CALL FOR PAPERS : Rethinking Revolutions
London School of Economics, London
26 May 2017
Deadline : 1 December 2016
Over the past twenty years, the study of revolution has lost the centrality it
once enjoyed. Yet the study of revolutions has never been so important: in
thinking through the aftermath of the Arab uprisings, exploring the ideology
of
ISIS and other Islamist groups, understanding self-proclaimed revolutionary
movements in the West, and interpreting the experience of states that continue
to see themselves as revolutionary, such as China, Iran, and Cuba. The study
of
revolution needs to catch up with the actual experience of revolutionary
movements and states.
One barrier to this endeavor is the fracturing of the study of revolutions
into
different disciplines and sub-fields. This workshop seeks to bring together
scholars and students working on revolutions from different disciplinary
backgrounds (e.g. Sociology, International Relations, History, and Political
Science), sub-fields (e.g. social movements, civil resistance, political
violence), and perspectives (e.g. structural and strategic, quantitative and
qualitative, constructivist and rationalist) in order to see whether this
barrier can be transformed into an opportunity. The aim is to get together a
group of people who work on revolutions from different perspectives in order
to help advance the next generation of revolutionary studies.
The workshop is aimed at junior scholars, i.e. current PhD students or those
who are within 5 years of the receipt of their doctorate. Thanks to generous
funding from the International Relations Department at LSE, travel expenses
will be met (up to £500), alongside 2 nights of accommodation in London (up to
£250), and all catering costs. Participants will have their papers discussed
by an established academic. Confirmed participants include Mlada Bukovansky
(Smith College), Erica Chenoweth (University of Denver), Sharon Erickson
Nepstad (University of New Mexico), and Colin Beck (Pomona College). There may
also be an opportunity to publish some of the papers in an edited volume or
special issue.
Those interested in attending the workshop should send an abstract (c. 250
words) of their proposed paper to George Lawson (g.lawson@lse.ac.uk ) and
Daniel Ritter (daniel.ritter@sociology.su.se ) by 1st December 2016. Please
note that the maximum number of participants at the workshop is 12. Full
papers
are due by 1st May.
