In person icon Political Expertise in Eastern Europe I

Abstract

Critical Policy Studies make the interpretation of social meanings a central problem. With that, this body of research takes explicitly into account the way these meanings are constructed, maintained, and perhaps changed through social forces and political power. The ever-present cultural, historical, and political contexts which both enable and constrain policy inquiry. From a critical perspective, indeed, the very notion of a ‘neutral’ position appears to be an irresponsible form of bias that either rules out or inhibits clear attention to crucial questions. The area of Eastern Europe and the post-communist transformation is therefore highly-relevant area of analysis that can put critical endeavors to test. This panel presents theoretical debates that have developed in Eastern Europe in the post-1989 era in the context of political science: such as debates touching on the conditions of establishment of political science as a critical discipline; or debates on particular international intellectual influences. The panel will not consist in the usual full-paper presentation but panelists will be invited to present their ideas in a nutshell and then discuss them in plenum. This will enable to reflect upon similarities and differences across particular Eastern European countries and to think of further theoretical implication for critical policy studies.

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