Can Federalism Answer the Big Questions of the 21st Century?
The bi-annual scientific journal L’Europe en formation invites would-be contributors to submit proposals for a forthcoming thematic issue on the role of federalism in the 21st century, to be published in July 2024.
All selected authors will be invited for a workshop in Nice, France, which will take place on 28 and 29 September 2023.
The study of federalism has become an important element of comparative political science, history, economics, law and several other disciplines. Most recent discussions on federalism continue to focus on individual or comparative country-case studies, on the importance of specific institutional designs, and the relevance of key issues in federal systems – such as the distribution of competences, fiscal arrangements or administrative provisions in these systems.
Whilst it has been recognised that federations are not anymore the only systems applying federal structures (see for example Keil and Kropp’s 2022 Emerging Federal Structures in the post-Cold War Era book), academic discussions on devolved, decentralised and quasi-federal states have also continued to focus on the same issues as those in federations.
These include institutional questions, conflict resolution, pluralism and minorities, intergovernmental relations, efficiency debates and the relationship between institutional frameworks and citizens, amongst others.
This workshop and the subsequent special issue, however, take a different approach. By focusing on the key question “Can federalism answer the big questions of the 21st century?”, we aim to explore not just the traditional institutional, historical and theoretical approaches to federalism, but we want to go beyond the study of federalism as a theory and the study of federations as a form of comparative institutional politics. Instead, we ask the question what federalism, and federal structures are used for, and if they can in different forms, shapes and applications, help us address global challenges of the 21st century. By doing so, we invite contributions that focus on comparative insights, theoretical discussions or thematic frameworks and engage with one of the following themes:
Themes of interest, can be approached from an interdisciplinary perspective, and include but are not limited to:
– Federalism as theory – what does it do and why is it needed in the 21st century?
– Federalism as a tool of peace-building (both case studies and global peace) and state reconstruction
– Federalism and minority rights
– Federalism and sustainability (including climate change, energy, biodiversity)
– Federalism and migration policies
– Federalism and crises (health, environmental, economic, democratic)
– Federalism and European integration (also in the wake of the Ukraine war)
– Federalism and complexity: the trend to Multi-level Governance
Contributions are accepted from researchers and practitioners from all fields of social sciences, and can be written in English or French. Interdisciplinary contributions are encouraged, as well as theoretical, conceptual and methodological approaches.
Abstract proposals (in English or French) should be submitted by 15 June 2023, at the following address:
fedconf2023@cife.eu. Abstracts should include the title of the proposed article, a brief presentation (500 words), and the CV of the author separately.
All accepted authors will be notified by 1 July 2023, and will be invited for the workshop in Nice, France, 28-29 September 2023.
The costs for accommodation and hospitality during the workshop will be covered by the Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE). If researchers are unable to fund their own travel to Nice, travel bursaries can also be provided. For the workshop, authors are asked to prepare a 10-page discussion / framework paper.
All final papers are due on 1 February 2024 and will be published in a special issue of l’Europe en Formation in June 2024.They will be published in the Summer 2024 issue of l’Europe en Formation (expected month of publication: July) on the scholarly journal website cairn.info.
The papers, of 5,000 to 10,000 words in length (including footnotes and excluding bibliography), may be written in English or French. An abstract of 150 words should be added to the article (with a translation in the other language if possible), as well as a brief presentation of the author (100 words).
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