Call for Papers

Richard Wesley Conference on Environmental Politics & Governance
University of Washington, Seattle
May 14-16, 2015

Sponsored by
Center for Environmental Politics
University of Washington, Seattle
(http://depts.washington.edu/envirpol/)

Dear Colleagues:

University of Washington’s Center for Environmental Politics is organizing
an international conference on Environmental Politics and Governance (EPG)
in Seattle on May 14-16, 2015. The conference aims to showcase the cutting
edge scholarship on EPG, provide a venue for scholars to present their
research and network, and shape future EPG research across subfields in
political science (American, Comparative, and International).

Agenda and Rationale
Few will deny the importance of environmental challenges in the
contemporary era. As scholars we are asked by policy practioners for
solutions to environmental challenges. Universities increasingly are
recognizing the immense interest among students for environmental courses.
The Nobel Prize to Elinor Ostrom for her work on common-pool resources
showed that international community recognizes the scholarly contributions
of EPG scholars. Yet, and tragically so, EPG remains an under-studied area
in political science and in other social sciences as well. One reason is
that the study of EPG tends to take place in different subfields. This
silo approach leads to inadequate sharing and accumulation of knowledge,
and the tendency to work with issue-focused frameworks instead of
generalizable theories. We hope this and subsequent conferences will
motivate EPG scholars to advance theoretical insights, work with
generalizable theories, and use cutting-edge empirical methods.

Why focus on politics and governance? Although there has been substantial
progress in the development of technical and scientific knowledge about
the causes of several environmental problems, the translation of these
ideas into politically feasible policy regimes has been a major stumbling
block. The repeated lessons of these failures underscore the basic point
that environmental issues pose important political challenges that need to
be addressed with equal footing to their economic and technical
dimensions. This conference will provide a forum for EPG scholars to
present research and develop research networks with the objective to push
the frontiers of knowledge via theoretically informed, rigorous empirical
work. The format of the conference will allow for substantial give and
take, and opportunities to network with others.

Venue
The 2015 conference will be held at the bucolic Islandwood conference
facility near Seattle
(http://www.islandwood.org/gatherings-and-events/lodging). With its
majestic Northwest architecture and the location on Bainbridge Island,
this facility provides an ideal venue for EPG scholars to meet, network,
and present their work. Recognizing that conference participants confront
issues of information overload and cabin fever, we will leave ample time
for them to enjoy the beautiful Northwest surroundings. To top it all, the
food at this resort is excellent, a testimony to the reputation of Seattle
as a foodie city!

We will email information on logistics to conference participants in due
course. For planning purposes, participants should plan on arriving by
late afternoon on Thursday 14 May and leave on the morning of Sunday May
17.

Expenses
This conference has been made possible by the generous gift of Dr. Richard
Wesley, who is a longtime supporter and benefactor of University of
Washington’s Department of Political Science and has a strong interest in
environmental issues. Thanks to his gift, the Center for Environmental
Politics will defray the following costs (for one participant per paper
only).

– Lodging and food (3 nights, May 14, 15 & 16).
– Economy Airfare and local travel expenses up to $500 for participants
from North America and $1,000 for participants from others part of the
world.

There are no conference fees. We have reserved a limited number of rooms
in the Islandwood facility for participants. Should a co-author desire to
attend at their own expense, please contact us upon acceptance to explore
relevant options.

Process
An international steering committee of leading EPG scholars will review
paper proposals. Through a double-blind review process, this committee
will identify the most promising paper proposals.

Paper proposals should consist of electronic submission of a Word document
with a cover page listing authors, affiliations, and contact information;
and up to two pages of a paper abstract that details the relevance of the
work to the EPG literature. To submit your paper proposal, please go to
the Center’s website (http://depts.washington.edu/envirpol/) and click on
“2015 conference” (top right corner).

We will consider work-in-progress only. Please DO NOT submit published,
forthcoming, or accepted work.

Time Line:
1. Proposal submission deadline: November 3, 2014.
2. Notification of paper acceptance: January 15, 2015.
3. Arrival in Seattle: the afternoon of Thursday, May 14, 2015
4. Conference begins: evening of May 14, 2015.
5. Organized panels: Friday, May 15 and Saturday May 16, 2015.
6. Conference ends: the morning of Sunday, May 17, 2015

Steering Committee

Co-Chairs
Aseem Prakash, University of Washington, Seattle
Peter J. May, University of Washington, Seattle

Members
Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Liliana Andonova, Graduate Institute for International & Development
Studies, Geneva
Thomas Bernauer, ETH Zurich, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Xun Cao, Pennsylvania State University
Ashwini Chhatre, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad
Stephen Dovers, Australian National University
Andreas Duit, Stockholm University
Riley Dunlap, Oklahama State University
Adrienne Heritier, EUI Florence
Robert Keohane, Princeton University
David Konisky, Georgetown University
Wai-Fung (Danny) Lam, University of Hong Kong
Mark Lubell, UC Davis
Helen Milner, Princeton University
Ronald Mitchell, University of Oregon
Matthew Potoski, UC Santa Barbara
Hugh Ward, University of Essex

**********************************************************************

Aseem Prakash
Professor, Department of Political Science
Walker Family Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences
Director, UW Center for Environmental Politics
39 Gowen Hall, Box 353530
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-3530

http://faculty.washington.edu/aseem/
http://depts.washington.edu/envirpol/