Lora Anne Viola wins ECPR Hedley Bull Prize in IR with The Closure of the International System

Dear SGIR-members,

we are delighted to announce that Lora Anne Viola is the winner of the 2021 ECPR Hedley Bull Prize in International Relations with her magnificent book The Closure of the International System. How Institutions Create Political Equalities and Hierarchies (Cambridge University Press, 2020).

Have a look at the laudatio by jury chair Mary Farrell, praise by Anna Holzscheiter, and at Lora Anne herself highlighting the main argument of the book in the video posted on the ECPR website: https://ecpr.eu/Prizes/PrizeWinners.aspx?PrizeID=11

As members of the jury on behalf of the SGIR, we wish to warmly congratulate Lora Anne Viola and strongly recommend the book to all members of the SGIR ECPR community and beyond.

The book is remarkable in that it explains how both the expansion and closure of the international system go hand in hand in the form of a simultaneity of democratisation and increased participation AND the (re)creation of hierchy and exclusion in the form of the creation of club goods.
It is a masterfully crafted piece of theoretical scholarship with vast empirical implications for explaining institutional forms in international organisation as well as policy outcomes, and also for deriving policy recommendations what (not) to do. Moreover, this tour de force is written in super clear language.

We are therefore very happy to inform you that Lora Anne will give a key note lecture on her book, followed by a roundtable, at the end of this year ‘s ECPR SGIR Summer School in Antwerp. Like the Summer School, this event will take place online, and will be open to the public. This book presentation by Lora Anne will take place Thursday 15 July from 2 till max. 3.30 pm (Brussels time). The video-link will be posted here in due time. Thank you, Lora Anne! And we are all looking forward to your talk and contribution.

Very best regards,

Dirk De Bièvre (Antwerp) and Daniela Irrera (Catania)

on behalf of the SGIR steering group and the Hedley Bull prize jury

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