On behalf of the Organising Committee for the 18th Annual IRSPM Conference to be held in Ottawa, Canada on April 9-11, 2014, I cordially invite you to submit Panel proposals.

IRSPM uses a two stage process. This first call is for PANEL tracks to which abstracts will be solicited in a second round. Prospective Panel chairs and co-chairs should develop a topic on an important theme of public management, particularly ones relevant to the overall theme of the conference, which can accommodate a variety of papers.

Once the panels have been accepted by the Scientific Committee, the panel (co-)chairs should use their networks and other appropriate means to solicit abstracts for papers, lead the adjudication process of acceptance, and communicate with authors. (A detailed set of guidelines for panel chairs is available on the website).

IRSPM2014 seeks panels covering a wide range of public management topics, broadly connected to the overall conference theme, with chairs from a diversity of countries. Please note that in the case of similar panel submissions, the Scientific Committee may ask panel chairs to collaborate in creating consolidated panels, and that only one panel per lead chair will be considered.

The theme of the 2014 IRSPM Conference is:




Intersections: Governance, Democracy, Accountability




The changing relationships among the public, private and nonprofit sectors are raising important issues for public management. Policy is increasingly ‘mashed-up,’ extending across multiple departments, relying on a diversity of agents for implementation and requiring new approaches to effective oversight. To varying degrees, both centralisation of executive powers and decentralisation of authorities are at play. Public management risks being hyper- politicised, just as citizens are demanding more meaningful engagement and utilising new channels to obtain it. These demands, in concert with financial constraints, have many worried about issues of democracy and accountability. At this crowded intersection, there are few easy answers, and the challenge for public management today is to formulate new ways to navigate these competing pressures.

IRSPM 2014 explores the implications for public management of the evolving intersections of governance, democracy and accountability.

Submission of Proposals

All panel proposals should include the title of the panel, the name(s), affiliation(s), and emails of the chair(s) and a description of the topic. Proposals should be around 200-300 words and must be in English.

Please complete the IRSPM Panel Proposal Form (attached), and send it via email to:irspm2014@carleton.ca.

Panel proposals deadline extended to September 4th, 2013.

Notification of accepted panels will be provided by mid-September. The Call for Paper Abstracts will open September 20th.




Sincerely,




Susan Phillips

Professor and Director

School of Public Policy and Administration

Carleton University

Ottawa, Canada

Irspm2014@carleton.ca



Key Dates:

· September 4, 2013: Closing date for panel proposals

· September 16, 2013: Notification of acceptance of panels

· September 20, 2013: Call for paper abstracts

· October 25, 2013: Closing date for paper abstract submissions

· November 15, 2013: Authors notified of outcome of their

                                         abstract submission