[ecrea] CALL FOR PAPERS: Political Studies Association (UK) Annual Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS: Political Studies Association (UK) Annual Conference=20

Belfast, Northern Ireland, 3-5th April 2012

Panel topic: The public and the politics of immigration controls

Convenor: Dr Chris Gilligan (University of the West of Scotland).

Deadline for paper proposals: Monday 3rd October 2011

One of the key assumptions in the literature on international migration is =
that restrictive immigration controls are a response to public pressure. Ma=
ssey et al (1998), in their magisterial review of the literature on migrati=
on indicate the speculative nature of the claim that policy is a response t=
o public pressure when they say that migration studies lacks =91an adequate=
 theory to account for the motivations, interests and behaviour of the poli=
tical actors who employ state power to intervene=92 in the management of mi=
gration (p. 292). Scholars have begun to open up this issue through an exam=
ination of the policy process (e.g. Boswell, Geddes&  Scholten, 2011), but =
the public input into policy is still inadequately understood.=20

This panel aims to interrogate the assumption that restrictive policy is a =
response to public pressure. We welcome papers =96 theoretical and/or groun=
ded in empirical research =96 which explore this assumption. We offer the f=
ollowing questions, clustered around some of the conference themes, as sugg=
estions for paper topics (these are indicative questions, feel free to offe=
r your own):=20

Ethics and Politics =96 what are the principles which underpin policy-makin=
g on migration? (are these, for example, the national interest, or national=
 security, or social stability?); what is the relationship between these pr=
inciples and the public? (do the public influence the principles, or are th=
ey an audience to whom principles are communicated?) does migration policy-=
making embody integrity, accountability, honesty, and disclosure?

Conflict and Conciliation =96 what are the points of conflict where public =
demands for restrictions on migration are evident? (are these, for example,=
 concentrated regionally (e.g. at border crossing points), or focused on pa=
rticular migratory streams (e.g. migrant labour or refugees and asylum-seek=
ers), or related to electoral cycles)? How do political parties and governm=
ents negotiate between conflicting demands for restrictions and openness?

The People's Politics =96 in an era of widespread political disengagement h=
ow is public opposition to immigration controls constituted? Are opinion po=
lls, or the mass media, what scholars have in mind when they refer to 'publ=
ic pressure'? Is there any relationship between political disenchantment an=
d anti-immigrant sentiment? (e.g. support for the far right) How do organis=
ed publics in civil society attempt to influence government policy, for or =
against, immigration controls? How do groups in civil society attempt to en=
gage the public around the issue of immigration? Or do they not attempt to =
engage the public?=20

Politics: Looking Back or Looking Forward =96 is the idea that the public d=
emand restrictions on immigration a contemporary reality grounded in public=
 feedback, or is it an assumption based on the experience of demands for co=
ntrols in the 1970s which were articulated through mass organisations such =
as the labour movement? Is the development of a managed migration perspecti=
ve an attempt to look forward, borne of a recognition that developed states=
 will require labour migration to fill labour shortages, and care needs, ne=
cessitated by aging populations? (And if so is how do they attempt to engag=
e the public in this looking forwards?) In the past the politics of race wa=
s a factor in shaping public attitudes towards immigration, is this still t=
he case? (If not, what shape public attitudes today?)=20

Those wishing to participate should send their paper title, affiliation and=
 contact details along with an abstract of no more than 200 words by Monday=
 3rd of October 2011 and sent to Chris Gilligan at: (chris.gilligan /at/ uws.ac.uk)  =20

*Graduate students please indicate your status as panels are limited to inc=
luding one graduate.

Proposals which are accepted will need to be written up by Monday 27th of F=
ebruary 2012.=20

For more details please visit the conference website at: http://www.psa.ac.uk/2012/index.aspx=20



**********

Chris Gilligan
Senior Lecturer
Politics and Sociology Division
School of Social Sciences=20
University of the West of Scotland (UWS)
Paisley&  Hamilton Campuses

http://www.ethnopolitics.org
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/reno


http://chrisgilligan.blogspot.com
http://westscotland.academia.edu/ChrisGilligan



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