At a theoretical level, the organiser seeks to question what is good governance in the era of the economic crisis.  Is it about building a virtuous government, or is about ensuring effective and capable bureaucratic structures? Will “good governance” become an elusive panacea like “democratization,” or does it have other substantive qualities that we may use to define and identify it? And if “good governance” was initially a term applied in the development literature to refer to countries that should take Europe as their model, does the term continue to have meaning at a time when Europe itself is called into question? At the same time, the organiser seek to explore the empirical evidence for changing patterns of governance. What lessons can be drawn from the pan-European experience and from the experience of specific regions and individual countries?

In the past few years, the question of governance has become a central feature of political debate across Europe. Debates about ideology appear to have given way to discussions about the ways in which political authorities exercise their power. Is that power truly used for the greater good, or is it, willfully or otherwise, narrowly focused on serving particular segments of society? Such debates have emerged throughout the EU. In Cyprus, political authority is confronted with the challenges of the global economic crisis, the crisis in the Eurozone, as well as internal social and political tensions as regards accountability and transparency. Greece is facing widespread social unrest as people challenge the mainstream political parties; likewise in Britain, wave upon wave of political scandal has brought public trust in politicians to an all-time low. Similar patterns of public concern and popular contestation about the very nature of government can be seen in almost every other European country. Indeed, the way in which the European Union itself is governed is increasingly called into question by those who feel that it has lost touch with the citizens of the Union.

Meanwhile, questions of good governance are increasingly being raised in and around Europe's neighborhood. In North Africa and the Near East, the Arab Spring has seen decades-old regimes challenged in ways that appeared all but unthinkable just a couple of years ago. In the Western Balkans, tackling corruption and building a truly effective rule of law, especially against the backdrop of ethnic tensions, remains a pressing concern. In Ukraine, the apparent immunity of those tied to the ruling class has come under increasing scrutiny.

Call for papers

Please send a short biography and an abstract of no more than 250 words to Dr. Rebecca Bryant, r.e.bryant@lse.ac.uk, by 20 June 2012. Only selected abstracts will be informed by June 30, 2012. Participants may expect that part of their costs will be covered, with priority given to students and recent recipients of the Ph.D.

Source: EuroLsee newsletter