Disruption, Crisis, Opportunity: Whither Democratic Governance?

Colloquium organised jointly by the IPSA RC14 Politics and Ethnicity, RC28 Comparative Federalism and Multilevel Governance, RC13 Democratization in Comparative Perspective, RC08 Legislative Specialists, RC30 Comparative Public Policy 

14 – 15 December 2020 online on MS Teams 

Hosted by the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen's University Belfast

This conference brought together global scholarly community concentrated around a number of Research Committees of IPSA to reflect upon and examine the challenges faced by democracies and non-democratic regimes in the light of a sequence of interrelated political, economic, social disruptions.

You will find the programme of colloquium here (final version) 

Our colloquium was open for participants without papers. However, we ask that you indicate your interest by registering on eventbrite. You will receive the link to join the event after the registration. 

Over the past two decades, societies worldwide have experienced a series of disruptions to what was at the time perceived as the regular way of life: the COVID-19 pandemic, global financial crisis, increasing global population mobility, 9/11. European continent has experiences additional cross-border disruptions: the UK’s departure from the EU, the so-called refugee crisis, EU enlargement, to name but a few. Each global region has had a fair share of its own challenges in the past, and the true social, cultural, economic, and political effects of the COVID pandemic are likely to be long lasting. How have international organisations, national, regional, local level authorities innovated in response to acute challenges; and have these actually made a difference in dealing with these new challenges? How have democratic institutions responded to citizens’ needs over the succession of disruptions, and what differences can be observed between democratic and non-democratic responses, and between local, regional and national level policies?

If you have questions about the conference, please read our FAQ before sending an email to our team. Thanks. 

Welcome by the organisers: Timofey Agarin (Rc14) & Soeren Keil (Rc28) 

Keynote discussion  held at the IPSA Virtual Colloquium 2020

The Impact of COVID-19 on Democracy, Inclusion and Minority Rights. A Conversation with Eva Maria Belser and Joseph Marko

Eva Maria Belser is Professor for Constitutional Law at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and a member of the Swiss government's expert commission on dealing with the corona-crisis.

Joseph Marko is Professor for Constitutional and Administrative Law and Political Science at the University of Graz, Austria and Head of the Institute for Minority Rights at Eurac Research in Bolzano, Italy.

You can also access video recordings of Roundtables held at the IPSA Virtual Colloquium 2020 which might be of interest 

Roundtable Accessing Research Funding moderated by Elisabeth Alber, EURAC

Participants: Timofey Agarin, Queen’s University Belfast - ESRC & JRCT; Paolo Dardanelli, University of Kent - Leverhulme Trust; Sarah Lieberman, Canterbury Christ Church University - ISRF; Ada-Charlotte Regelmann, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Brussels -Political foundations & NGOs 

Roundtable Getting Published moderated by Johanna Schnabel, FU Berlin

Participants: Soeren Keil, Co-Editor Palgrave Book Series on Federalism and Internal Conflict; Timofey Agarin, Routledge Book Series Studies in Nationalism and Ethnicity & Co-Editor Nationalism and Ethnic Politics; Christina Zuber, Co-Editor Regional and Federal Studies; Darryl Jarvis, Co-Editor: Policy and Society; with a video message from Allison McCulloch, Editor of Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.