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Dear colleagues,

Please find below/attached details of a call for papers for the conference:
"Producing legitimacy: governance against the odds".

Best wishes,

Alice Wilson

Call for papers

Conference: "Producing legitimacy: governance against the odds".

Convenors:
Dr Alex Jeffrey, Geography, University of Cambridge
Dr Fiona McConnell, Geography, University of Cambridge
Dr Alice Wilson, Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Location:
Alison Richards Building, 7 West Road, University of Cambridge

Dates:
Monday 22- Tuesday 23 April 2013

Confirmed speakers include:
Nina Caspersen, Politics, University of York
Ilana Feldman, Anthropology and International Affairs at George Washington
University Scott Pegg, Political Science, Indiana University

Conference aims and objectives:

'Legitimacy', especially the legitimacy of governing authorities, is a key 
concept in political theory and practice. It is both analytically rich, 
connecting core political issues of authority, governance and sovereignty, 
and complex in its changing historical manifestations: the legitimacy of 
the classic nation-state vies with that of the supra-national configuration 
such as the EU, the contested would-be state such as Kosovo or a break-away 
rival government such as Libya's Transitional National Council. Yet, at the 
same time, critical analysis as to the various sources of legitimacy and 
how it is constructed and contested in our diverse geopolitical panorama 
has hitherto been largely neglected. This interdisciplinary conference 
responds to the need for closer examination of legitimacy, approaching it 
from an important and original angle: the legitimacy claims of anomalous 
geopolitical spaces. These spaces, where conventional relationships between 
statehood, sovereignty and territory do not or cannot operate, include de 
facto states, annexed territories, governments-in-exile, and territories 
governed by insurgencies, liberation movements or unrecognised governments. 
Bringing together scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds who study 
geopolitical actors aspiring to exist within the inter-state system, this 
conference explores:

- the utility of legitimacy as a conceptual framework for examining the
functioning of such polities; 

- the practices, discourses and narratives
through which legitimacy is constructed in cases where legality is denied;

- what this might mean for how we think about governance in the
international system more generally.

We welcome papers which focus on theoretical perspectives, legal analyses
of (non)recognition, comparative case studies and ethnographic accounts of
legitimacy claims being enacted and contested on the ground. Questions that
might be addressed include: do geopolitical 'anomalies' in fact set
themselves, and are they expected to perform to, higher standards of
legitimate governance than conventional nation-states, in particular around
'good governance' discourses and practices such as democratic reform,
popular mandates and adherence to non-violence? Or to what extent are
"abeyance techniques" employed in order to avoid questions of a lack of
legitimacy? What narratives of history, culture and geography are evoked in
claims made about legitimate political pasts, presents and futures? What
forms of material or immaterial extraction and redistribution occur within
these anomalous geopolitical spaces and how are they legitimated? Where
maps fail to represent de facto polities, what moral and political projects
are employed to legitimate de jure cartographies? What might be the
relationship between legitimate authority over place and over people?

Abstracts are welcomed from scholars across the social sciences and
humanities, including but not limited to history, international relations,
political geography, political science, international law and social
anthropology.

Limited funds may be available to help with speakers' travel and/or
accommodation, but those considering submitting an abstract to present a
paper should plan on seeking funds from their own institutions to meet
these costs.

Please send abstracts of not more than 300 words, along with name,
affiliation and a biographical statement of up to 70 words to:
[log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] The deadline for
abstracts is October 26th 2012.

-- 
Dr Alice Wilson

Junior Research Fellow, Homerton College, University of Cambridge

Division of Social Anthropology, Department of Archaeology and 
Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Homerton College
Hills Road
Cambridge
CB2 8PH

Tel: +44 1223 747212

[log in to unmask]

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