should send by October 4th 2021 the following to the Group’s co-convenors Laura Polverari (laura.polverari@unipd.it) and Mattia Zulianello (mattia.zulianello@dispes.units.it):

- For papers: Title; author(s) name(s) and institutional affiliation(s); 250 words abstract (max);
- For panels: 

• Panel title, chair and discussant(s), and brief description (200 words max) 
• Title, author(s) name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and abstract (250 words) of each paper included in the panel. 

For further information, contact: laura.polverari@unipd.it and/or mattia.zulianello@dispes.units.it.