RN32 - Political Sociology
A new ESA political sociology section
http://www.europeansociology.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=147&Itemid=29
The ESA political sociology network is intended as a site for enduring
debate and exchange to measure the scale and scope of the ongoing
transformation of political order and authority in Europe and beyond.
The dynamics of political ordering and re-ordering are a classical
research field for comparative sociology. Over the last decades,
Europe has increasingly turned into an experimental field for the re-
structuring of political order. In particular European integration and
the consolidation of supranational authority have made it necessary to
re-address these classical themes of sociology. The establishment of a
political sociology section is therefore meant as an integrating
effort for evaluating the challenges to the Westphalian order of
nation-states but also for testing out the opportunities for the
consolidation of a new type of political order and its legitimacy.
This entails an explicit focus on the advancement of institutional and
organizational theory as well as on democratic theory that are
detached from their implicit or explicit nation-state foundations.
The new ESA political sociology research network will initially
articulate the following set of topics with specific attention to the
European dimension. They correspond to the main research interests of
the list of signatories of this document. They believe to be
representing the concerns of a wider sociological community based in a
variety of European countries and expressing a wide geographical
distribution.
Citizenship and Governance
This topic correspond to the interest of the set of scholars who write
on European citizenship, on comparative studies of citizenship, and
often relate them to issues of gender, migration and poverty.
Political Attitudes
This research cluster articulates the research concerns of scholars
working on class, voting behaviour, comparative research on European
welfare states and political values.
Political Communication
Scholars working in this field would like to propose discussion fora
in which comparative studies of the public sphere and European media
are examined.
States, Communities, Governance Structures and Political Institutions
This research cluster articulates the research interests of scholars
working on political institutions at different levels of governance,
their interactions and their modes of operation in specific public
policy domains. They also work on theories of the policy process.
Forms of Political Participation
This cluster of themes articulates research on forms of participation
and their change. It goes beyond research on social movements to also
encompass work on political parties, public interest associations and
more generally on party systems and their change. It also includes
work on party families such as parties of the extreme right and
related issues of racism and xenophobia.
The Promotion Committee
At present the initiative is spearheaded by a promotion committee
which consists of the following proponents:
• Carlo Ruzza – University of Leicester, UK
• Jens Rydgren – University of Stockholm, Sweden
• Hans Joerg Trenz – Arena, Oslo, Norway
• Giovanna Procacci – University of Milan, Italy
• Donatella Della Porta – EUI Florence – Italy
• Stefan Svallfors - Umeå University – Sweden
• Paolo Rosa – University of Trento – Italy
• Pieter Bevelander - Malmö University – Sweden
• Virginie Guiraudan – University of Lille, France
• Roberto Biorcio – University of Milan, Italy
• Barbara Misztal – University of Leicester, UK
• Juan Díez Medrano – University of Barcelona, Spain
• Ephraim Nimni – Queens University of Belfast, UK
• Paolo Crivellari - Université de Toulouse 3, France
• Yasemin Soysal – Essex University, UK
• Paul Statham – University of Bristol, UK
• Umberto Melotti – University of Rome, Italy
• Christian Lahusen – University of Siegen, Germany
• Adrian Favell - University of Åarhus, Danmark
• Kazimiera Wódz - University of Silesia, Poland
• Jacek Wódz - University of Silesia, Poland
• Zdzislav Mach, Jagiollonian University Krakov, Poland<!--[endif]-->
Contact e-mail: esapolsoc@???
Contact person: Prof. Carlo Ruzza, Dept. of Sociology, University of
Leicester, University Road,
Leicester LE1 7RH -- UK
