Call for Abstracts

Workshop 9: The Role of Transnational Experts in European Integration: Recharging the Debate

The workshop seeks to contribute to the understanding of the politics of expertise in EU agenda setting, policy-making processes and governance, in particular with regard to transnational expert communities. It provides a platform for discussion on the various roles experts and expert knowledge play in the EU integration trajectory, cutting through diverse policy fields and political agencies. The issue of transnational private expert knowledge and the multi-faceted roles expert play in the policy process constitute a crucial point of debate for European Integration scholars. The transnational character of these expert committees or groups, most notably their interlinkages with global policy networks and their shared cognitive and value schemes, render them an important instance of political agency in the EU.

The workshop invites researchers working on topics linked to the politics of expertise in EU policy making and governance. It seeks to engage scholars from a variety of sub-disciplines (such as European Union studies with a focus on regulatory governance, international relations, comparative politics, political sociology, critical political economy, political psychology), who have conducted in-depth empirical research on this topic. Papers combining empirical research on the politics of expertise with a thorough theoretical perspective are most welcome, as well as papers dealing with methodological issues.

The following research issues would seem particularly relevant to the workshop:

1. Empirically: Case studies of expert committees on the EU and/or Member State level;
2. Methodologically: Research methodologies and issues in qualitative research (e.g. network analysis, expert interviews, discourse analysis, etc);
3. Theoretically: Ontological and epistemological questions on how we should/can understand the role of expert knowledge, and how to conceptualise the role of expert actors;
4. Normatively: Considerations about implications of the politics of expertise on democratic legitimacy and accountability, and more generally, on modes of governance in the EU.

Prospective participants should contact the directors of the workshop, bearing in mind that they will be expected to present a paper and should, therefore, be conducting advanced research in that particular area.

DEADLINE for submission of abstracts: 1 December 2008.

An application to participate should include an abstract of the proposed paper, with an explanation as to how this will fit into the general theme of the workshop. Participants are expected to contribute fully to one workshop for the whole period of the Joint Sessions. They should not, therefore, apply to more than one workshop.

For more details on the workshop, please visit: http://www.ecpr.org.uk/lisbon/documents/ws9_000.pdf

Please do not hesitate to contact the workshop directors if you have any questions.

We are looking forward to receive your paper proposal.

The workshop directors:

Angela Wigger (Radboud University Nijmegen)

Hubert Buch-Hansen (Copenhagen Business School)

Contact details Angela Wigger:

Department of Political Science
Radboud University Nijmegen
Thomas van Aquinostraat 5.1.34
PO.Box 9108
6500 HK Nijmegen
Tel.: 31(0) 24 3611978
Fax: 31(0) 24 3612379
a.wigger@fm.ru.nl