Call for Papers: SECOND ANNUAL INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES CONFERENCE

                CALL FOR PANELS, WORKSHOPS AND PAPERS

                       ECONOMICS AND DEMOCRACY

     SECOND ANNUAL INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES CONFERENCE

                 Research School of Social Sciences,
               Australian National University, Canberra

                         December 8-10, 2008


     The interpenetration of democracy and the economy has been
     subject to longstanding suspicions, on both sides.
     Economists frequently decry what they regard as ill-
     conceived interventions into the market from populist
     politicians. For their part, political scientists are often
     concerned about the influence that 'political money' has on
     the makeup of parliaments or decisions of government, and
     on keeping the forum separate from the market.

     What the appropriate relation between democracy and the
     economy should be remains a fraught question. Most rejoice
     in the extensions of the franchise and extending democracy,
     but many would baulk at extending it to workplaces or
     boardrooms. There are also important questions over
     whether contracting out more public functions to the
     private sector seriously constricts the range of democratic
     control. Some see democracy as just another kind of
     market: a market in votes, governed by the same logic as
     the economic market, while others regard the analogy as
     fundamentally misplaced.

     Keynote addresses will be delivered by Tim Besley (LSE) and
     Donald Wittman (UCSC).

     We invite proposals for workshops (full-day, invitation
     only intensive sessions aimed at fostering collaborative
     research), paper sessions (public presentations and
     discussions of thematically linked papers), panel
     discussions (on current issues and controversies related to
     the conference theme), and individual paper proposals.


     FURTHER INFORMATION:

     Deadline for proposals: 31 March 2008

     Please address (or at least cc) all conference program
     correspondence and all administrative queries to the
     Conference Secretariat:

     CONTACT:       Mary Hapel
     Email:         MAILTO:arcadia@coombs.anu.edu.au

     Address substantive queries to one of the members of the
     Organizing Committee:

     CONTACT:       Bob Goodin
                    Philosophy Program
                    RSSS, CASS, ANU
     Email:         MAILTO:bob.goodin@anu.edu.au

     CONTACT:       Andrew Leigh
                    Economics Program
                    RSSS, CASS, ANU
     Email:         MAILTO:andrew.leigh@anu.edu.au

     CONTACT:       Keith Dowding
                    Political Science Program
                    RSSS, CASS, ANU
     Email:         MAILTO:keith.dowding@anu.edu.au
Posted 2/9/08