Senegal: Workshop on Political Participation in Africa

Please read to the end of the article and apply to the workshop organisers by 20th May 2008 with the documents requested. Do NOT send applications to Sociolingo.

The American Political Science Association (APSA) and the Council for
the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) are
pleased to announce the holding of a workshop on Political
Participation in Africa. The workshop will be held on 6-27 July 2008
at the West African Research Center (WARC) in Dakar, Senegal. The
organizers will cover all the costs of participation (travel,
lodging, meals, stipend) of the 20-25 applicants who will be selected
to join this threeweek workshop. The working language is French
though some English materials may be used.

The workshop leaders are Profs. Leonard Wantchekon (New York
University, Department of Politics, USA), Augustin Loada (Faculté de
Droit et de Science Politique de l’Université de Ouagadougou, Burkina
Faso), Alioune Badara Diop (Unité d’Enseignement et de Recherches de
Sciences Juridiques et Politiques de l’Université Gaston Berger,
St.-Louis, Senegal), and Catherine Boone (University of Texas at
Austin, Department of Political Science, USA).

PARTICIPANTS
The seminar is targeted at young university faculty in the social
sciences, and doctoral-level graduate students who hope to go into
teaching positions in African universities. All Fellows should be
engaged actively in an empirical research project in politics,
political sociology, political anthropology, public law, development
studies, or a related area. Fellows should be working on a
dissertation chapter, conference paper, book chapter, or article that
can be developed into an articlelength publication. As workshop
participants, the Fellows will present their on-going research
projects to the group in order to fuel discussion and generate new
ideas for framing and developing their future research projects.

THEMES
Political participation is broadly defined as a set of activities
undertaken by citizens to affect the making of governments as well as
public policies. It includes turnout and voting in elections,
lobbying, joining political parties and unions, petitioning, and
participating in street demonstrations. A good understanding of
patterns of political participation is central to the study of
democracy and governance in Africa.
We are looking for Workshop Fellows who are interested in a range of
issues linked to political participation, including the dynamics of
voting and elections, the organization and workings of political
parties, and the effect of political participation on substantive
policy outcomes (eg. health and education policies, land law,
economic and fiscal policies). We are especially interested in
1. Regional and urban-rural differences in political participation:
what explains differences in political dynamics, including in turnout
and voting, across regions and types of elections?
2. Economic interests, ethnic/religious identities and political
participation: how do economic conditions and membership in ethnic
and religious groups affect civic engagement?
3. Institutions and political participation: how do state structure
and electoral rules affect electoral mobilization and voting?
4. Political participation and democratic governance: does increased
citizen involvement improve the ability of governments to provide
public goods, or change clientelist practices?
The workshop will devote systematic attention to issues of research
design and strategies of data-gathering. Over the course of the
workshop, each Fellow will present a piece of original scholarship to
the group. This can be a research paper, conference paper,
dissertation chapter, or other piece of written work that is
approximately 20-30 pages in length. The format will include
break-out groups centered on particular themes, and time for
participants to revise and develop their research papers. One goal of
the workshop is to get a critical mass of publishable papers that can
be collected into an edited volume on Political Participation in
Africa.

APPLICATIONS
Applications will be accepted in French. Applications should include:
1. A Letter of Application that clearly states the applicant’s
institutional affiliation, position and all relevant contact
information for the
2. A detailed, recent CV of the applicant
3. a 500-word description of the applicant’s current research
interests, how these relate to the theme of political participation,
the empirical focus of the applicant’s research, and the current
status of the applicant’s research project.
4. a 10-15 page written document that is part of the applicant’s
on-going research project. This can be a work-inprogress that is part
of a paper, article, or chapter. The written text should tell the
reader about the empirical as well as the theoretical/conceptual
interests of the author.
5. two letters of reference. If the applicant is a graduate student,
one letter should be a letter of introduction from the applicant’s
supervising professor.

Applications for participation in the workshop as a Fellow should be
sent to CODESRIA, by postal service or by 20 May, 2008. The list of
participants will be announced on 29 May, 2008. All queries and
applications will be sent to the following address:

WORKSHOP ON POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
CODESRIA
P.O. Box. 3304, CP 18524
Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop X Canal 4
Dakar, Senegal
Tel : +221 33 825 98 22/23
Fax : +221 33 824 12 89
Email : political.participation@codesria.sn
Website : www.codesria.org or
www.apsanet.org/africaworkshops
2008 Research Workshop
Theme: Political Participation in Africa
Dates: 6-27 July, 2008-Venue: Dakar, Senegal
Call for Application

__________

From: Jean-Pierre DIOUF <<mailto:jean.diouf@codesria.sn>jean.diouf@codesria.sn>
Date: 14 avr. 2008 16:34

CODESRIA

Atelier de recherche
Thème: Participation politique en Afrique
Date : 6-27 juillet 2008 - Lieu : Dakar, Sénégal