LoPaPol Workshop (4-5 April 2024, Ghent University)
- When
- 04-04-2024 08:00 to 05-04-2024 12:30
- Where
- Faculty of Political and Social Sciences Ghent University
- Language
- English
- Organizer
- Raf Reuse
- Contact
- raf.reuse@ugent.be
Mark your calendars for the inaugural LoPaPol (Local Party Politics) workshop, taking place on the 4th and 5th of April 2024.
What is this workshop?
This event promises to be a dynamic gathering of scholars working on party politics at the local level. Set against the backdrop of the enchanting city of Ghent, the workshop is designed as a forum for in-depth discussions and the dissemination of cutting-edge research in the realm of local party politics. Over these two days, participants will have the opportunity to present their research papers or project proposals and receive valuable feedback.
By organising LoPaPol we want to advance research on local party politics and create a vibrant network among scholars in the field.
Why this workshop?
Local authorities have become pivotal government pillars dealing with complex policy problems that have a great impact on people’s lives. Equally, the local level is becoming increasingly important for political parties. For parties, it is a key arena to win elections, to staff local councils and executives, and to influence policy. Nevertheless, party politics at the local level has not attracted abundant academic attention. We lack a comprehensive understanding on the structure of party competition and cooperation as well as intraparty politics at the local level.
The goal of the workshop is to advance our current knowledge of local party politics by reviewing and consolidating the state of the art and engaging in theoretical, conceptual, and especially empirical innovations. We aim to move beyond the study of the topic based on impressions and perceptions to a systematic understanding of the interactions within and between parties on the local level.
Abstracts can involve all aspects of local party politics:
- Intraparty politics and party organisation at the local level
- Candidate selection for local councils
- Local party manifestos and ideology
- Local election campaigns and the messages parties send to voters
- Local coalition governance, formation outcomes and termination
- Behaviour of parties in local councils, including voting, speech-making, the submission of questions, amendments and motions
- Policy outcomes at the local level, when these are linked to the behaviour of parties
- The building of comparative datasets on party competition in local politics
- The link between behaviour of parties in municipalities and other layers of multi-level political systems
Workshop venue
The LoPaPol workshop will take place in the beautiful city of Ghent in the heart of Belgium. The event is hosted by Ghent University in its Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, located in the city centre.
Faculty of Political and Social Sciences Ghent University
Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41
Ghent
Belgium
There is such thing as a free lunch
The LoPaPol workshop is free of charge for all participants and includes free lunch as well as a welcome drink and guided tour in Ghent’s city hall. The organisation does not cover travel and hotel costs, however.
Diversity & accessibility
Anyone can submit an abstract and attend the LoPaPol workshop, as long as local party politics is the field of study. We aim to bring together a group of scholars that is diverse in terms of gender, career stage and institution. The workshop venue is accessible for participants with disabilities.
Organising team & contact
The LoPaPol workshop is organised by Raf Reuse (Ghent University) with the help of Martin Gross (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich), Christina-Marie Juen (Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg) and Simon Otjes (Leiden University). If you have any questions regarding the workshop, contact Raf Reuse at raf.reuse@ugent.be
Official program
|
THURSDAY 4/04 |
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|
9h00 |
9h30 |
Session 1 |
Introduction |
Raf Reuse |
|
|
Legislative behaviour & government coalitions |
Chair: Christina-Marie Juen |
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|
Start |
End |
No |
Paper |
Presenters |
Discussants |
|
9h30 |
10h00 |
Session 1 |
Consensual or politicized: The relation between coalition and opposition parties in Dutch municipal councils |
Thijs Vos |
Jo Saglie & David Jeffery |
|
10h00 |
10h30 |
Session 1 |
Coalition formation in Norwegian municipalities: national blocs or local variation? |
Jo Saglie |
Thijs Vos & Raf Reuse |
|
10h30 |
11h00 |
Coffee break |
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|
11h00 |
11h30 |
Session 2 |
Driven by ideology in a non-ideological context? Coalition formation in Belgian local politics |
Raf Reuse & Martin Gross |
Thijs Vos & Thomas Tichelbaecker |
|
11h30 |
12h00 |
Session 2 |
Complexity in local coalition negotiations: The duration of coalition negotiations and the length of coalition agreements |
Joes de Natris |
Amanda Domingos & Inès Kalaï |
|
|
|
|
Political communication |
Chair: Christina-Marie Juen |
|
|
Start |
End |
No |
Paper |
Presenters |
Discussants |
|
12h00 |
12h30 |
Session 2 |
Local information hubs or partisan promoters? A longitudinal investigation of mayors’ communication strategies on Facebook in Hungary |
Márton Bene |
David H. Gehne & Sandra Breux |
|
12h30 |
13h30 |
Lunch break |
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|
|
|
|
Party formation & organisation |
Chair: Martin Gross |
|
|
Start |
End |
No |
Paper |
Presenters |
Discussants |
|
13h30 |
14h00 |
Session 3 |
Municipal political parties in Quebec: Conditions of emergence and types of formation |
Sandra Breux |
David H. Gehne & Alistair Clark |
|
14h00 |
14h30 |
Session 3 |
Winning here! But why? Explaining the emergence and success of local parties in local elections in England |
David Jeffery |
Joes de Natris & Pierre Zissel |
|
14h30 |
15h00 |
Session 3 |
Local Political Party Organisational Strength in Comparative Perspective |
Alistair Clark |
Adam Gendźwiłł & Inès Kalaï |
|
15h00 |
15h30 |
Coffee break |
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|
15h30 |
16h00 |
Session 4 |
The Democratic Party in Williamson County, Texas |
Maxime Chervaux |
Raf Reuse & Thomas Tichelbaecker |
|
16h00 |
16h30 |
Session 4 |
Two different Worlds of party politisation of mayoral elections in Germany |
David H. Gehne |
Márton Bene & Marvin Mueller |
|
16h30 |
17h00 |
Session 4 |
Where do the grassroots grow? The formation of local party organizations |
Thomas Tichelbaecker |
Fred Paxton & Maxime Chervaux |
|
17h30 |
19h00 |
Welcome drink & guided tour City Hall Ghent |
|
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|
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|
FRIDAY 5/04 |
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|
|
|
|
Localism |
Chair: Nina De Smedt |
|
|
Start |
End |
No |
Paper |
Presenters |
Discussants |
|
9h00 |
9h30 |
Session 1 |
Local Identities structuring the Election Map? Exploring the Friends and Neighborhood Voting Effect in German Local Elections |
Pierre Zissel |
Joes de Natris & Márton Bene |
|
9h30 |
10h00 |
Session 1 |
Proximity to the people: varieties of localism from the populist radical left and right |
Fred Paxton |
Marvin Mueller & Amanda Domingos |
|
10h00 |
10h30 |
Session 1 |
Geographic representation in local politics |
Martin Gross |
Pierre Zissel & Alistair Clark |
|
10h30 |
11h00 |
Coffee break |
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|
|
|
|
Intraparty politics |
Chair: Nina De Smedt |
|
|
Start |
End |
No |
Paper |
Presenters |
Discussants |
|
11h00 |
11h30 |
Session 2 |
Opening the 'Black Box' of Political Parties: Observing Intra-party Participatory Dynamics in the Development of Electoral Programs |
Inès Kalaï |
Sandra Breux & Maxime Chervaux |
|
11h30 |
12h00 |
Session 2 |
Go ahead, run for office! An experimental study of gender bias in peer encouragement among local councilors |
Adam Gendźwiłł |
Jo Saglie & David Jeffery |
|
|
|
|
Policy & administration |
Chair: Nina De Smedt |
|
|
Start |
End |
No |
Paper |
Presenters |
Discussants |
|
12h00 |
12h30 |
Session 2 |
Populist public administration policy at the local level: The "Alternative for Germany" in power |
Marvin Mueller |
Fred Paxton & Christina-Marie Juen |
|
12h30 |
13h00 |
Session 2 |
Beyond borders: how spatial spillover effects shape the role of pork barrel politics on subnational policy provision? |
Amanda Domingos |
Martin Gross & Adam Gendźwiłł |
|
13h00 |
14h00 |
Lunch break |
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|
END OF THE WORKSHOP |
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