[Tps] TPS/ECPR Policy Network - Conference on Democratic Network Governance - FINAL CALL

Fri Sep 1 05:33:35 EDT 2006

*                                                                        
                International conference in Denmark:*
**

*Democratic Network Governance in Europe*

*Past and Future Research** *

*Roskilde**, 2-3 November, 2006*

**

**

As a first crucial step in preparing an /application for EU-funding of a 
collaborative research project on democratic network governance/ this 
conference /aims to broaden the research agenda and explore new research 
avenues within the expanding field of governance network research/.

The conference program is below. It includes a distinguished lecture, 
presentations of cutting-edge research on democratic network governance, 
a workshop session with paper presentations and a concluding discussion 
of our proposal for collaborative research project under the 7^th EU 
framework program.

We invite you because of your important contribution to the field of 
governance network research. We hope that you will be able to 
participate in the conference which we expect will play an important 
strategic role in developing the field of network governance in relation 
to issues such as effectiveness, democracy, metagovernance, political 
identity, conflict resolution, and multi-level governance.

The conference is organized and hosted by Centre for Democratic Network 
Governance (http://www.ruc.dk/demnetgov_en/), Roskilde University.

Deadline for registration is the *21^th of September, 2006* (/people who 
want to present a paper in the workshop must send an abstract/).

The conference venue is Hotel Prindsen in Roskilde, just outside 
Copenhagen. There will be room for about 45-50 participants. 
Participants are expected to pay their own travel expenses. The Centre 
for Democratic Network Governance will generously cover food and 
accommodation during the conference (one night only). Please contact the 
conference secretary (kakiso at ruc.dk <mailto:kakiso at ruc.dk>) if you need 
further assistance.

We hope to bring together all the key players in the area and if you 
have one or two close and relevant research associates whom you might 
want to bring along to the conference, you are welcome to pass this 
invitation on to them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As a first crucial step in preparing an /application for EU-funding of a 
collaborative research project on democratic network governance/ this 
conference /aims to broaden the research agenda and explore new research 
avenues within the expanding field of governance network research/.

Governance networks proliferate to an astonishing extent within 
different countries, policy areas and levels of governance. The 
formulation and implementation of public policy increasingly take place 
in and through negotiation among relevant and affected actors who are 
interacting on the basis of interdependency, active trust and jointly 
developed rules, norms and discourses. The surge of governance networks 
is prompted by the persistent criticism of the traditional forms of 
governance in terms of hierarchy and market for being inflexible and 
reactive. Hence, the World Bank, the European Union, multinational 
corporations, NGOs, private think tanks and national and local 
governments are all recommending the formation of partnerships, 
strategic alliances and interorganizational networks, which are seen as 
the key to a more flexible and proactive governance.

The euphoric celebration of the merits of governance networks often 
overlooks the shortcomings of network governance. Nevertheless, 
governance networks deserve scholarly attention as they tend to 
transform the form and functioning of government and create new spaces 
of governance by breaking down the traditional dichotomies of state and 
society, public and private, and local and global. Governance networks 
blur the boundary between state and society and transform the roles of 
the government and the societal actors. They bring together public and 
private actors in processes of joint decision making and co-governance, 
and they cut across the distinctions between global, national and local 
levels of governance in the creation of tangled networks.

In order to further expand the research on network governance the 
conference will address six crucial themes that have recently attracted 
an increasing attention:

   1. /The mobilization, inclusion and construction of network actors/
   2. /The construction of a discursive and institutional framework for
      network governance/
   3. /Policy coordination through deliberation, power struggles and
      conflict resolution/
   4. /Effective network governance: the risk of failure and the
      conditions for success/
   5. /The democratic anchorage of governance networks/
   6. /Metagovernance of local, national and transnational governance
      networks/

The six themes will be addressed by leading academic scholars who will 
summarize and discuss the main research results and draw up an inventory 
of the research questions that should be dealt with in the years to 
come. The plenary sessions will explore possible ways of answering the 
key research questions through cross-disciplinary and cross-national 
research.

The conference is concluded by an open discussion of the prospect of 
establishing a joint platform for future research on the topics 
discussed at the conference. The EU's 7^th framework program for 
2007-2013 focuses explicitly on the construction of 'democratic 
ownership' and enhanced 'participation' through 'new forms of effective 
and democratic governance'. The Centre for Democratic Network Governance 
will invite all relevant scholars to participate in a joint application 
for a collaborative research project under the new framework program 
Theme 8, Activity 5.

*Program:*

/Thursday, the 2^nd November, 2006/

9:30         *Welcome and introduction,* Professor /Jacob Torfing/, 
Roskilde University

10:00*       Distinguished lecture: Governing by network: promise and 
problems*, Research Director /Bill Eggers/, Deloitte Washington

11:30       *The mobilization, inclusion and construction of network 
actors*, Professor /Chris Skelcher/, University of Birmingham

12:45       Lunch

13:45       *Ordering through discourse: Authority in the time of 
network governance*, Professor /Maarten A. Hajer, /University of Amsterdam

15:00       *Policy coordination through deliberation, power struggles 
and conflict resolution*, Professor /Aletta Norval/, University of Essex

16:15       Coffee break

16:30       *Effective network governance: the risk of failure and the 
conditions for success*,

Professor /Yannis Papadopoulos/, University of Lausanne

17:45       *The democratic anchorage of governance networks*, Professor 
/Eva Sørensen/, Roskilde University

19:00       End of first day

19:30       Conference dinner

/Friday, the 3^rd November, 2006/

9:00         *Workshop with presentations of papers on Democratic 
Network Governance related to the themes of the conference*

11.00       *Metagovernance of local, national and transnational 
governance networks*, Professor /Guy Peters/, University of Pittsburgh

12:15       Lunch

13:00       *Prospects for future research cooperation: Democratic 
Network Governance in Europe*, Professor /Jacob Torfing/, Roskilde 
University

13:45       *Concluding plenary discussion*

14:15       Departure

The conference is organized by Centre for Democratic Network Governance, 
directed by Professor Jacob Torfing, Roskilde University. Deadline for 
registration is the *21^th of September, 2006* (/people who want to 
present a paper in the workshop must send an abstract/). The conference 
venue is Hotel Prindsen in Roskilde, just outside Copenhagen. There will 
be room for about 45 participants. Participants are expected to pay 
their own travel expenses. The Centre for Democratic Network Governance 
will cover food and accommodation during the conference (one night 
only). Please contact the conference secretary (kakiso at ruc.dk 
<mailto:kakiso at ruc.dk>) if you need further assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Jacob Torfing
Professor
Research Director

--
Professor in Politics and Institutions
Director of Center for Democratic Network Governance
Department of Social Sciences
Roskilde University
Building 25.2
PO Box 260
DK-4000 Roskilde
telephone: +45 46 74 21 85 / e-mail: jtor at ruc.dk
home page: http://www.ruc.dk/ssc/personale/vip/jtor/

---
Eva Dammas
Assistant
Centre for Democratic Network Governance
Department of Social Sciences
Roskilde University
Building 25
Postbox 260
4000 Roskilde
Denmark
e-mail: edammas at ruc.dk
Phone: +45 4674 3163

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