Scandinavian Politics: conference report

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.

Scandinavian Politics: Finnish govt, seminars, jobs, cash

Hej to all on the Scandinavian Politics list,

A few brief notices.


1. The new Finnish governing parties were announced yesterday. As expected, "Vanhanen II" is another surplus majority coalition. Also expected was that the Christian Democrats' eager office-seeking would not find favour with the prime minister, who prefered a little less ideological homogeneity in his cabinet in return for a broader base.

The Social Democrats were more or less content to go into opposition, where, apart from the Christians, they'll be joined by the Left Alliance and, on the other side of the spectrum, the True Finns.

The government thus looks like this:

Centre Party, 51 seats +
National Coalition, 50 +
Greens, 15 +
Swedish People's Party, 9 + 1 (Åland)
= 126 of 200 seats.

Portfolios still need to be decided.


2. Christine Agius of Salford University has sent me details of the following interesting-looking seminars at her place.

EUROPEAN STUDIES RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ESRI)
Centre for Contemporary History & Politics
Sponsored by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence

SEMINAR SERIES
Scandinavia, the EU, and Post-9/11 Challenges

Weds 18 April 2007 ‘Globalization and the Swedish Model of Welfare’
Anders Lindbom (University of Uppsala)
Room 106, Crescent House, 1pm

Weds 23 May 2007 ‘Islam, multiculturalism and Scandinavia: One year on from the Danish 'cartoon controversy'’
Ulla Holm (Danish Institute for International Studies)
Room 103, Crescent House, 12pm

ALL WELCOME. For further information please contact: Dr Chris Agius, Contemporary History & Politics (Tel: 0161 295 5309 or Email: C.Agius@salford.ac.uk).


3. Mary Hilson of UCL (ucmgmah@ucl.ac.uk, +44 20-7679 3184/7176) writes the following.

"Members of the list may be interested to hear about two new posts currently advertised at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies.

1) Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Reader in Baltic Politics
2) Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Reader in Finnish Studies

"More information about both posts is available at www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/academic.htm. Closing date is 1st May 2007."


4. Finally, money matters. I've been told that our group will receive £850 in basic subsidy this year. As always, I'm open to suggestions - seminars, workhops, etc - as to how this money could be spent. Let me have any ideas that you might have.


I hope to see some of you in Bath next week for the PSA conference. Have a good Easter.

Best,

Nick.
--
Dr Nicholas Aylott, senior lecturer (docent) in political science
School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University College
SE-141 89 Huddinge, Sweden
www.sh.se/statsvetenskap