Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts

2008-12-14

Scandinavian Politics: Iceland, Bergen summer school

Dear all on the Scandinavian Politics list,

Two very quick notices.

1. The Economist this week has a special briefing on Iceland's economic woes (www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12762027).

2. Beneath this message is a copy of a call for papers for the NordWel Summer School 2009, June 7th-12th 2009, in Bergen.

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

Please feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be interested. To join the Scandinavian Politics mailing list, send a message to me, the convenor (nicholas.aylott@sh.se). If you want to send something to the list, or if you don't want to receive these occasional messages, just let me know. See also www.psa.ac.uk/spgrp/scandinavia/



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Call for papers: NordWel Summer School 2009, 7-12 June 2009, Bergen
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:20:53 +0200
From: Anna Alanko

Dear recipients,

could you please forward the below message to suitable e-mail lists?
Thank you for your co-operation.

Best regards, Anna Alanko

**
CALL FOR PAPERS:

NordWel Summer School 2009:

"State, Society & Citizen - Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on Welfare
State Development"

Bergen, 7-12 June 2009

NCoE NordWel in cooperation with the Rokkan Centre, the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion and the
Department of Comparative Politics at University of Bergen is
organizing a summer school in Bergen, 7-12 June 2009.

We welcome Ph.D.-students and young researchers from different
backgrounds both within and outside the Nordic countries to
participate in discussing the history of the welfare state, its
preconditions and how we ought to study it.

We invite proposals for papers that deal with welfare and welfare
state in a broad historical perspective.

Please find the detailed call for papers attached or at the NordWel
home page http://blogs.helsinki.fi/nord-wel/summer-school/

PhD students and young researchers interested in participating in the
summer school should send an abstract (1/2 page) and a short biography
by email no later than 10 February 2009 to coordinator Anna Alanko
via e-mail: anna.alanko@helsinki.fi

With best regards,

Anna Alanko
Coordinator
NCoE NordWel
Nordic Centre of Excellence: The Nordic Welfare State - Historical
Foundations and Future Challenges

Dept. of Social Science History
P.O. Box 54 (Snellmaninkatu 14A)
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki

Tel +358 (0)9 191 249 58
Fax +358 (0)9 191 249 42
E-mail anna.alanko@helsinki.fi
Www: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/nord-wel/
NordWel_summerschool_ Call for papers 2009.doc

2008-11-20

Scandinavian Politics

Hej to all on the Scandinavian politics list,

Various notices.


1. PSA CONFERENCE, April 2009 (www.psa.ac.uk/2009). There may be room for just one more paper on our panel. Let me know sharpish if you're keen.


Here are some additional items that might be of interest.


2. LONDON EVENTS (courtesy of Mary Hilson)

Book launch: Helsinki Catch - European Security Accords 1975

The book deals with the CSCE process (Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, later OSCE) from the Finnish perspective and covers the period of CSCE's early phases, including the negotiation of the so-called Helsinki Accords up to the end of the Cold War and the transformation of Europe. The author is one of Finland's most renowned CSCE experts, Ambassador Markku Reimaa, who participated in the Conference throughout its various phases and led the Finnish delegation at the Stockholm Conference on Confidence and Security-building Measures and Disarmament in Europe.

The seminar will take place at UCL, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, Room 433, 16 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW (for maps and directions please see www.ucl.ac.uk/maps). The event is organised by the Finnish Embassy, and will be followed by a reception to which all attending the seminar are invited. If you would like to attend, or if you would like further details, please contact Ms Anna-Leena Raittinen at the Embassy of Finland on 020 7838 6237 or anna-leena.raittinen@formin.fi. RSVP by Friday 21 November.

PS: Don't forget the UCL Nordic-Baltic Study Day on 28th November (www.ucl.ac.uk/~tjmsrcm/NBRG/NBRGHomepage.htm). All are welcome, but places are limited (due to the size of the room) so please let me know (m.hilson@ucl.ac.uk) as soon as possible if you would like to attend.


3. SCHOLARSHIPS AND STIPENDIUMS FROM MANCHESTER

The Democracy, Citizens and Elections Research Network (DCERN) at the University of Manchester (www.dcern.org.uk) would like to publicise upcoming opportunities for visiting research positions/fellowships at Manchester. Schemes are open to international and domestic doctoral students and those holding their PhD and vary from one month up to three years. For further information see:

* University of Manchester Simon and Hallsworth Fellowships for early-career scholars in social sciences and political economy to conduct a programme of research at the University of Manchester. www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/research/simonhallsworth/
Deadline Jan 2009
* University of Manchester Simon and Hallsworth Visiting Professorships to enable established researchers to come to Manchester for a period of 2 - 12 weeks to work with colleagues. Applications due in Jan 2009. Further details available from dcern@manchester.ac.uk .
* Newton fellowship scheme - aims to attract the best postdoctoral researchers to the UK for up to two years. They cover a range of disciplines, including the social sciences. Applications for October 2009 are now open. You can find out more at
www.newtonfellowships.org/
* The British Academy visiting fellowship scheme enabling early-career scholars to attend a UK institution for 2-6 months (deadline 12 Jan):
www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/intl/visfells.cfm

Please email dcern@manchester.ac.uk for further details on this or any of the above opportunities.


4. CALL FOR PAPERS: Annual European Graduate Conference on Political Parties (AEGCPP - www.aegcpp.org.uk), Monday 16th February 2009 at the University of Birmingham.


Best,

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

2008-10-16

Scandinavian Politics: mobility fellowships, Nordic politics latest

Dear all on the Scandinavian Politics list,

Five brief notices.


1. We still have places for one or two papers in the panel proposal submitted to the organisers of the PSA CONFERENCE in Manchester next April (www.psa.ac.uk/2009). Do let me know if your interested.


2. A communication on POSTDCOC MOBILITY from Helsinki University.

-----
The Nordic Centre of Excellence: The Nordic Welfare State - Historical Foundations and Future Challenges (NordWel) announces mobility fellowships for postdoctoral researchers working within the research themes of the Centre.

The mobility fellowship covers a 2 - 12 months visit in one of the institutions participating in the Centre in the time period between 1 July 2009 - 31 December 2010 (please see the attachment for details).

For more information see NordWel's web site: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/nord-wel/

Call for Applications as attachments.
-----


3. No one will have failed to notice that the BANKS CRISIS spread devastatingly into Europe last week. I won't comment on the collapse of Iceland's three main banks, except to refer you to a nice, concise article in this week's Economist (www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12382011); and to speculate gloomily that, with those banks' debts apparently amounting to nine times Iceland's GDP, some very lean years are surely in store for the country.

Rumours persist that Swedish banks' exposure to the collapsed property-bubble in the Baltic states could yet land at least one of them in severe difficulty - although, interestingly, there has also been criticism that such rumours haven't been investigated more energetically by Sweden's economics journalists.


4. Danish party politics displays yet more instability, this time affecting the Social Liberals (insightfully chronicled, as usual, by Jacob Christensen, http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/10/14/amnitzb%c3%b8ll/). But it's Sweden where the fun has really been occurring recently.

Amind the financial crisis, some eyebrows were raised at the timing of a press conference on Wednesday October 8th, at which the Social Democrats and the Greens announced an alliance between them, with the goal of forming a full coalition government after the next election. Even odder, perhaps, was that this alliance was given a specific shelf-life - until 2020, to be precise. But the main talking point was the clear statement that the Left Party, the third member of the quasi-coalition of 1998-2006, was to be exluded from the alliance. This was because of the Left's refusal to be bound to the fairly stringent fiscal norms that all the other parties accept - a radical position that might be an electoral liability for office-seeking parties that were associated with it.

The reaction of the Left was predictably angry: its leaders repeated their pledge to vote against any government that excludes them, including a coalition of Greens and Social Democrats. But what the Social Democratic leader, Mona Sahlin, appears to have "totally misjudged" (to quote a Swedish political columnist) was the subsequent reaction from within her own party. From all quarters of the labour movement came furious protests that it was too soon to marginalise the Left.

Within a couple of days, and to the Greens' obvious frustration, Sahlin had backtracked. The government issue remained open, she said, and talks with the Left would continue. A year and half after becoming party leader, Sahlin's authority has been powerfully weakened. There are also serious doubts now about her cautious, ongoing attempts to nudge the Social Democrats towards the political midfield. And Swedish voters are little the wiser about how the three left-of-centre parties will present themselves in opposition to the governing Alliance for Sweden (whose four leaders have pledged to deepen their parties' co-operation) in 2010.


5. For anyone who's noticed a certain stagnation in our group's website, there are technical problems that I'm trying to resolve with the PSA webmaster.

Best,

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

2008-05-29

Fwd: Call for Applications: Mobility fellowships for PhD Students and Postdoctoral Researchers]

Dear all on the Scandinavian Politics list,

The following announcement may be of interest to some on the list.

Otherwise, I hope that everyone is easing themselves into summer mode, whatever that mode actually involves for each of you!

Best,

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

Please feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be interested. To join the Scandinavian Politics mailing list, send a message to me, the convenor (nicholas.aylott@sh.se). If you want to send something to the list, or if you don't want to receive these occasional messages, just let me know. See also www.psa.ac.uk/spgrp/scandinavia/


-------- Ursprungligt meddelande --------
Ämne: Fwd: Call for Applications: Mobility fellowships for PhD Students and Postdoctoral Researchers
Datum: Tue, 27 May 2008 20:54:59 +0300
Från: Heidi Haggrén
Till: k.charles@ucl.ac.uk,francesca.parenti@iue.it,"Nicholas Aylott" ,schulte@werknetz.com,info@espanet.org,henvendelser@fosam.uio.no,hiscj@hum.au.dk,sekretariatet@nsuweb.net,anewby@STAFFMAIL.ED.AC.UK

Please circulate this Call for papers to all potentially interested.

Best wishes,
Heidi Haggrén

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

CALL FOR PAPERS

NordWel mobility fellowships

The Nordic Centre of Excellence: The Nordic Welfare State ? Historical
Foundations and Future Challenges (NordWel) announces mobility fellowships for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers working within the research themes of the Centre. The mobility fellowship covers a visit in one of the institutions participating in the Centre.

For more information see Call for Applications:
http://blogs.helsinki.fi/nord-wel/mobility/mobility-fellowships/call-for-applications/.

The deadline for applications is 16 June 2008 by 3:45 pm.

--
Heidi Haggrén, M.Soc.Sc.
Coordinator
NCoE NordWel
Nordic Centre of Excellence: The Nordic Welfare State - Historical
Foundations and Future Challenges

Dept. of Social Science History
P.O. Box 54 (Snellmaninkatu 14A)
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki

Tel +358 (0)9 191 249 58
Fax +358 (0)9 191 249 42
E-mail heidi.haggren@helsinki.fi
Www: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/nord-wel/

CfP_NordWel-fellowships_post-doc-researchers.doc

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2007-10-20

Scandinavian History

Dear all on the Scandinavian Politics list,

This message about a Discussion List in Scandinavian History might
well be of interest to some of us. Thanks to Christine Agius of
Salford University for passing it on.

Best,

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

Please feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be
interested. To join the Scandinavian Politics mailing list, send a
message to me, the convenor (nicholas.aylott@sh.se). If you want to
send something to the list, or if you don't want to receive these
occasional messages, just let me know. See also
www.psa.ac.uk/spgrp/scandinavia/

----------

From: Andrew Newby [mailto:anewby@staffmail.ed.ac.uk]
Sent: Tue 16-Oct-07 13:38
Subject: H-SKAND Discussion List in Scandinavian History

Dear potential H-SKAND subscriber,

As you may be aware, a new editorial team has recently taken over
H-SKAND from Matthew Gilmore, who served as list editor (and ensured
the very survival of the list) for a number of years. We are:

Katarina Andersson (Halmstad College)
Andrew G. Newby (University of Edinburgh)
Erik Thomson (University of Chicago)

We are writing to you in the hope that you would consider signing up
to the H-SKAND discussion network, as we believe that a network of
this type can only be successful with the widest possible membership.
You have been approached because (i) we (the editors) know you
personally; (ii) because a colleague has suggested your name as
someone who might be interested in H-SKAND, or (iii) because you are
on the existing membership / subscription list but with an outdated
email address.

We would be extremely grateful if you could also forward this message
to anyone you know who may be interested.

In order to subscribe, please email any of the above editors, or enter
the website directly at: http://www.h-net.org/~skand/

In recent months, we have made an attempt to "renew" H-SKAND, but
publishing reviews, calls for papers and other information which is of
relevance to scholars of the Nordic countries worldwide.

As a part of this renewal process, we hope to achieve various goals,
and would like to take this opportunity to set out what we consider to
be some of the most important aims of H-SKAND.

H-SKAND should be a forum for discussion and debate about the Nordic
region and its people, in the broadest sense (including the Nordic
Diaspora). This means individual states / regions / self-governing
areas, as well as holistic treatments of "Norden" as a single entity.
H-SKAND, although described as a board for "Scandinavian History",
should be treated as inter- and multi-disciplinary. Thus, all topics
of academic interest, including (but certainly not limited to)
literature, archaeology, art history, and music history relating to
the region will be considered for publication. We would also like to
state at this point that we welcome the
participation of archivists, librarians, local historians and other
scholars who do not have an affiliation with a particular college or
university.

As with all other H-NET sites, discussion is supplemented by notices
of books, publications, dissertations in progress, conferences and
seminars, prizes and other news of relevance to the community. We
particularly encourage scholars to contribute with such information,
so the list may come to serve as a central clearing house for
information about scholarship on the Nordic region.

We highlight the following as especially useful in developing H-SKAND
as a vibrant forum for the global "Nordic" community:

-Funding opportunities: from individual Nordic states / regions,
pan-Nordic, circumpolar, etc. etc. Again the brief is very broad:
anything from PhD studentships to visiting professorships, bilateral
arrangements, visits from the Nordic countries to "overseas", or
vice-versa.

-Conference Calls: it is great to see who is working on what around
the world, even if we don't get the chance to see the papers "live" or
speak at a given conference. We would also encourage members to
highlight papers that they have seen, relevant to H-SKAND, at
conferences we may have missed (for example, because the conference
was not strictly relating to "Norden".) We would also hope to publish
notices of one-off seminars, or seminar series, dealing with relevant
topics.

-Journal Papers: Similarly, we have been given the contents of some
Scandinavian History Journals, but what about individual articles on
the region in other journals - colleagues could submit their
sightings.

-We hope to see discussion / debate on our own research, getting
(hopefully constructive) feedback from peers. H-SKAND could help
hugely in this area, suggesting readings, and commenting on the
viability of a project.

H-SKAND contributors may use any of the Nordic languages for their
postings, or indeed any other relevant language. Although we recognise
that English is often used as an international language, this is not
always the case, and contributors should feel free to use the language
they feel most appropriate to their message.

For your information, the following leads to a list of posts which
appeared on H-SKAND during the month of September 2007.

http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl"trx=lx&list=H-Skand&user=&pw=&month=0709

As you will observe, there is plenty of information, but provided by a
handful of people. A larger number of subscribers would assist in
developing international dialogues, as well as increasing the "basic"
information flow.

We look forward to hearing from you,

With best wishes,

Katarina, Andrew, Erik H-SKAND Editors

2007-06-29

Scandinavian Politics: 2008 PSA conference, other research matters

Hej to all on the Scandinavian politics list,

A couple of quick messages about future events.


1. The call for panel proposals at next year's PSA conference has already been issued. This conference, which will apparently be the last with the traditional campus-based format, will be at Swansea University on April 1st-3rd 2008 (www.psa.ac.uk/2008/call.htm).

My own scope to attend this conference might be rather limited. But that shouldn't stop other members of the list applying to convene panels - and it won't stop me co-ordinating our efforts. Indeed, the conference's academic convenor (who, incidentally, I know to be a sound bloke) wants "to emphasise the importance I attach to the role of specialist groups in helping to compose the programme...In the call for papers I have also encouraged scholars to consult you if they need assistance in composing coherent panels that are in the general research area covered by your specialist group."

Our panel at the PSA conference last April worked rather well. They can be an excellent way to get feedback on a draft or to report more advanced findings. Do let me have any ideas that you might have.

As usual, a small amount of money (up to a £150 or so) can be made available by the group to help with postgraduate students' conference costs.


2. My own involvement in the joint research ideas that we discussed very preliminarily at the conference in April will, unfortunately, have to be shelved. Unexpectedly securing project money is always nice. The downside, of course, is that it inevitably crowds out other plans. But if others on our list would like to initiate some form of collaboration, perhaps on the lines that we discussed or on something quite different, that would be great.

One immediate option (the deadline is as soon as August 15th) is the money provided for "exploratory workshops" by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences. The link can be found (via a Danish research site) here:

http://fist.dk/site/forside/soeg-stoette/opslag-stoettemuligheder/2007/stoette-til-eksplorative-workshops-fra-nos-hs

Remember, too, that our group has a few hundred pounds available for financing small research-related events. I've received a few expressions of interest, but other ideas for how we might use this money are more than welcome.


Meanwhile, have a great summer.

Best,

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

2007-05-12

Scandinavian Politics: new Danish party

To all on the Scandinavian Politics mailing list,

Here are three notices - about developments in Danish party politics, news of an interesting-sounding research network, and a report of a recent research workshop.


1. A NEW PARTY has been launched in Denmark. Flemming Juul Christiansen of the University of Aarhus has kindly contributed this report.

----------
A new centre party, New Alliance (nyalliance.dk) was formed on Monday by Danish MP Naser Khader, who broke with the Social Liberal Party. Khader was designated as party leader. With him at his press conference were his two co-founders, MEPs Anders Samuelsen and Gitte Seeberg, who used to be a Social Liberal and a Conservative, respectively.

The break came after disagreement between Khader and the party leader, Marianne Jelved, over the strategy and policies of the Social Liberals. Khader became an MP in 2001. He soon showed his skills with the press but rose to fame during the "cartoon crisis" last year. Born in Syria, he sided with the views of the government on freedom of speech. He founded the organisation Democratic Muslims, which stressed the integration of immigrants into democracy and liberal values. Polls showed that he was very popular with the public. Other parts of the Social Liberal Party advocated less critical stances. In addition, Khader has argued in favour of co-operation with the Liberal-Conservative government instead of strict opposition.

Samuelsen is also known for liberal points of view. Seeberg has been critical of the government's co-operation with the Danish People's Party. A number of leading businessmen support the new party.

New Alliance states that it seeks to build compromises across the blocs in Danish politics. It wants to limit the influence of the Danish People's Party. It favours tax reform. It is pro-European. Finally, it favours strict immigration policies - stricter than those that applied before the present government constellation was formed in 2001, but less strict than the current ones.

Now the party needs around 20,000 signatures to get on the ballot. During its first day, the party apparently attracted over 1,000 members.

The Social Liberals have avoided party splits since the beginning of the 1960s (the Peace Policy Party failed to win representation in 1964). New Alliance may shake up the Danish party system, which has been static since the 2001 election. It may take voters from the present government and the Social Liberals.
----------


2. I've been contacted by Joachim Koops from the Department of Political Science, University of Kiel, Germany. He's alerted me to a newly formed research grouping, NETWORK NORTHERN EUROPE, based at Kiel. An English version of their website (www.politik.uni-kiel.de/nne/) is promised soon. This certainly looks like a very interesting development.


3. Lee Miles of Liverpool University has sent me the following report of a WORKSHOP that was held in April, which our Scandinavian Politics Specialist Groups helped to fund.

----------
EMINENT ACADEMICS AND POLICY-MAKERS DEBATE FUSION IN LIVERPOOL

On April 26th the FUSE-EUROPA programme, based in the Europe in the World Centre (EWC) at the University of Liverpool, hosted a prestigious international workshop that brought together prominent academics from eight countries, as well as policy-makers representing Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the UK and the European Parliament, to examine comparatively the complex relationship between the EU and the Nordic countries. This workshop was highly distinctive in that it provided a useful opportunity not only for the researchers working on fusion approaches to introduce new thinking and fresh concepts on fusion to a broader audience, but also to enable policy-makers to respond directly and inform about their ongoing research. The workshop fostered independent assessments of the utility of the fusion approaches for explaining the priorities and behaviour of Nordic policy-makers and how such policy-makers value their country's relationship with the European Union. The workshop attracted an audience of over 30 for each session.

In the first session, Professor Lee Miles (Jean Monnet Professor, EWC Director and leader of the FUSE-EUROPA research programme) delivered a paper discussing the functional utility of fusion approaches to the study of Nordic policy-making, which was followed by two interventions by Professor Clive Archer (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Magnus Lindh (Karlstad University, Sweden). The paper by Lee Miles was warmly received and a vibrant debate that lasted for over an hour ensued. The second and third sessions then provided opportunities to relate fusion concepts to the particular policy-making attitudes in the respective Nordic countries. Dr Teija Tiilikainen (Helsinki University) gave a highly stimulating talk on the successful integration of Finnish policy-makers into the workings of the EU. This was followed by a co-written paper by Professor Lee Miles (author of Fusing in Europe? Sweden in the European Union), Professor Rutger Lindahl and Dr Daniel Naurin (both Göteborg University, Sweden) that examined the Swedish case, arguing that Swedish policy-makers are in fact 'selective supranationalists', and not as commonly presented, 'ardent intergovernmentalists'.

Attention then turned to Norway and Iceland and participants explored whether fusion approaches could have relevance in evaluating policy-makers' behaviour in non-EU states. In a session chaired by Stewart Arnold (advisor to Diana Wallis MEP), Professor Baldur Thorhallsson (University of Iceland), who is widely acknowledged as Iceland's leading expert on Iceland-EU relations, reviewed the priorities and participation of Icelandic policy-makers in the European Economic Area. This was accompanied by a paper by Professor Jarle Trondal (Agder University College, Norway), who argued that Norwegian policy-making now represented a form of 'differentiated fusion'. The final session also included a review of the day's proceedings, and the process of national adaptation using fusion, by Dr Andreas Maurer, an award-winning academic from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin and co-editor of Fifteen into One?, one of the leading academic works using fusion approaches. The proceedings and papers of this highly successful workshop will form the basis of a new edited volume, to be published in 2008.
----------


Best,

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

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