There is still time to send an abstract to the sections of the Annual Conference of the Finnish Political Science Association! The Conference takes place in the University of Turku, March 8-9, 2012 with the theme Explanation and Causality in Political Science Research.

On Thursday March 8, the Conference begins with a keynote speech by Richard Ned Lebow on "A Constructivist Approach to Causation". The sections will convene on Thursday afternoon and on Friday. On Friday, there will be a debate on the quality classification of scientific publication channels, with Ilkka Niiniluoto and Heikki Patomäki as debaters.

Sections:
* Political theory and philosophy (full!) / Mika Ojakangas (mika.m.a.ojakangas@jyu.fi)
* Institutions and political economy / Hannu Nurmi (hnurmi@utu.fi)
* Equality, minorities and multiculturalism / Anne Holli (anne.holli@helsinki.fi)
* Democracy, elections and voting / Heikki Paloheimo (heikki.paloheimo@uta.fi)
* Parties, organisations and civil society / Rauli Mickelsson and Mikko Lahtinen (rauli.mickelsson@uta.fi, mikko.i.lahtinen@uta.fi)
* Politics and media / Erkka Railo (erkka.railo@utu.fi)
* Global problems and security / Juha Vuori (juhvuo@utu.fi)
* Regionalisation and integration / Henri Vogt (henri.vogt@utu.fi)
* Foreign policy and diplomacy / Hiski Haukkala (hiski.haukkala@uta.fi)

The papers – in Finnish, Swedish or English – can be also in the form of a research plan or an idea paper. We hope that the papers and other presentations would be methodologically diverse. For example, the gender perspective and comparative approach could be represented in several sections. Please cc all abstracts to amkark@utu.fi.

Participation to the Conference is free for FPSA members and BA and MA students. Members and associate members of the Politu, the National Graduate School of Political Studies, can also apply for a Politu travel grant.

For additional information, please see the Conference website http://www.soc.utu.fi/sivustot/ptp2012/en/.