Department of Political Science Seminar Series

Seminar Series: James Mahoney – Colonialism and Development in Spanish America – CANCELLED

The Department of Political Science presents:

James Mahoney

Colonialism and Development in Spanish America

Date: Friday, April 13, 2012
Time: 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Location: Sidney Smith Hall Room 3130

Filed under Events and Seminar Series by Carolyn Ursabia on March 23, 2012 | No Comments »

Seminar Series: Harald Bathelt – Learning, Knowledge Generation and Space in the Relational Economy

The Department of Political Science presents:

Harald Bathelt

Learning, Knowledge Generation and Space in the Relational Economy

Date: Friday, March 30, 2012
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Location: Sidney Smith Hall Room 3130

Reception (3:30 – 5:00 p.m.) to follow in SSH 3037
(Please RSVP FOR RECEPTION ONLY to Sari Sherman.)

How are firms, networks of firms, and production systems organized and how does this organization vary from place to place? What are the new geographies emerging from the need to create, access, and share knowledge, and sustain competitiveness? In what ways are local clusters and global exchange relations intertwined and co-constituted? What are the impacts of global changes in technology, demand, and competition on the organization of production, and how do these effects vary between communities, regions, and nations?

This book synthesizes theories from across the social sciences with empirical research and case studies in order to answer these questions and to demonstrate how people and firms organize economic action and interaction across local, national, and global flows of knowledge and innovation. It is structured in four clear parts:

- Part I: Foundations of Relational Thinking
- Part II: Relational Clusters of Knowledge
- Part III: Knowledge Circulation Across Territories
- Part IV: Toward a Relational Economic Policy?

The book employs a novel relational framework, which recognizes values, interpretative frameworks, and decision-making practices as subject to the contextuality of the social institutions that characterize the relationships between the human agents. It will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and graduate students across the social sciences, and practitioners in clusters policy.

Filed under Events and Seminar Series by Carolyn Ursabia on March 23, 2012 | No Comments »

Seminar Series: Lawrence LeDuc – Dynasties and Interludes: Past and Present in Canadian Electoral Politics

The Department of Political Science presents:

Lawrence Leduc

Dynasties and Interludes: Past and Present in Canadian Electoral Politics

Date: Friday, March 23, 2012
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Location: Sidney Smith Hall Room 3130

Reception (3:30 – 5:00 p.m.) to follow in SSH 3037
(Please RSVP FOR RECEPTION ONLY to Sari Sherman.)

Dynasties and Interludes provides a comprehensive and unique overview of elections and voting in Canada from Confederation to the recent spate of minority governments. Its principal argument is that the Canadian political landscape has consisted of long periods of hegemony of a single party and/or leader (dynasties), punctuated by short, sharp disruptions brought about by the sudden rise of new parties, leaders, or social movements (interludes). Changes in the composition of the electorate and in the technology and professionalization of election campaigns are also examined in this book, both to provide a better understanding of key turning points in Canadian history and a deeper interpretation of present-day electoral politics.

Filed under Events and Seminar Series by Carolyn Ursabia on March 19, 2012 | No Comments »

Seminar Series: Pauline Jones Luong- Crude Ambitions: The Internationalization of Emerging Country NOCs

As part of the Political Science Seminar Series, the Department of Political Science, Canada Center for Global Security Studies and the Asian Institute are proud to present:

Crude Ambitions: The Internationalization of Emerging Country NOCs

Pauline Jones Luong
Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan

Date: Friday, March 9, 2012
Time: 2 pm – 4 pm
Location: Sidney Smith Hall, Room 3130 (100 St. George Street)

Abstract

Emerging country National Oil Companies (NOCs) have received increasing attention within and outside the scholarly community due to the recognition that they have played an increasingly dominant role in both the exploitation of petroleum reserves and the management of petroleum sectors in their own countries since the late 1960s. By the end of the 20^th century, NOCs in the developing world alone numbered over 100 and accounted for over 70 percent of world oil production. What has been largely overlooked by those outside the petroleum industry, however, is that emerging country NOCs have also sought to increase their economic influence beyond their own borders. Over roughly the past three decades, but especially since the beginning of the 1990s, NOCs have increasingly sought to internationalize their operations. Their ambitions, however, have been realized with varied degrees of success. What explains this variation? The few accounts that exist to date focus on recent changes in the structural characteristics of the international oil industry. Based on preliminary research (with Jazmin Sierra, Brown University), I argue instead that success depends on domestic political conflict surrounding petroleum sector nationalization and the NOC’s managerial independence. Understanding why some NOCs are effectively able to become IOCs not only has significant policy implications, it contributes to growing theoretical skepticism regarding the so-called “resource curse.”

Bio

Pauline Jones Luong is currently Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. Previously, she held faculty appointments at Yale and Brown University. She received her Ph.D. in 1998 from Harvard University, where she was an Academy Scholar from 1998-1999 and 2001-2002. Her primary research interests include: institutional origin and change; identity and conflict; the politics of economic development, and political extremism. Her empirical work focuses primarily on the former Soviet Union. She has published articles in several leading academic and policy journals, including the American Political Science Review, Annual Review of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Foreign Affairs, Politics and Society, Europe-Asia Studies, and Resources Policy. Her books include: Institutional Change and Political Continuity in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Power, Perceptions, and Pacts (Cambridge University Press, 2002); The Transformation of Central Asia: States and Societies from Soviet Rule to Independence (Cornell University Press, 2003); and most recently, Oil is Not a Curse: Ownership Structure and Institutions in Soviet Successor States (Cambridge University Press, 2010). Future research will explore secularism as a form of political extremism and will focus on countries with predominantly Muslim populations, including former Soviet Central Asia. Her research to date has been supported by several organizations and institutions, including the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the United States Institute of Peace, the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation, the National Council on East European and Eurasian Research, and the Smith Richardson Foundation.

Filed under Events and Seminar Series by Carolyn Ursabia on February 29, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Seminar Series: Margaret Kohn – Political Theories of Decolonization Postcolonialism and the Problem of Foundations

The Department of Political Science presents:

Margaret Kohn – Political Theories of Decolonization Postcolonialism and the Problem of Foundations

NEW Date! Friday, March 16, 2012
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Location: Sidney Smith Hall Room 3130

Reception (3:30 – 5:00 p.m.) to follow in SSH 3037
(Please RSVP FOR RECEPTION ONLY to Sari Sherman.)

Political Theories of Decolonization provides an introduction to some of the seminal texts of postcolonial political theory. The difficulty of founding a new regime is an important theme in political theory, and the intellectual history of decolonization provides a rich–albeit overlooked–opportunity to explore it.

Many theorists have pointed out that the colonized subject was a divided subject. This book argues that the postcolonial state was a divided state. While postcolonial states were created through the struggle for independence, they drew on both colonial institutions and reinvented pre-colonial traditions. Political Theories of Decolonization illuminates how many of the central themes of political theory such as land, religion, freedom, law, and sovereignty are imaginatively explored by postcolonial thinkers. In doing so, it provides readers access to texts that add to our understanding of contemporary political life and global political dynamics.

Filed under Events and Seminar Series by Carolyn Ursabia on January 30, 2012 | No Comments »