Workshops and Conferences 2011-2012
Signalling Theory - Introduction and applicationsDuring the first and second term, there are normally ten weekly meetings of seminars. However, occasionally workshops/small conferences can also be organised during the first two terms. In the third term, there are (mainly, but not exclusively) intensive workshops/small conferences, usually of ten hours duration and often with visitors.
All workshops carry credits for 10 hours unless otherwise specified.
Credits are awarded to first-years and second-years for regular attendance.
Inequality in Educational Returns
Organiser: Fabrizio Bernardi
Dates: 21-22 June
Credits: 10
Programme tbc
Abstract: The primary focus of the workshop is on the influence of social origins on labour market success over and above the effect of own education. Each participant will address four main research questions in his/her country. First, is there a direct effect of social background on labour market success over and above the effect of own education? Second, has this effect declined over time? Third, does it vary depending on the level of education achieved and, more precisely, is it weaker among those with higher education. Fourth, has the direct effect of education on the labour market success varied over time?
Please register with Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
European Identity in the Crisis of Europe
Organiser: Martin Kohli
Dates: 11-12 June 2012 (Room 2, Badia Fiesolana)
Programme tbc
Please register with Päivi Kontinen
Causal Inference
Organiser: Nina Liljeqvist & Pedro Riera
Instructor: Elias Dinas (Oxford University)
Dates: 28 May - 1 June 2012 (Emeroteca, Badia Fiesolana)
Credits: 10
Programme
Abstract: The goal of this workshop is to familiarize participants with the logic of casual inference, the underlying theory behind it and introduce research methods that help us approach experimental benchmarks with observational data. Hence, this will be a much applied workshop where we aim to provide researchers with ideas for better research designs in their own work. Following the identification strategies discussed in the workshop, questions about how many Zs to include as controls will henceforth seem irrelevant.
Please register with Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
Masterclass on Time Series Analysis
Organiser: Nina Liljeqvist & Pedro Riera
Dates: 22-25 May (tbc) (Seminar Room 2, Badia Fiesolana)
Instructor: Christopher Wlezien (Temple University)
Credits: 20
Programme
Abstract: The goals of this workshop are twofold. First of all, we would like to provide researchers with the technical tools necessary to address quantitativaly research questions that entail the use of dynamic data. Secondly, we aim to prepare attendants to take advantage of these interesting modelling possibilities and apply them to their own research.
Please register with Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
The Ethics of Migration
Organiser: Rainer Bauböck
Key Speaker: Joseph Carens (University of Toronto)
Dates: 21-22 May, Sala del Capitolo, Badia Fiesolana
Credits: 10
Please register with Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
Descriptive Multivarate Methods in Social Sciences: Principal Component Analysis; Cluster Analysis and Correspondence Analysis
Organisers: Martyn Egan, Stefano Palestini (SPS2)
Dates: 17-18 May 2012 (Room 3, Badia Fiesolana)
Descriptive statistical methods serve a contrary analytical purpose to predictive models such as ordinary least squares regression. Rather than predicting the amount of variance explained by one or more clearly defined independent variables against a dependent variable, descriptive methods aim to better describe and define the properties of variables and the relationships between them, without necessarily making causal assumptions. Descriptive multivariate methods can thus be very useful for uncovering latent variables, discovering (or testing) new categories of analysis, exploring the relevant dimensions of pre-existing analytical categories and constructing qualitative typologies based on quantitative data.
Programme tbc
Please register with Päivi Kontinen
Social Movements in Times of Financial Crises
Organiser: Fabrizio Bernardi, Donatella Della Porta
Dates: May 2012
1) Friday, 4 May, 10:00-13.00 (Theatre, Badia Fiesolana)
2) Monday, 7 May, 10:00-18:00 (Theatre, Badia Fiesolana)
As protest spread from the Middle East to Southern Europe and the United States, 2011 has been celebrated in the media as the year of social movements. As it is often the case with each new wave of contention, the innovations in the mobilization forms, organizational structure, communication and framing adopted by these movements worldwide came to the fore. Nevertheless, the protests have also shown some continuity with previous social movements (especially, with the global justice movement) as well as the specific national characteristics of the social movements.
In this workshop, some results of first empirical research and theoretical interpretations on this new wave of protest will be presented, with particular attention to cross-national and transnational diffusion, forms of protest and organization, communication strategies.
Programme
Please register with Alessandra Torre
Changes and Challenges in Parliamentary Democracies
Organisers: Caterina Froio and Nina Liljeqvist (SPS2)
Dates: 3-4 May 2012 (Room 2, Badia Fiesolana)
Parliamentary democracy is the most common regime type in the contemporary political world. However, the assumed crisis of parliamentary democracy is as old as the regime type itself and new challenges to majoritarian models of democracy have recently surfaced. In a nutshell, the challenges parliamentary democracies are facing are mainly linked to the quality of governance, which depends on effective parliamentary oversight and strong political parties. The motivation for this workshop springs from the area of research in which Peter Mair was one of the most leading scholars.
Please register with Päivi Kontinen
Repertoires of Contention: Structure vs. Agency
Organisers: Lorenzo Bosi, Donatella della Porta, Stefan Malthaner, Daniel Ritter
Date: 3 May 2012
In the last few decades a lively debate has emerged concerning the relationship between agency and structure in studies of contentious politics. Research on political violence and nonviolence has sought to address the complex balance between environmental constraints and actors’ choices, path dependency and innovation. This workshop aims at identifying and discussing some main issues in these debates, with particular attention to the role of strategic choices in the changing tactical repertoires, as well as their historical evolution, causes and consequences in different times and setting.
Papers will be presented by, among others, Sidney Tarrow (Cornell University) and the organizers.
Programme
Please register with Alessandra Torre
Harm in World Politics
Organiser: Chris Reus-Smit
Dates: 23-24 April 2012 (Emeroteca, Badia Fiesolana)
10 credits
When Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492, the harm done to this population provoked little international concern in Europe. Indeed, it was the Ottoman Emperor who berated the Spanish monarchs for stupidly expelling the economically most dynamic sector of Spanish society. But this was not a humanitarian concern for the harm done to this people. Five centuries later, the international system has an ever more elaborate architecture of institutional rules, norms and practices for the delimitation and regulation of harm---harm to individual human persons, harm to cultural groups, harm to the environment, etc. This workshop investigates the politics and ethics of harm in the evolving global system. The workshop will be built around the work of four scholars whose work deeply engages these issues, all of whom will be present. The core of the workshop will be a close reading of draft chapters from the second volume of Andrew Linklater's three volume study of harm in world politics, the first volume of which was published earlier this year (The Problem of Harm in World Politics: Theoretical Investigations, Cambridge 2011). Around this core, the workshop will also engage current work in progress by Jacinta O'Hagan (ANU and EUI Visiting Fellow), Richard Devetak (Univ. Queensland and EUI Visiting Fellow), and Heather Rae (EUI Visiting Fellow)
Please register with Maureen Lechleitner
The Court of Justice and the European Union's External Relations
Organisers: Marise Cremona (Law Department & Pascal Vennesson (RSCAS/SPS)
(10 credits)
Dates: 19-20 April 2012 (Sala Europa, Villa Schifanoia)
Please register with Maureen Lechleitner
Signalling Theory - Introduction and Applications
Organiser: Diego Gambetta
Dates: March 2012
19, 20, 21 March, 11:00 - 13:00 (Sala del Capitolo, Badia Fiesolana)
22, 23 March, 17:00 - 19:00 (Sala del Capitolo, Badia Fiesolana)
(10 Credits)
The course will consist of 5 two-hour sessions, which will be held over one week, from 19 till 23 March 2012. Each session will comprise one hour of lecture and one hour of discussion. Credits will be assigned on the basis of an essay of 3000 to 4000 words to be delivered sometime after the end of the course. Essay questions will be agreed during the course.
Programme
Please register with Alessandra Torre
Conference/Roundtable: Debating the Hungarian Constitution
Organiser: Laszlo Bruszt
Date: 2 March 15:30 - 17:30
Credits: no
Programme tbc
Please register with Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
Linguistic Justice
Organiser: Rainer Bauböck (SPS)
Key Speaker: Philippe van Parijs (Université catholique de Louvain)
Date: 2 March 9:30 – 12:30 Seminar Room 2, Badia Fiesolana
Credits: No (This workshop is a part of the seminar on "Cultural Diversity" and therefore the credits will be awarded only to the participants of the seminar)
Programme
Please register with Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
Abstract: In his recent book "Linguistic Justice for Europe and for the World", Philippe van Parijs argues that the global spread of English is irresistible and should also not be resisted but promoted. A world-wide lingua franca facilitates democratic deliberations about global justice across international borders. However, it also creates undeserved advantages of English native speakers who do not have to bear the costs of learning the lingua franca and who enjoy greater job opportunities in transnational labour markets. Since languages are associated with collective identities, it is also unfair if English crowds out other languages. Parity of esteem justifies therefore the territorial protection of national languages.
Philippe van Parijs’ book is a pathbreaking attempt to address the challenges of linguistic diversity as well as the global rise of English from a normative perspective of egalitarian social justice and democracy.
Models of Categorical Variables
Organiser: Jonathan Nagler
(10 credits)
Dates: 25, 27 January and 8, 10 February 2012, 15:00 - 17:30, Room 3, Badia F.
The course will consist of four 2.5 hours sessions. This workshop covers models of discrete choice including: Multinomial Logit, Conditional Logit, and Ordered Logit. The focus is on correctly specifying and estimating models of choice over a fixed set of alternatives. Substantial attention will be given to distinctions between assumptions of different models, and to ways to measure the goodness of fit of each model. An important part of the workship will be demonstrations of using each model to simulate meaningful counterfactuals at both the individual and aggregate level.
Programme
Please register with Alessandra Torre
Political Parties and Institutions in Contemporary Democracies
Organisers: Caterina Froio and Tomasz Siczek (SPS2)
(20 credits will be assigned for regular attendance, active participation and paper presentation/one paper discussion)
Dates: January - June 2012
The session are scheduled to take place as follows:
1) Wednesday, 18 January, 17:00-19:30 (Room 3, Badia Fiesolana)
2) Wednesday, 1 February, 17:00-19:30 (Room 3, Badia Fiesolana)
3) Wednesday, 22 February, 17:00-19:30 (Room 3, Badia Fiesolana)
4) Wednesday, 14 March, 17:00-19:30 (Room 3, Badia Fiesolana)
5) Wednesday, 28 March, 17:00-19:30 (Sala del Capitolo, Badia Fiesolana)
6) Wednesday, 18 April, 17:00-19:30 (Room 3, Badia Fiesolana)
7) Wednesday, 9 May, 17:00-19:30 (Room 3, Badia Fiesolana)
8) Wednesday, 23 May, 17:00-19:30 (Room 3, Badia Fiesolana)
9) Wednesday, 6 June, 17:00-19:30 (Emeroteca, Badia Fiesolana)
Programme
Please register with Päivi Kontinen
Collective Identity, Garbage and Laughter
Organiser: Bernhard Giesen (Univ. Konstanz)
(10 credits will be assigned for regular attendance, reading the material plus a paper 5-10pp)
Dates: January 2012
The sessions are planned to take place as follows:
1) Monday, 16 January, 09:00-13:00
2) Thursday, 19 January, 15:00-18:00
3) Friday, 20 January, 10:00-13:00
4) Monday, 23 January, 10:00-12:00
Programme
For registration, please contact Maureen Lechleitner
Workshop "Teaching in the Social Sciences"
Organiser: Sven Steinmo
(10 credits)
The sessions are planned to take place as follows:
1) Wednesday, 2 November 09:00-13:00 (Seminar Room 4, Badia Fiesolana)
2) Wednesday, 9 November 09:00-12:30 (Seminar Room 4, Badia Fiesolana)
3) Wednesday, 9 November 14:00-16:30 (Sala Europa, Villa Schifanoia)
4) Friday, 11 November 09:30-12:30 (Sala del Capitolo, Badia Fiesolana)
5) Friday, 11 November 14:00-16:30 (Sala del Capitolo, Badia Fiesolana)
This workshop is designed for more advanced students.
Conference "Baltic Days"
The conference shall commemorate the 20th anniversary of the independence of the Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia with the participation of political and social scientists.
13-14 October 2011, Theatre Room, Badia Fiesolana
Programme
Please register with Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
Workshop "Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences"
Organisers: Donatella Della Porta & Sven Steinmo
Dates: 28 September, 5 and 7 October 2011
Seminar Room 2 (Badia Fiesolana)
Schedule
These sessions are designed for all 1st-year researchers to illustrate the teaching programme of the Department
Workshops 2010-2011