Those of you who made it to warm and sunny Leicester the week before last will know that the Scandinavianist contribution to the annual PSA conference was really rather successful.
We had two panels. In the first, I went on about parties and unions, and Christine Agius managed an interesting presentation on progressive politics in Sweden, despite computer collapse in the week before the conference. In the second panel, Annika Bergman talked about the Nordic states' "adjacent internationalism", and John Madeley and Nick Sitter discussed the striking variation in Nordic Christian parties' attitudes to the EU. Both sets of papers provoked excellent discussions.
Special thanks go to Marcin Zaborowski, who, as chair and then discussant in the panels, contributed very usefully from a comparativist but non-Scandinavianist perspective.
We also managed a brief annual meeting of the group. It was agreed to plan a research meeting, probably a one-day workshop or seminar, that would cover a particular theme. Various possibilities were mentioned, but an especially interesting possibility was something on the Nordic states and multiculturalism, which could cover a variety of topics (EU, radical-right parties, anti-modernism, etc). As for our workshop in April 2002, London would probably be the best venue: it's easy to get to, and the chance to make a weekend of it in the capital increases an event's pulling-power, especially for anyone coming from abroad. Holding a joint event with the Nordic History Group, as we did last year, might allow use of University College London facilities again.
As for timing, the Easter 2004 break, or possibly the window around June (after teaching, before exams), were mentioned.
Under the PSA's new schemes for funding specialist groups, money may be available (a) specifically to support a workshop or conference, and (b) to import a high-profile participant. The deadlines have already passed for all these schemes, but that is not a disaster. I will see if any money is still available this year for general activities, and an early and well-planned application before next year's deadline should stand a good chance of bringing in the necessary cash in plenty of time for an event in either April or June. I have always found the PSA executive very keen to help fund this sort of activity by its specialist groups.
Several people expressed interest in organising it. Can volunteers please let me have their more concrete ideas – where, when, what, who, how much – as soon as possible, and certainly by the end of term? I'll be happy to help as much as I can.
As ever, please forward this message to anyone you think might be interested.
Best,
Nick Aylott.
