Aims This conference aims to bring together high-quality academic research on precisely this concern- the ways in which popular political processes ( a term we are deploying to refer to what has been variously called ‘subaltern politics’, ‘informal politics’, ‘micro-politics’ and ‘infra-politics’) interact with discourses, policies and practices of development. A common thread will be the ways in which these processes negotiate with neoliberal structures, the national and sub-national polity, participatory institutions, political parties and populist mobilization. The conference is specifically targeted towards doctoral students in the final stages of writing their thesis and post-doctoral scholars who have recently completed their dissertation. It is envisaged that the conference will provide the basis for continued intellectual collaboration and networking on core themes that emerge from the papers.

Conference questions
The Conference’s two thematic concerns are:
1). Popular politics and institutions; and
2). Popular politics and social and political movements.

Papers in Theme 1 will emphasize how institutions- both formal and informal- are interpenetrated and, indeed, constituted by the popular political processes. These papers will share the motivation of the daily-level political practices that make such institutions ‘legible’ to ordinary people (rather than making ordinary people legible to institutions). Possible topics could be: corruption in local government; the discursive construction of the poor through anti-poverty programs; perceptions of legitimacy and justice vis-a-vis non-state governance institutions; persuasion and coercion by political parties; and intra-household negotiation over developmental resources. Papers in Theme 2 will emphasize the negotiations between the popular political processes discussed above and supra-local political and social movements. These papers will be bound together through their interest in understanding how and why ordinary people participate in, or resist participation in, political and social movements. Indicative topics could be: romance of resistance among youth participants in armed ‘liberation’ movements; non-participation of the poor (or participation of the non-poor) in movements articulating claims of social justice; the discursive construction of identities and related claims to development resources; and claims of reason and unreason in political movements.

Across both these themes, the Conference intends to discuss the following substantive issues: How do participatory development, participatory governance and participatory democracy relate to one another, and with popular democracy and populist political practices? How do such practices articulate with liberal-democratic and authoritarian regimes? What are the prospects for institutional arrangements that arise out of such practices and politics, which may be neither ‘rational’ nor ‘reasonable’? Or is talking about such practices and politics merely anarchist utopia? By focusing on multiple pluralities and contesting hegemonies, do such actions subvert emancipatory politics as has sometimes been alleged, or do they contribute to the fulfillment of their agenda? Does the increasing concentration of capital and economic power make such localized, fragmentary political practices redundant? We are interested in papers that are based on original research in any part of the ‘developing’ world. This research could be qualitative or quantitative, present ethnographic or survey data, or use archival data (including analysis of newspapers). At the same time, papers are expected to interact with the relevant thematic and geographic literature.

Important dates for your diary:
The Conference is scheduled for June 27 & 28, 2011. Please submit your abstract to indrajit.roy@qeh.ox.ac.uk by March 2, 2011. Authors of shortlisted abstracts will be informed by March 15, 2011. Final papers are due by June 1, 2011. We are happy to be able to take care of the accommodation and meals of the paper-presenters for the two days of the Conference.

Papers presented at the Conference will be eligible to be considered for publication in a Special Issue of the Oxford Development Studies, subject to the standard procedures.