Dear All,
There is an opportunity to hold a Theory Standing Group meeting at the ECPR General Conference in Pisa, 6-8 September 2007. A meeting in Helsinki in May was kindly chaired by Judith Squires, and Raia Prokhovnik kindly provided the minutes below. As neither Veronique nor I are going to Pisa, we are looking for volunteers as before to (a) chair the meeting, and (b) take the minutes. Re: the website item below, I can report that Simon Thompson was unable to secure institutional support for this upgraded activity. As always, bright ideas need to be backed by commitments of time (and occasionally money). If anyone would like to volunteer to be temporary chair or secretary, please let me know, and I will put you in touch with ECPR Central Services to arrange a convenient meeting time/place (they want to have these arranged by early July). It's as much a social thing as 'pressing business', though if anyone out there is ready to fire on more cylinders please say so!
Best wishes,
Terrell



We had a Political Theory Standing Group Meeting on 11 May at the ECPR workshops in Helsinki.  Here are the minutes.  There was only a small turnout unfortunately – it is possible that some people might have left the workshops by the Friday lunchtime when the meeting was scheduled.
 
All good wishes,
Raia
 
Apologies:  Terrell Carver, Veronique Mottier
 
Present:  Judith Squires, Mike Saward, Raia Prokhovnik, Peter Lassman
 
Minutes of the previous meetings:  Judith read out the relevant sections of the minutes from meetings held at Budapest September 2005, and Nicosia April 2006.
 
Mission and aims:  Judith reminded the meeting of the mission and aims of the group:
-          to facilitate electronic and other platforms of communication between political theorists in the ECPR
-          to develop dialogue between political theorists
-          to promote political theory within political science
-          to secure acceptance for political theory proposals for workshops
 
Judith asked whether these aims were still appropriate.  The group agreed that they were.
 
Matters arising:
 
-          The idea of using the email list and website for commissioned short pieces on lively themes was discussed.  Volunteers are needed to get this underway.  No-one present at the meeting felt able to take this on.
 
-          The idea of a network of regional volunteers for travelling was discussed.  Such volunteers would set up seminars and lectures for scholars travelling in that area.  Those at the meeting thought this was a good idea in principle.  It was proposed that the website could be used for this purpose.
 
Ideas for the future:
 
Developing the:
-          Website.  Judith suggested that the ECPR might pay to gather information for the regional network and put it on the website.  She noted that the ECPR paid for a similar project by the Women and Politics group.  It was a very useful resource.  There was a memory that Simon Thompson had offered to set up or expand the Political Theory group website, but members didn’t know if this had been taken forward.  The group suggested that the Convenors of the standing group approach the ECPR about funds to set up and develop the website.  The ECPR has a pool of money for standing groups to use each year, and an application could be made to it.
 
-          email list – this works well 
 
-          advice bureau – this works well, but members of the group could be reminded to use it to increase their chances of having panels with a political theory element accepted for the Workshops and General Conferences.



Professor Terrell Carver
Department of Politics
University of Bristol
10 Priory Road
Bristol
BS8 1TU
United Kingdom
+44 (0)117 928 8826
www.bristol.ac.uk/politics