Conference theme (short version)




In the age of mediatisation, network governance, and multi level governance, all public agents, including government officials and academic experts, must now be credible, in addition to being legally legitimated and effective. In such an environment, policy work and its evaluation are not only established through formal positions and legal responsibilities, but are also negotiated through the policy practices of civil organizations, experts, journalists and the general public.






The performative dimension of democracy is increasingly important. This challenges actors involved to cross boundaries, to learn, to transform, to deal with constantly alternating power relations, and to be perceived as authentic or trustworthy. It also challenges interpretive research to study how public actors perform in practice and suggests a need to pay attention to action-oriented and language-oriented dimensions of practice. Moreover, a focus on performance raises questions about the role of interpretive research in the mediation and transformation of different meanings and in creating or supporting policy learning.








How can you participate?






The conference Call for IPA 2012 follows a two-step approach: first, proposals for panels and roundtables (max. 800 words) are invited for submission to the conference organisers by 15 November 2011 (through the website www.ipa2012.org). The list of accepted panels and panel convenors will be published on the conference website by mid-December.






Second, a call for paper proposals for the set of accepted panels will be sent out by the conference organisers. This call and the one for participation in the Methodology Workshops will be posted on the website and sent through email by mid-December. The deadline for both is 31 January 2012.






Panel proposals






The conference organizers welcome proposals for panels. Proposals for roundtables  sessions focused on a common theme, but without the formal presentation of papers  are also welcome.






Conference panels and roundtables might include one or more of the following topics:






Theoretical: The contribution of a particular theoretical or philosophical approach to democracy, credibility and legitimacy, policy work, framing, policy discourse and power analysis, mediation and conflict. These might include the emerging focus on interactive leadership, media credibility or other performative dimensions of democracy.






Empirical: Case studies of democracy, discourse and power; from particular policy issue arenas, from the local to the global, especially in relation to policy practices, deliberation, and governance; interpretive understandings of the policy process; the role of knowledge in the policy process (e.g., local, reflective, reflexive and meta-governance; urban and regional planning, challenged neighbourhoods, culture and social politics, the role of social media in politics, environmental policymaking and the politics of sustainable development; gender relations; global policy; food safety issues; immigration policies).






Methodological: Clarification of interpretive and critical approaches in use, such as varieties of discourse analysis, practice and performance studies, narrative analysis, deliberative policy inquiry, framing, rhetoric, category-making and metaphor. Applications and issues in doing interpretive and critical policy analysis (e.g., reflectivity in policy-analytic practices; issues in using new recording or coding technologies; internet research; ethnography; non-verbal methods; visual methods; mobile methodologies; mixed methods approaches).






Potential panel proposers are encouraged to deploy innovative formats of interaction in the panel beyond classical conference formats.






Keywords for panel proposals:
policy work, professionals, practice, sense making, discourse, storytelling, rhetoric, drama, framing, governance, legitimacy, legality, credibility, governmentality, authority, persuasion, power, democracy, participation, emotions, mediation, transformation, dialogue, identity, interdisciplinarity, logics, critical studies, reflexivity.






Organizing Committee at Tilburg University
Laurens de Graaf
Tamara Metze
Gabriël van den Brink
Merlijn van Hulst






All at Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration, part of the Tilburg Law School






Conference Advisory Board






Peter Feindt, Cardiff University (UK)
Frank Fischer, Rutgers University, New Jersey (USA)/Kassel University (Germany)
Steven Griggs, University of Birmingham (UK)
David Howarth, University of Essex (UK)
Navdeep Mathur, India Institute of Management (Ahmedabad, IND)
Aletta Norval, University of Essex (UK)
Henk Wagenaar, Leiden University (NL)
Dvora Yanow, University of Amsterdam and Wageningen University (NL)
Philippe Zittoun, University of Lyon / IEP Grenoble (FR)






Methodology Workshops Organizing Committee






Anna Durnová, University of Vienna (Austria)
Katharina Paul, Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
Severine van Bommel, Wageningen University (NL)
Henk Wagenaar, Leiden University (NL)
Others to be confirmed.