Political Theory, Institutional Change and Innovation

This Section, supported by the ECPR Standing Group on Political Theory, invites discussions of means and prospects of institutional change. We are particularly interested in theoretical reflections on how technological, political, and social innovations may change the understanding, justification, and legitimation of institutional action. Panels and Papers will focus on different ways in which institutional change may be generated. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: - The relationship between technological innovations (decision making algorithms, big data) and social innovations (new deliberative tools, e.g. the Oregon model); - Changes in institutional mechanisms (e.g., of decision making) and the self-understanding of the occupants of institutional roles (how innovations have an impact on the understanding of office and the duties and responsibilities of officeholders); - The advantages and disadvantages of top-down vs bottom-up approaches to decision making (e.g., citizens’ science); - Means of role contestation, including officeholders’ disobedience; - Officeholders’ reactions to institutional failures (revision of institutional power mandates, internal answerability practices, e.g. accountability mechanisms); - Citizens’ reactions to institutional failures (external answerability practices, e.g., whistleblowing, uprisings, e.g. anticorruption marches); - The role of political parties, pressure groups, or social movements. We welcome proposals from all traditions and subfields of political theory. We aim to facilitate engagement across sub-disciplinary boundaries and to support innovative research within particular traditions or on particular problems. To promote engagement across different traditions, we welcome Panel proposals that address problems, themes and concepts from multiple perspectives. To promote specialized work on particular topics, we welcome Panel proposals that either address the complexities and diversity of particular traditions in political theory, or focus on particular problems or issues from within the confines of one particular tradition, such as the analytical tradition. Following the suggestions of the members of the ECPR Standing Group on Political Theory, at this stage we propose to convene Panels on the topics listed below. Additional proposals for Panels and Papers are invited. 1) Innovating Political Parties. Convenor: Fabio Wolkenstein, Aarhus University & University of Amsterdam (wolkenstein@ps.au.dk). Other proposed participants: Giulia Bistagnino (Università degli Studi di Milano); Udit Bhatia (University of Oxford). 2) Innovations and the challenges to the accountability of office. Convenor: Nikolas Kirby, University of Oxford (nikolas.kirby@bsg.ox.ac.uk ) Other proposed participants: Emanuela Ceva (University of Geneva); Maria Paola Ferretti (Goethe University Frankfurt). 3) Innovating democracy via sortition, deliberation and popular votes: theoretical perspectives. Convenor: Nenad Stojanović, University of Geneva (nenad.stojanovic@unige.ch). Other proposed participants: Alice el-Wakil (Universität Zürich); Victor Sanchez-Mazas (University of Warwick); Pierre-Etienne Vandamme (Université libre de Bruxelle); Donald Bello Hutt (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven). 4) Perspectives on Progress. Convenor: Ilaria Cozzaglio, Goethe University Frankfurt (ilaria.cozzaglio@normativeorders.net). Other proposed participants: Enrico Biale (Università del Piemonte Orientale); Greta Favara, (Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele); Julia Hermann (Eindhoven University of Technology); Paul Raeksta (University of Edinburgh). 5) The Sorcerer’s Apprentice? Institutional change in international institutions. Convenor: Antoinette Scherz, University of Oslo ( antoinette.scherz@jus.uio.no). Other proposed participants: Cristina Lafont (Northwest University); Andreas Føllesdal (University of Oslo). 6) How may innovation change the understanding, justification, and legitimation of institutional action? The case of algorithmic governance. Convenor: Michele Loi, University of Zurich (michele.loi@uzh.ch). Other proposed participants: Sune Hannibal Holm (University of Copenhagen); Anna-Katharina Boos (University of Zurich); John Danaher (NUI Galway); Maël Pégny (Université de Lorraine at Nancy); Reuben Binns (Information Commissioner's Office/ Oxford University). Section Chair: Maria Paola Ferretti (maria.ferretti@normativeorders.net) is adjunct professor (Vetretungsprofessorin) in international political theory at the Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of Normative Orders” at the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, where she works on a project on the ethics of risk. Her research interests include contemporary liberalism, the ethics of public policy, democratic participation and corruption. She has published in journals such as Politics, Philosophy and Economics, Philosophy Compass, the Journal of Applied Philosophy, Review of Policy Research, Social Philosophy and Policy. She is currently co-convenor of the ECPR Political Theory Standing Group. Section co-chair: Emanuela Ceva (emanuela.ceva@unige.ch) is Full Professor of Political Theory at the University of Geneva. She has held visiting positions at Oxford, St. Andrews, Montréal, Harvard, Leuven. She works on value conflict, toleration, democracy, and corruption. Recent articles have appeared in Journal of Political Philosophy, Philosophy Compass, Social Philosophy & Policy, Journal of Social Philosophy, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Politics, Philosophy & Economics. She is currently co-convenor of the ECPR Political Theory Standing Group.