PAIR forges links with Iceland

The Politics and International Relations division has recently established a variety of links with the academic world in Iceland. Head of Department, Graham Smith, spent the month of August as a visiting fellow in the Faculty of Political Science, University of Iceland, whilst Professor of Politics, Gerry Stoker, gave a lecture series there during September as part of the University's centenary celebrations. Such was the success of these visits that we are currently seeking to establish formal links with the University of Iceland through the ERASMUS scheme.

In other matters Icelandic, PAIR was very well represented at the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference 2011. The conference, held in Reykjavic, was the largest event ever staged by the institution, covering a variety of themes from within the discipline. Papers delivered by Southampton staff included:

Russell Bentley - The Ancient Quarrel Between Political Philosophy and Politics and I was on the Democracy and Realism panel
Cristiana Olcese - 'The integrative and critical role of artists in protests'
David Owen - 'What difference does the EU make: Migrant voting rights and the Euro-polity'
Matt Ryan and Graham Smith - 'Towards a Comparative Analysis of Democratic Innovations: Lessons from a pilotn fs-QCA of Participatory Budgeting'
Graham Smith - 'Trans-national democratic innovation in the European Union: Flirting with deliberative and plebiscitary design'