CfP: Speaking Truth to Power, IPSA World Congress of Political Science, Madrid, July 2012

Call for Papers

Panel:

Speaking Truth to Power? The European Union, Global Institutions and the Changing International Power Structure

[International Relations Main Theme]

Panel Organizers:

DYNAMUS Project

Prof. Esther Barbé, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona/ IBEI

Dr. Benjamin Kienzle, IBEI, Barcelona

Panel Participants:

Prof. Esther Barbé (Chair);

Prof. Natividad Fernández (Co-Chair);

Prof. Adrian Hyde-Price (Discussant)

Conference:

22^nd World Congress of Political Science

“Reshaping Power, Shifting Boundaries”

July 8 to 12, 2012 - Madrid, Spain

Organized by the International Political Science Association

http://www.ipsa.org/events/congress/madrid2012

Deadline for paper proposals: 17 October 2011

In recent years, the European Union (EU) has suffered important setbacks in global institutions despite its alleged ability to act increasingly as a fairly coherent force on the world stage. In the United Nations Human Rights Council, for example, groups of developing countries often have been more successful in pushing through their agendas than the Member States of the Union. The COP15 negotiations on a successor agreement for the Kyoto climate protocol showed how the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) sidelined with the United States the EU completely in the final days of the conference. In the field of nuclear non-proliferation, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty – a cornerstone of common European efforts to strengthen the international non-proliferation order – is still not in force, because key actors such as India, China or the United States have not ratified it. What do these setbacks mean for the EU as an international actor? Do they show Europe’s declining clout in global institutions in favour of new players? Or do they simply manifest the EU’s inability to wield effectively its influence, when it deals with a changing international power structure?

In this panel we would like to explore these and related questions more in-depth. So far, analyses of the EU and the changing international power structure have often lacked a more explicit problematization of the relevant key concepts. In particular, the notions of power, international power structure and power shifts have not been conceptualized sufficiently in the context of the EU and global institutions. Moreover, the concrete processes and mechanisms that influence the EU’s (in)ability to be a successful actor in global institutions are still not understood satisfactorily. Therefore, this panel intends to address these shortcomings by advancing research in three specific areas: (1) What does “power” mean in the context of global institutions? Is it simply voting power or is it more complex comprising factors as different as legitimacy, diplomatic resources, e.g. expertise, or economic weight. (2) Taking into consideration different conceptualizations of “power”, how can we measure power shifts in global institutions? In how far can countries such as Brazil, Russia, India or China really match the European Union and its Member States? (3) Through which processes and mechanisms do changes in the international power structure affect the EU’s ability to wield influence in global institutions? Do emerging actors change the rules of the game based? Which role do new institutions such as the G-20 play?

We invite papers that address these and similar questions from different theoretical and conceptual perspectives and encourage in particular critical contributions. Furthermore, we seek empirical case studies covering a wide variety of global institutions (broadly defined) in order to gain a broad empirical base across a wide spectre of issues.

Please submit your paper proposals (1500 characters (approximately 250 words) max.) before 17 October 2011 directly to the IPSA website, where you can find more specific instructions:

http://www.ipsa.org/events/congress/madrid2012/submit-abstractpaper-proposal

Please send a copy of your paper proposal and a short bio to Ben Kienzle (bkienzle@ibei.org) by 31 October 2011. Like this, the panel organizers can link the selected papers directly to their panel.