CALL FOR PROPOSALS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 28 – 29, MAY 2014 MOSCOW, RUSSIA NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION, RC 30 & RC 32 Public Policy Department of National Research University Higher School of Economics together with RC 30 and RC 32 of International Political Science Association (IPSA) is pleased to announce International Conference “ANALYTICAL COMMUNITIES IN POLICY ADVISORY SYSTEMS AT GLOBAL AND LOCAL LEVEL: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF POLICY IMPACT” We are happy to invite colleagues in public policy research to join our efforts and contribute to our research interest in a growing role of analytical communities as meaningful actors in the policy making process on local, national and global levels. For different reasons - in different political regimes – analytical communities are playing more visible role, affecting developmental agenda. For example, policy actors in global governance are becoming increasingly diverse and they are served by the growing plurality of international think-tanks, several of whom are becoming important actors themselves. In Russia, where growing authoritarian tendencies deny or even destroy traditional policy actors - parties, local elites, media, NGOs - some analytical communities have become alternative actors in the policy-making process, at least on the level of local territorial development. As our prior research had indicated, analytical communities in different policy environments of different nations - at universities, Academies of Sciences, research teams in corporate business and research-focused NGOs - while are being called upon to produce policy-alternatives vis-a-vis central, regional and local authorities, behave very differently, depending on both “external” and “internal” factors. Where “external” means political, economic and regulatory “environment”, while “internal” means their own "academic organizational tradition” and "academic ethics." Some analytical communities are ready to demonstrate full loyalty to official policies and decisions while others become direct and outspoken critics and opponents, producing alternative solutions to public problems. For this conference we are intending to bring together a group of international scholars interested in presenting the cases, which will illuminate the role of analytical communities in policy process in their respective countries, focusing either on “policy environment” or on “quality of analytical community and its ethics”. For the sake of wider comparison, we welcome participants from the European Union, United States, the Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia including China, India and Japan. We hope to learn more about analytical communities as actors in policy process and to see, what is the role of "academic ethics" - in different communities - and how it helps-or-prevents them to become effective policy actors, who can contribute their knowledge and expertise to the sustainable development. We believe that conference will enable us to compare the experiences of analytical communities in Russia and elsewhere as advocates in the local policy making process. In this way we may really learn from each other, as well as develop some theoretical conclusions on when, why and how we can make the voice of the analytical community heard in policy process, as well as how to keep this contribution independent, professional and serving public interest and development. Understanding that the issue of analytical communities as policy makers as well as the framework of policy advisory systems is rather new for post-soviet countries, we have designed this event as an introduction to the research field, analysis and case collection from different territories and institutions. Therefore we are expecting three types of contributions: academic papers, case studies and discussion participants.  Academic papers from those who already had experience in the field. We are expecting limited number of academic papers to be presented at each of the three sessions in a response and development of the topic analyzed by key speaker of each panel. Please consult the conference program provided bellow. Those selected candidates would be given 15-20 minutes to present their papers. Proposal abstracts should not exceed 250 words in length and should be attached to an email as a .doc or .docx file.  Case presenters would present a short case study on the role of analytical communities in policy making, in the city, region, country or global institution. 5 minute presentation of the specific case - how analytical communities in the territory or institution had made an impact on policy making. They have to clearly indicate in which session they want to present their case. Proposal abstracts should not exceed 50 words in length and should be attached to an email as a .doc or .docx file.  Discussion participants in proposal just indicate the institution, their interest to the topic, and analytical communities they belong or work in. ACADEMIC PAPERS PROPOSALS WILL BE SELECTED BY STEERING COMMITTEE INCLUDING KEY-NOTE SPEAKERS. ALL THE OTHER PROPOSALS WILL BE SELECTED BY ORGANIZING COMMITTEE. DIRECT ALL PROPOSALS, TOGETHER WITH BRIEF AUTHOR BIO AND CONTACT INFORMATION TO DMITRY ZAYTSEV - CONFERENCE PROGRAM COORDINATOR BY FEBRUARY 14, 2014. SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS WILL BE NOTIFIED BY MARCH 1, 2014