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
- Chrysa Lamprinakou (Brunel University), “Agenda Setting: Press, Party and Public Agendas in the 2004 Greek General Elections”
- Ioannis Andreadis and Theodore Chadjipadelis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), “Campaign characteristics of Greek parliament candidates”
- Alexia Katsanidou (University of Essex), “History will return to haunt you: The application of the reward-punishment model on cabinet ministers for policy options”
- Maria Zisouli (University of Athens), “Online Campaigning – 2007 Greek Parliamentary Elections”
GPSG Panel 2: Political economy and welfare in Southern Europe
Chair: James Newell
Discussant: James Newell
- Anastassios Chardas (University of Sussex), “Bringing the State Back In’ the Study of the Greek Political Economy: The European Union’s Regional Policy in Greece”
- Dimitris Tsarouhas (METU), “Social Policy in Greece: continuity and change”
- Antonios Aggelakis (University of Crete), “Space and Innovation in juxtaposition: understanding the relationship in an evolutionary public policy perspective – the case of Greece”
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)
- Ernesto Gallo (University of Turin / University of Birmingham), “From Southern European to Italian exceptionalism?”
- Alfio Mastropaolo and Duncan McDonnell (University of Turin), “Italian ‘exceptionalism’: the two sides of a debate”
- Gianfranco Pasquino and Marco Valbruzzi (Universityof Bologna), “Southern European politics: an Italian exceptionalism?”
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”
- Francesco Stolfi (University College Dublin), “The Impact of Electoral Systems on the Structure of the Executive: How Electoral Reform Strengthened the Italian Prime Minister”
- Anna Cento Bull (University of Bath), “The Italian transition and national reconciliation”
- Giorgos Charalambous (University of Manchester), “Rifondazione and Europe: A party competition analysis”
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”
- Pietro Pirani (University of Western Ontario, Canada), “The Way We Were’: Continuity and Change in Italian Strategic Culture”
