Dear all on the Scandinavian Politics list,
I have placed the group's annual report on its website, in the newsletters section.
I can also briefly report on our group's activity at the PSA conference last week.
1. Our panel, entitled Changing Dynamics in Nordic Party Politics, went very well, with all four papers drawing useful comment and feedback. The papers are available at the conference website, which can be found via the PSA's site (www.psa.ac.uk).
2. The following points can serve as minutes from the group's administrative meeting, which was quite well attended.
(a) The group's panels at the PSA conferences. I reported on the highly unsatisfactory dealings that I had with the academic convenor prior to this year's conference (which I won't bore people with here, and which with luck won't be repeated in future). It was generally agreed that it is worth applying for two panels, as we did (unsuccessfully) this year.
The theme and format of these panels was also raised. Ideally, we'd have at least one panel devoted to a broader project, with the ultimate aim of some sort of publication. Most of those at the meeting had an interest in party politics, which made that a natural focus for such a project; but there could well be others. Of course, the content of these panels will depend largely on individuals' availability and interest in a given year.
This, in turn, will largely determine procedure. Because most present at this year's panel had read the papers beforehand, we could easily have done away with paper presentations altogether and devoted the whole 90 minutes to questions and comment. Alternatively, fewer papers in each of two panels would allow for proper presentations. A third variant would be to have brief paper summaries given not by the paper author but by the discussant. Each of these scenarios might be considered for future conferences.
(b) Finance. I reported that the group's existing funds had been used up by the donation of £750 to Lee Miles's workshop the Nordic States and the EU this month (see the group's website for details) and £150 to a postgraduate's conference expenses. The availability of both types of funding had previously been announced via our newsletter.
I could also report that, thanks to this activity, the PSA had granted us £850 basic subsidy for the new financial year. I am open to all suggestions as to how this money could be spent. One plan already on the table has been formulated by Mary Hilson of UCL. Her idea has been submitted to the PSA's new competition for funding individual specialist-group-related events. Unfortunately, this application was unsuccessful, so some - but not all - of the basic subsidy will probably be allocated to this project. There is no deadline for sending ideas for workshops, seminars, etc to me. Unless there is good reason for doing otherwise, first come will probably be first served. Additional sources of funding for such events were also mooted.
(c) The group's website was also briefly discussed. It was suggested that some of the group's money could be invested in it, but my own feeling is that this would eat up too much of our meagre resources too quickly. Still, there are ways in which could be improved that don't require much time and money. If anyone has more such ideas, do let me have them.
Best,
Nick Aylott.
