Swansea, 2008

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The 58th annual conference of the Political Studies Association took place in April 2008 at the University of Swansea. Swansea marked the fourth consecutive year of GPSG panels and was one of the Group’s most successful conferences. The Group’s panels were well-attended and featured very good papers as well as stimulating debates. The 2008 conference also marked the beginning of our collaboration with the Italian Politics Specialist Group (IPSG) of the PSA; a fruit of that partnership was the organising of three successful joint panels on Southern European affairs.

The Greek Politics Specialist Group was honoured by the participation in the joint GPSG/IPSG panels of distinguished academic Prof. Gianfranco Pasquino, professor of political science at the University of Bologna, member of Italy’s National Academy of Sciences and former senator.

Panel Convenors: Dimitris Tsarouhas (Middle East Technical University, Ankara), Antonios Aggelakis (University of Crete).

 

GPSG Panel 1: Greek Politics and the 2007 General election

Chair: Dimitris Tsarouhas
Discussant: Dimitris Tsarouhas

 

GPSG Panel 2: Political economy and welfare in Southern Europe

Chair: James Newell
Discussant: James Newell

 

Joint Panels of the Greek Politics and Italian Politics Specialist Groups

Panel Convenors: James Newell (University of Salford), Dimitris Tsarouhas (Middle East Technical University, Ankara), Antonios Aggelakis (University of Crete)

Joint GPSG/IPSG Panel 1: Southern European Exceptionalism and Italy

Chair: Dimitris Tsarouhas (METU)
Discussant: James Newell (University of Salford)

 

Joint GPSG/IPSG Panel 2: Democracy in Southern Europe and Institutional Adaptation

Chair: Antonios Aggelakis (University of Crete)
Discussant: Dimitris Tsarouhas (METU)

  • Fernando Casal Bértoa (European University Institute, Florence), “Party System Institutionalisation in new democracies Southern Europe in a comparative perspective”
  • Anna Cento Bull (University of Bath), “The Italian transition and national reconciliation”

 

Joint GPSG/IPSG Panel 3: Italian Foreign and Defence Policy

Chair: Antonios Aggelakis (University of Crete)
Discussant: Dimitris Tsarouhas (METU)

  • Dorte Dinger (University of Bremen), “Southern and northern foreign policy between rapprochement and divergence: The cases of Germany and Italy”