[Tps] TPS/ECPR Policy Network - CFP 9th ESSEX CONFERENCE IN CRITICAL POLITICAL THEORY

[Navdeep Mathur]

 Posted for David Howarth...

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9th ESSEX CONFERENCE IN
CRITICAL POLITICAL THEORY

CAPITALISM, FAITH, NATURE

Call for Papers

Dates: 12-13 June 2008
Location: University of Essex, Colchester, UK
Call for Papers Deadline: 30 March, 2008.
Website: 9th Essex Conference in Critical Political Theory <
https://exchange2.essex.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.essex.ac.uk/government/critical%2520political%2520theory%2520conference/9th_conference_in_critical_political_theory.shtm
>
All Inquiries to: polcon at essex.ac.uk
<mailto:polcon at essex.ac.uk<polcon at essex.ac.uk>
>


Keynote Speakers
Professor Jane Bennett, The Johns Hopkins University (USA)
Professor William E. Connolly, The Johns Hopkins University (USA)

Organizing Committee at the University of Essex
Jason Glynos, Department of Government, University of Essex (UK)
David Howarth, Centre for Theoretical Studies, University of Essex (UK)
Aletta J. Norval, Centre for Theoretical Studies, University of Essex (UK)
Sarah Hartley, PhD Candidate, Department of Government, University of Essex
(UK)
Blendi Kajsiu, PhD Candidate, Department of Government, University of Essex
(UK)


The Conference Theme: Capitalism, Faith, Nature

ONLY a few years ago, the use of abstract nouns like 'capitalism', 'faith'
and 'nature' - not to mention their conjunction as a series of terms - would
have seemed a little unusual, perhaps even antiquated. Yet any history of
the present today highlights the continuing pertinence of these signifiers
for critically engaging with a growing range of social and political
phenomena.

ONE obvious issue here is the rise of new fundamentalisms - dogmatic and
monist faiths - whether of an economic, political, religious, or national
character. Another is the peculiar linking together of heterogeneous
doctrines and sensibilities, such as Christianity, corporate capitalism and
conservativism in the United States, for instance, into new assemblages and
projects that directly impinge upon existing political institutions and
democratic settlements. In part, these new fundamentalisms constitute a
reactionary backlash against the emergence of novel cultural identities and
existential faiths that seek to pluralize the pluralism of existing
democratic institutions and practices, or put forward demands for greater
freedom and equality. Fundamentalisms are also organised against efforts to
reorganize our geo-political landscapes - or construct new transnational
networks - so as to foster greater cooperation and security across once
sedimented territorial divisions.

IN equal measure, there are pressing questions about the place of nature in
the contemporary world, whether this is understood in terms of the
intensifying environmental crisis, or debates about the character and role
of 'human nature' in our increasingly technological societies, or with
respect to the character of human and political subjectivity. Underpinning
many of these new concerns are further questions about new forms of
political economy at the local, national and global levels, and their impact
on our changing conceptions of space, time, culture and speed.

HOW do we problematize and critically explain these new phenomena? In what
ways can various fundamentalisms be challenged and engaged with in the name
of a democratic politics that is not itself fundamentalist in character?
What are the limits and potentials of contemporary political and ethical
theory in addressing these new issues? What are the prospects and limits of
pluralizing pluralism? Ought we to restrict agency to humans, or does it
extend to the material and non-human world more generally? What is the
relationship between nature and culture? How can cultural theory respond to
recent developments in science? What is the relationship between cultural
theory, materialism and naturalism? What kind of ethos needs to be
cultivated in the face of these new challenges, and how can it be brought
about? How do these broad sets of issues and questions get addressed in
specific contexts and policy arenas? And what theoretical languages and
methods are best able to respond to these changes and trends? These are just
some of the tasks of critical political theory today.

THE NINTH CONFERENCE IN CRITICAL POLITICAL THEORY at the University of Essex
provides a space to address and engage with these issues. The conference has
achieved a renowned reputation for the quality of the papers presented and
the large number of international participants. Previous guest speakers have
included Michael Hardt, Wendy Brown, Judith Squires, Quentin Skinner, Joan
Copjec, James Tully, Fred Dallmayr, Bonnie Honig, David Owen, David
Campbell, Simon Critchley, Ernesto Laclau, and Chantal Mouffe, among others.

THE conference provides an important opportunity to engage with the
contemporary challenges and possibilities of social and political theory and
to exchange views on ongoing research. We welcome papers from young
scholars, postdoctoral researchers, and postgraduates from a wide variety of
backgrounds in the field of social and political theory. But as is customary
with the Essex conference, the themes are in part shaped by the thought and
writings of our invited guests, and this year is no exception. We are
delighted to host William Connolly and Jane Bennett.



WILLIAM CONNOLLY and JANE BENNETT are two of the leading political theorists
of our time, and they both speak directly and powerfully to the problems and
opportunities of the new conjuncture. Though far from complacent about the
complexity of the issues confronting us today, each of them consistently
seeks new lines of flight and intellectual nourishment that can advance the
ideals of democracy, freedom, and pluralism. Their various writings straddle
a wide range of debates about pluralism, nature, bio-ethics, materialism,
global politics, radical democracy, the limits and possibilities of
contemporary liberal theory, as well as discussions in the philosophy of
science and social explanation. Most importantly, their work is persistently
open to new events and possibilities, and focussed on movements and
practices that invent new rights or promote new identities, which may or may
not have been acknowledged on established cultural fields.

Broad Themes Include
* Politics of Immanence and Transcendence
* Varieties of Pluralism
* Politics and Technology
* Universalism and Particularism
* Democracy and Representation
* Capitalism, Multiculturalism, Globalization
* Identity Politics and Mobilization
* Subjectivity and Psychoanalysis
* Religion, Faith and Pluralism
* Fundamentalisms
* New Ecologies
* Philosophies of Nature
* Political Economy
* The Politics of Space and Territoriality
* Rethinking Identity/Difference

Biographies

JANE BENNETT is Professor and Chair of Political Theory at the Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, USA. Her published books include The Enchantment of
Modernity: Crossings, Energetics, and Ethics (Princeton University Press,
2001); Thoreau's Nature: Ethics, Politics, and The Wild (Sage Publications,
1994); and Unthinking Faith and Enlightenment: Nature and State in a
Post-Hegelian Era (New York University Press, 1994).

WILLIAM E. CONNOLLY is Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science at
John Hopkins University. His recent books include Pluralism (Duke University
Press, 2005); Neuropolitics: Thinking, Culture, Politics (University of
Minnesota, 2002); and Why I Am Not a Secularist (University of Minnesota,
1999). His most recent book Capitalism and Christianity, American Style
(Duke University Press) will be available in 2008.

JASON GLYNOS is Lecturer in Political Theory in the Department of Government
at the University of Essex, UK. He is also Director of the Masters Programme
in Ideology and Discourse Analysis at the University of Essex. He is
co-editor of Lacan & Science (Karnac, 2002) and Traversing the Fantasy
(Ashgate, 2005). His most recent book is Logics of Critical Explanation in
Social and Political Theory (Routledge, 2007), co-authored with David
Howarth.

DAVID HOWARTH is Senior Lecturer in Political Theory in the Department of
Government at the University of Essex, UK. He is also Co-Director of the
Centre for Theoretical Studies. His published books include Discourse (Open
University Press, 2000); Discourse Theory and Political Analysis (Manchester
University Press, 2000); Discourse Theory in European Politics (Macmillan,
2005). His most recent book is Logics of Critical Explanation in Social and
Political Theory (Routledge, 2007).

ALETTA NORVAL is Reader in Political Theory in the Department of Government,
University of Essex, where she is also Director of the Doctoral Programme in
Ideology and Discourse Analysis, and Co-Director of the Centre for
Theoretical Studies. Her most recent book is entitled Aversive Democracy:
Inheritance and Originality in the Democratic Tradition (Cambridge
University Press, 2007).

Conference fees for Staff: £50

Conference fees for Students:

£30 Paper Givers   (£25 for Essex students)

£35 Attendance Only (£30 for Essex students)

£45 If institutionally funded (£40 for Essex students)
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