Seminar “Institutions and Politics”, 2015-2016

Seminar of the Belarusian Collegium and the Political Sphere Institute “Institutions and Politics”

2015-2016

Introduction. The study of politics is, above all, the study of institutions, and the institutional study of political life remains an influential area of contemporary political science. Nevertheless, this does not remove the problem of the depth of understanding and practical application of the approach. The seminar is organised to address these tasks. In 2015-2016, the main focus will be on the analysis of political networks (political networks analysis) and examples of its application to the study of contemporary political institutions and political history.

The main topic is the examination of characteristic examples of research into politics and political history through political network analysis in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the possibilities and potential of this method. In particular, the seminar plans to consider the application of this approach to the study of: voting and political participation, social movements, international relations and foreign policy, the political history of elites, as well as rebellions and revolutions.

In particular, this includes the works of Roger Gould, David Knoke, John Padgett, Christopher Ansell and several others.

Competencies. It is expected that work within the seminar will allow participants to significantly deepen their understanding of politics and political history, as well as to master methods and research frameworks for analysing both political history and contemporary political and social processes.

Participants. Senior undergraduate students, master’s students, doctoral students, teachers of the social sciences and humanities, and other interested persons are invited to participate.

Disciplines. The seminar is intended for political scientists, historians, sociologists, economists, philosophers and representatives of other disciplines concerned with the study of politics.

Seminar leader: Andrei Kazakevich, PhD in Political Science, Director of the Political Sphere Institute, Co-Director of the Belarusian Collegium.

Frequency and procedure. Seminar meetings are planned once every two weeks, on Wednesdays, from 18:30 to 20:30. The start date is 25 November.

To register for the seminar, please fill in the form: https://palityka.wufoo.eu/forms/belaruski-kalehijum-seminar Additional questions may be sent to [email protected]