In our end-of-year newsletter, we look back at the ECPR General Conference in Wrocław, make a few announcements, and send virtual high fives to all of you who made 2019 a meaningful year for the democratic innovations community.
Stay tuned for more updates about the Standing Group’s activities in 2020. We wish you all a lovely holiday break.
Sofie Marien and Nicole Curato
Co-Chairs
Standing Group on Democratic Innovations
Thanks to section co-conveners Edana Beauvais (Harvard) and Matt Ryan (Southampton), we had our largest Democratic Innovations section this year in Wroclaw. We had 19 panels and 95 paper presenters covering a range of topics from the role of citizens in plebiscites to future-oriented democratic innovations.
This year’s featured panel was entitled ‘Facing the Spectre of Populism: Innovations for Enhancing Recursive Representation.’ Jane Mansbridge (Harvard), James Fishkin (Stanford), Graham Smith (Westminster) and Sophie Devillers (Louvain) presented in this panel. Thank you to our friends from Participedia for making this panel happen.
Since 2018, our Standing Group actively encouraged panel co-chairs to convene panels that foster conversations across different methodological and theoretical traditions. We have a ‘no manel policy.’ We hope to continue these traditions in the years to come.
Cheers to all chairs, paper presenters, discussants and the hyperactive #deminno (and #demoinno) community on Twitter.
Women in Democratic Innovations was the theme of our Standing Group’s inaugural reception. Our guest of honour was no less than the former President of the American Political Science Association, Professor Jane Mansbridge. Watch Jenny’s speech
here.
This reception was co-hosted by Participedia and the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra.
Section co-chairs Edana Beauvais and Matt Ryan chaired the selection committee.
The Democratic Innovations section has now been approved by ECPR and the ECPR website is now open for submission of both full panel proposals and individual paper proposals. Visit the
ECPR website, click on the right hand side-bar for the ‘propose a panel’ or ‘propose a paper’ link.
You have until midnight of 18 February to submit your proposal through the ECPR website. We will publicise a list of open panels on the Democratic Innovations website and through relevant mailing lists. Each proposed panel will have at least one paper slot free.
Unfortunately, ECPR is being more restrictive with its panel allocations than in previous years, so it is likely that we will have fewer panels than in 2018 and 2019. Therefore, it is important that you try to make your panel and paper proposals as strong as possible. The stronger the panel proposals received, the stronger our case for pushing for additional panels!
We would also prefer if research groups refrained from submitting multiples of co-authored papers unless more than one author will attend.
If you have any questions, then of course do not hesitate to ask section co-chairs Rikki Dean (Goethe University Frankfurt) or Jane Suiter (Dublin City University). We look forward to receiving your proposals!
ECPR Joint Session in Toulouse
Andrea Felicetti (KU Leuven) and Selen Ercan (University of Canberra) are convening the ECPR 2020 Joint Sessions workshop “Innovation and Power: Exploring Democratic Innovation and its Main Actors”. The workshop will take place in Toulouse, France, on 14-17 April 2020 and is endorsed by the Standing Group on Democratic Innovations.
Call for signatures: APSA Related Group on Democratic Innovations
Our colleagues from the American Political Science Association are starting form a Related Group on Democratic Innovations. Led by Edana Beauvais with the support of Professor Jane Mansbridge (Harvard), Jonathan Collins (Brown) and Nicole Curato (Canberra/ECPR SG on Democratic Innovations)
We need 35 signers who are currently dues-paying APSA members.
Please sign up
here.
Stay in touch
The Steering Committee is always open to feedback, pitches, and bright ideas. Send us a message at
deminno@outlook.com or visit our
website.
