Second Annual Georgia State University
Political Science Graduate Research Conference

The Department of Political Science at Georgia State University is seeking submissions for a conference on political institutions and governance, which will be on held Thursday, March 4th, 2009.

Political institutions play a critical role in our attempts to overcome collective action problems, both domestically and internationally. In the framework of domestic politics, political institutions can work to serve, oppress, or neglect people. On the international stage, they can provide a useful tool for interstate cooperation to either maintain the status quo or alter the current order. Challenged by wars, stagnation, economic shocks, or crises of legitimacy, political institutions are inevitably questioned and face challenges. Both scholars and practitioners hold the responsibility to accurately describe how political institutions function and to suggest how they can be improved.

The goal of this conference is to bring together graduate students active in the fields related to the study of political institutions to promote dialogue and scholarly exchange both within and across subfields of political science, examining the purpose and function of political institutions as well as their potential limitations. We encourage graduate students to submit proposals of their research from the fields of international relations, comparative politics, American politics, regional studies, public policy, public choice and political theory.

In addition, the best papers presented at the conference will be chosen to participate in a special issue of Political Perspectives, a peer-reviewed electronic journal for postgraduate research in political studies edited by postgraduate students at the University of Manchester. This is an excellent chance to not only gain experience presenting your work and receiving feedback, but also for potential publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Interested students should submit abstracts by December 11th to be considered for participation.

Abstracts should be no more than 300 words and must include the paper title and the academic affiliation of the participant (university/program). Please submit proposals as a Word document.

Please send submissions to Daniel Kuthy at dkuthy1@gsu.edu.

Do not miss this opportunity to engage in a fruitful academic exchange. We are looking forward to a successful and productive conference.