The 3rd quarterly newsletter of the ECPR Standing Group on Methods of Normative Political Theory
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On behalf of the Standing Group on Methods of Normative Political Theory, we are happy to announce that the quarterly newsletter of the Methods of Normative Political Theory will appear at the beginning of March, June, September, and December. The newsletters will remain accessible on the standing group’s website. We are happy to receive your updates regarding new publications, calls for proposals, events, Summer / Winter PhD Courses and job advertisements pertaining to methods of political theory by email to normativepolsmethods@gmail.com.
Past Academic Events
ECPR Summer School in Research Methods and Techniques (online)
24 July-11 August 2023
Information and Registration: https://ecpr.eu/SummerSchool
PhD Course: “Discrimination – The Concept of Discrimination,
Wrongness-Accounts, and Experimental Method.”
Aarhus University, 2-4 August 2023.
Summer School of the ECPR Standing Group on Political Parties
University of Duisburg-Essen, 21-26 August 2023.
Upcoming Academic Events
ECPR General Conference
4-8 September 2023
Charles University, Prague CZ
The 2023 ECPR general conference in Prague, to take place this September, includes 7 panels sponsored by the methods of normative political theory standing group. The section on Methods of Normative Political Theory, chaired this year by Sune Lægaard (University of Roskilde) and Nahshon Perez (Bar Ilan University) includes panels exploring topics such as methods between political theory and political science, normative behaviorism, how other disciplines inform political theory, comparative political theory and more. Presenters arrive from many different European countries and also from Australia and Israel. As usual, during the ECPR a business meeting of the standing group will take place, planning future activities of the group.
CFA-International Workshop: Normative Political Theory and Empirical Research: Approaches, Methods and Challenges
Monash University Prato Centre (Tuscany, Italy)
1-2 February 2024
Organized by Matteo Bonotti (Monash University) and Sania Mariam (IIT Bombay-Monash Academy)
Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 Sep. 2023
Submission/Information: Click here.
In political and social science, normative and empirical approaches are rarely combined. This separation is unfortunate since normative political theory and empirical research can complement each other: the former can help clarify and critically assess the normative values that often (implicitly or explicitly) underlie empirical research, whereas the latter can provide empirical backing for many of the assumptions that underlie political theorists’ normative arguments and proposed policies. This workshop aims to bring together normative political theorists (interested in) conducting empirical research and empirical researchers (interested in) engaging in normative theorizing in order to generate discussion, reciprocal learning and potential collaborations between them.
Recent publications
Angell, Kim. “Should Rawlsian end-state principles be constrained by popular beliefs about justice?” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (2023) DOI: 10.1080/13698230.2023.2247313
Burelli, Carlo. “No Virtue Like Resilience: Machiavelli’s Realistic Justification of Democracy” Political Studies (2023) DOI: 10.1177/00323217231191396
Wojciechowska, Marta. “From Lived Urban Experiences to Cross-Contextual Theory: A Selection Dilemma” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (2023) DOI:10.1080/13698230.2023.2231821
Symposium ‘Do Actions Speak Louder Than Thoughts? Normative Behaviourism Reconsidered’
Political Studies Review (2023) Vol. 21(3)
The August issue of Political Studies Review included the publication of the symposium on Jonathan Floyd’s 2017 Is Political Philosophy Impossible? Thoughts and Behaviour in Normative Political Theory (CUP, 2017). The symposium, edited by Edmund Handby, includes critical reflections on Floyd’s distinction between the role of thoughts and behaviour in political theory, as well as his proposed approach of normative behaviourism. These reflections come from prominent names in the political theory methods and ECPR standing group community. The symposium concludes with a response from Floyd, paving the way forward for the further development and application of the approach.
Articles part of the Symposium:
Handby, Edmund. “Editorial to Special Issue: Do Actions Speak Louder Than Thoughts? Normative Behaviourism Reconsidered.” Political Studies Review (2023) 21(3): 437-440.
Miller, David. “Why Normative Behaviourism Fails.” Political Studies Review (2023) 21(3): 441-446.
Dowding, Keith. “Behavioural Evidence, Yes; Normative Behaviourism, No.” Political Studies Review (2023) 21(3): 447-453.
Erman, Eva and Niklas Möller. “Does Normative Behaviourism offer an Alternative Methodology in Political Theory?” Political Studies Review (2021) 21(3): 454-461.
Modood, Tariq. “Empirical and Normative Without a Universal Human Nature.” Political Studies Review (2023) 21(3): 462-468.
Perez, Nahshon. “How Much Data for the Political Theorist? On the Argumentative Normative Behaviourism.” Political Studies Review (2023) 21(3): 469-475.
Baderin, Alice. “Behaviour and Thoughts: For a Pluralistic Model of Empirically Informed Political Philosophy.” Political Studies Review (2023) 21(3): 476-482.
Rossi, Enzo. “Fact-Centric Political Theory, Three Ways: Normative Behaviourism, Grounded Normative Theory, and Radical Realism.” Political Studies Review (2023) 21(3): 483-489.
Floyd, Jonathan. “Normative Behaviourism: A Reply.” Political Studies Review (2023) 21(3): 490-500.
Special Issue ‘Rethinking Liberal Multiculturalism: Foundations, Practices and Methodologies’ Ethnicities, (2023), Vol. 23(4)
The August issue of Ethnicities included the publication of the special issue “Rethinking Liberal Multiculturalism: Foundations, Practices and Methodologies”. The special issue, edited by Esma Baycan-Herzog, François Boucher and Sophie Guérard de Latour, focuses on the legacy and future of liberal multiculturalism. The articles presented in this special issue were discussed during the conference “Multicultural Citizenship 25 Years Later”, held in Paris in November 2021. The contributions of this issue do not purport to challenge the legitimacy of liberal theories of multiculturalism and minority rights. Rather, they aim at deepening our understanding of the basic normative principles of these theories, of their practical implementation, and of the evolution of the methodologies embraced by liberal multicultural theorists.
Articles part of the Special Issue:
Boucher, François, Sophie Guérard De Latour, and Esma Baycan-Herzog. 2023. “Rethinking Liberal Multiculturalism: Foundations, Practices and Methodologies.” Ethnicities 23(4): 527–46.
De Schutter, Helder. 2023. “Two Grounds of Multiculturalism.” Ethnicities 23(4): 547–61.
Lambrecht, Felix. 2023. “Towards a Theory of Reparative Multiculturalism.” Ethnicities 23(4): 562–82.
Gianni, Matteo. 2023. “For a Political Conception of Multicultural Citizenship.” Ethnicities 23(4): 583–600.
Guérard De Latour, Sophie. 2023. “A Targeted Approach to Multiculturalism: The Case of the Roma Minority in Europe.” Ethnicities 23(4): 601–15.
Triandafyllidou, Anna. 2023. “Pandemic Nationalisms.” Ethnicities 23(4): 616–33.
Savidan, Patrick. 2023. “Cultural Diversity and an Ethics of Provenance.” Ethnicities 23(4): 634–47.
Editorial Team
Ilkin Huseynli is a doctoral candidate in political philosophy at the University of Milan under the supervision of Ian Carter and Nicola Riva. His thesis focuses on social freedom and investigates if the concept of interpersonal freedom is normatively relevant. Ilkin responds positively and aims at articulating why this is so, as well as in what ways this relevance can be understood. His works have appeared in The Pluralist, Journal of Political Power, and edited volumes by Springer and Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles.
Esma Baycan-Herzog is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Geneva, and the Swiss Is a lecturer in political theory at the University of Geneva. Recently, she received a Chaire Hoover Honorary Fellowship for a visiting research stay at UCL (Belgium) in Spring 2024. Her research interests include ethics and politics of migration; political theory methodology; multiculturalism; ethics of digital societies; (sub-state) nationalism; legitimacy of international institutions and experimental political theory. Her current and future editorial experience includes special issues in journals such as Ethnicities and Ethics and Global Politics. Her publications found their home at venues in journals such as Ethnicities, Danish Yearbook of Philosophy, Ethical Perspectives, as well as contributions to edited volumes published by Brill, Nomos and ECPR Press.
Edmund Handby is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Political Science at Duke University. His research examines methodological questions in the history of political thought, empirically informed political theory, and politics, philosophy, and economics. His work has appeared in The Journal of Politics and The Journal of the Philosophy of History. He has also guest-edited a special issue on Jonathan Floyd’s ‘Is Political Philosophy Impossible’, out in Political Studies Review.
