DISCURSIVE SPACES. POLITICS, PRACTICES AND POWER.
6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN INTERPRETIVE POLICY ANALYSIS
23.06.11-25.06.11
Cardiff University
Conference website:     www.ipa-2011.cardiff.ac.uk
Call for Panels Deadline:       November 30, 2010
Call for Papers Deadline:       January 31, 2011
Call for Participation in Methodology Workshop Deadline: January 31, 2011
Inquiries to:   (IPA-2011 /at/ cardiff.ac.uk)
Abstract submissions to:        (IPA-2011 /at/ cardiff.ac.uk) (please see 
details below)
Interpretive approaches are experiencing renewed interest and 
revitalisation in the social sciences quite broadly. Their 
sensitivity to social meaning, historical context, and the 
importance of human subjectivity has increasingly challenged the 
empiricist, positivist and scientist mainstream that has been 
dominant in recent decades. In policy analysis, these 
characteristics often link interpretive methods to critical 
approaches which place policy research in its relevant political and 
historical contexts. This 6th Conference (following the successful 
Birmingham, Amsterdam, Essex, Kassel and Grenoble conferences) 
investigates links of the interpretive tradition to new topics, 
venues and methodological challenges.
Keynote 1: Interpretive Policy Analysis in Practice
Presenter: Maarten Hajer, University of Amsterdam and Environmental 
Assessment Agency (NL)
Respondent: Patsy Healey, Newcastle University (UK)
Keynote 2: Deliberative Democracy and the Politics of Sustainability
Presenter: James Meadowcroft, Carleton University (CAN)
Respondent: Frank Fischer, Rutgers University (USA) & University of 
Kassel (Germany)
Keynote 3: Interpretive Policy Analysis:  Reflecting on Meaning and Practice
Presenter: Dvora Yanow, University of Amsterdam (NL)
Respondent: Steven Griggs, De Montfort University (UK)
Roundtable 1: Human Agency and Emotions in Policy Analysis
Chris Skelcher, Birmingham University (UK)
Janet Newman, Open University (UK)
Paul Hoggett, UWE, Bristol (UK)
Roundtable 2: Interpretive Policy Analysis in Non-Western Contexts
Fulong Wu, Cardiff University (UK), on China
Stephen Connelly, University of Sheffield (UK), on Egypt
Navdeep Mathur, India Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IND), on India
Jenny Pearce, University of Bradford (UK), on Latin America
Roundtable 3: On "The State as Cultural Practice": Authors meet their critics
Authors: Mark Bevir, University of California at Berkeley (USA)
Rod Rhodes, University of Tasmania (AUS) tbc
Critics:   Fiona Mackay, University of Edinburgh (UK)
Bob Jessop, Lancaster University (UK)
Hendrik Wagenaar, Leiden University (NL)
Tanja Pritzlaff, University of Bremen (Germany)
Conference themes
The conference will provide a forum to explore long-standing themes 
in the interpretive tradition, in particular governance, democracy 
and deliberation, the use of discourse and interpretive methods in 
critical policy analysis, and the relationship of discourse to 
power. It will also explore new places and horizons for interpretive 
policy analysis. This will be particularly evident in the keynote 
presentations and roundtables which are focussed on the contribution 
of interpretive policy analysis to addressing major political and 
social questions of our times; the use of interpretivist and 
deliberative methods in non-Western contexts; and the inclusion of 
non-cognitive perspectives on human agency. The conference will also 
offer an opportunity to assess how interpretive methods can help to 
understand new forms of governance, the role of the state, and 
various modes of policymaking from the local to the global scale. It 
will provide an opportunity to discuss the theory and practice of 
democracy, and for debating different methods of interpretation and 
critical explanation.
For more details and the call for panels, roundtables and papers, 
please visit the conference website:
www.ipa-2011.cardiff.ac.uk
Organizing Committee at Cardiff University
Peter H. Feindt, School of City and Regional Planning (Conference Chair)
Gillian Bristow, School of City and Regional Planning
Alistair Cole, School of European Studies
Robert Evans, School of Social Sciences
Andrew Flynn, School of City and Regional Planning
Terry Marsden, Sustainable Places Research Institute (SPRINT)
Kevin Morgan, School of City and Regional Planning
Ken Peattie, ESRC Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, 
Sustainability and Society (BRASS)
Fulong Wu, School of City and Regional Planning
Conference Advisory Board
Frank Fischer, Rutgers University, New Jersey (USA)/Kassel 
University (Germany)
Herbert Gottweis, University of Vienna (Austria)
Steven Griggs, University of Birmingham (UK)
Navdeep Mathur, India Institute of Management, Ahmedabad  (IND)
Aletta Norval, University of Essex (UK)
Dvora Yanow, University of Amsterdam (NL)
Henk Wagenaar, Leiden University (NL)
Philippe Zittoun, University of Lyon / IEP Grenoble (FR)
Methodology Workshops Organizing Committee
Alex Franklin, SPRINT, Cardiff University (UK) (Chair)
Barbara Dickhaus, University of Kassel (Germany)
Anna Durnova, University of Vienna (Austria)
Antonia Graf, University of Muenster (Germany)
Stephen Jeffares, Birmingham University (UK)
Sonia Lemettre, University of Grenoble (FR)
Michael Lennon, CPLAN, Cardiff University (UK)
Graham Walker, University of Essex (UK)
Diego Vazquez-Brust, BRASS, Cardiff University (UK)
Dvora Yanow, University of Amsterdam (NL) (Advisor)
contact person: Peter H. Feindt
email: (ipa-2011 /at/ cardiff.ac.uk)
address: School of CIty and Regional Planning
King Edward VII Avenue
Cardiff CF10 3SN
United Kingdom