Cfp: Deconstructing unitary statehood: hybrid governance in comparative perspective, Naples 5-6 May 2017 (original) (raw)

Deconstructing unitary statehood: hybrid governance in comparative perspective 5-6 May 2017, Naples, Italy Joint Workshop Università L’Orientale di Napoli, Universite’ Libre de Bruxelles and Tallinn University of Technology Deadline to submit abstracts: 17 March 2017 The main aim of this workshop is to investigate the synergies generated by the co-existence, competition and conflict between competing actors of governance. While governance is traditionally a function performed by the state, and formal institutions, recent empirical evidence has shed light on the capacity of informal structures and institutions in a variety of world regions to fulfill similar functions (often referred to as: informal, rebel, real or insurgent governance). For this workshop, our main focus is on the Middle East and North Africa but we are keen to see comparative approaches engaging with other regions (i.e. the post-Soviet spaces or Sub-Sahelian Africa). We are keen to attract contributions exploring empirical evidence that allows us to test the notion of ‘areas of limited statehood’, to be understood as more than geographical spaces, but rather spaces where non-state actors can either compete or cooperate with the state depending on the circumstances (Risse 2013). This can produce different forms of hybrid governance, and can possibly go to the extent of foreseeing the coexistence of modern and traditional practices of the exercise of power (Bacik 2008). While the clash between different sources of authority and claims of legitimacy can generate tensions and conflicts, the presence of competing actors can lead to a variety of outcomes. We are keen to explore cases from stratified and yet peaceful systems of authority to cases where the competition is less peaceful, leading to violent struggles between the central authority and insurgent groups. Theoretically, by building on critical literature on statehood and sovereignty we intend to challenge two main paradigms: the Westphalian and the Weberian. The former emphasizes borders’ sanctity as prerogative of modern states, while the latter stands for a static conception of states as the only form of political organization. The idealized “Westphalian state”, which has distinct boundaries and emphasizes the right of nonintervention and borders’ inviolability, has been under attack in recent years (Kaldor, 1999). We intend to push the boundary further to enrich debates on the importance of historicizing and contextualizing the different forms and shapes statehood and governance can take, even with regard to the territory and the fluidity of borders (Bierstecker 2013). We are also keen to redefine informal practices as “varieties of governance” (Polese et al. 2017) to explore a wide range of options covering informal, invisible and unrecorded forms of action, be they deliberate manifestations of resistance to state power, or alternative, bottom-up informal practices compensating for public authorities’ inaction or absence. Even if they are rarely regarded as acts of resistance against the state but as compensation for what the state fails to deliver, we see that in the case of power vacuums, local actors will emerge and create new political economy of survival, a web of informal structures able to create opportunities and generate economic activities for the local populations, creating new patron-client relations, located in the grey area between the legal, illegal and extra legal. We would be keen to receive contributions that engage with the (non exhaustive) list of topics: The relationship between civil society and formal institutions in an empirical and/or comparative perspective Societal demands and bottom-up visions of statehood Hybrid governance, hybrid sovereignty, hybrid statehood, examined in their different theoretical underpinnings but with reference to empirical cases Frozen conflicts, sub-levels of state governance Forms of insurgent and rebel governance Formal governance vs real governance Theoretical exploration and/or empirical illustration of examples of political economy of resistance versus political economy of survival How invisible or unperceived forms of resistance transform into visible ones (for instance the genesis of social movements) If interested please send an abstract (300 words) and short biographical statement to by the 17 of March 2017 to gc.giuliacimini@gmail.com back-up addresses: ap@tlu.ee and rhanausantini@johnshopkins.it There is no participation fee. If selected, we might be able to cover your board and lodging in Naples for 2 days (2/3 nights)