Hobbes’ work was designed to make the analysis of politics more scientific. Machiavelli was a man of action; he worked, primarily, as a civil servant of the Florentine Republic. It is this difference in methodology, which ultimately underlies the differences in political beliefs of these two people.

Formal launch of the Centre for Sustainable International Development
14th September 2010, Kings Conference Centre, University of Aberdeen

Draft programme
0930  Arrival, registration, tea/coffee
1000  Welcome and introductions, Professor Ian Diamond, Principal, University of Aberdeen
1010   Welcome to Scotland, Scottish dignitary
1020  The role of the University of Aberdeen in addressing the international development agenda, Professor Ian Diamond, Principal, University of Aberdeen
1035  Overview of the work of Centre for Sustainable International Development, Dr Hilary Homans, Director, Centre for Sustainable International Development
1050  Moderated panel discussion on the key global challenges in achieving sustainable international development and the Millennium Development Goals by Members of the Advisory Board, Centre for Sustainable International Development

Key note speakers:
1120                When children teach themselves: Self organising systems of learning – Professor Sugata Mitra, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University and Chief Scientist, Emeritus, Indian Institute of Technology
1155                   Norwegian government Oil…

2011 APSA Teaching and Learning Conference February 11-13, 2011| Albuquerque, New Mexico| Embassy Suites Albuquerque Hotel & Spa
The Teaching and Learning Conference is a unique meeting in which APSA strives to promote greater understanding of cutting-edge approaches, techniques, and methodologies for the political science classroom. The conference provides a forum for scholars to share effective and innovative teaching and learning models and to discuss broad themes and values of political science education–especially the scholarship of teaching and learning. Reflections from attendees of previous conferences »
Meeting Format

Themed tracks: Using the working group model, all meeting participants attend only one themed track for the duration of the conference.
Workshops: In addition to traditional working groups, the conference also features special workshops that focus on practical issues related to teaching.  In these workshops participants can interact with political scientists outside of their assigned themed track.

Call for Proposals

The call for…

Confirmed Plenary Speakers include Professor Tom Inglis, UCD School of Sociology
Conference Date: 22 September 2010
William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium, University College Dublin
With recent events, the import of globalisation has come into focus. Issues surrounding Ireland’s dependence on processes of globalisation press us to reconsider its relationship with the United States in the ‘post-globalisation’ moment. This conference provides an opportunity for rethinking globalisation within the context of Ireland’s relationship with the United States.
Questions to be addressed may include:

Is globalisation still relevant to Ireland’s relationship with the United States?
Is globalisation synonymous with Americanization?
Has the era of globalisation reconstituted Irish identity in relation to the U.S.?
What is the relation of the Irish diaspora to processes of globalisation?
What paradigms of Irish-US economic and political relations are emerging from a post-globalised Ireland?
How has Irish culture represented or reflected shifting relations with the U.S.?

We welcome proposals…

Date: Monday 13 September 2010
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speaker: Dr Heiner Flassbeck
Respondent: Professor Robert Wade
Chair: Professor Stuart Corbridge
As nations struggle with what they fear will be a “jobless recovery” from the global recession, the report studies how employment can be raised in developing countries and how the participation of the majority of the population in economic growth can be warranted. The report recommends a fundamental change in the assignment of economic policies to allow for growth, inclusion, high employment and monetary stability at the same time.
Dr Heiner Flassbeck is Honorary Professor of Hamburg University and Director, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD secretariat.  He is the leader of the team preparing the Trade and Development Report.  Previously, he was the Vice-Minister of Finance in Germany and Chief Economist of the German Institute of Economic Research in Berlin.
Established in 1964,the United Nations…

‘Our National Character, Our National Purpose’:
American presidents, democracy promotion and global order

A conference of the United States Presidency Centre
28 April 2010
Chancellor’s Hall, Senate House
Directions: www.sas.ac.uk/maps.html
10:00-10:30 Coffee and Registration
10:30-10:45 Welcome: Iwan Morgan (Director of United States Presidency Centre)
10:45-12:30 Roundtable: Barack Obama’s Democracy Promotion after One Year
Chair: Tim Lynch (ISA)
Ruth Deyermond (King’s College, London)
Scott Lucas (Birmingham)
Adam Quinn (Birmingham)
Rob Singh (Birkbeck)
Tony Smith (Tufts)
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-15:15 Panel A: Historical Roots of Democracy Promotion
Chair: John Thompson (St Catherine’s, Cambridge)
The Surprising M. Tocqueville
David Clinton (Baylor)
The Rationalization of American Imperialism: A Case Study of President Lincoln’s War on the Confederacy
Marshall De Rosa (Florida Atlantic)
Franklin Roosevelt and the Promotion of Democracy: The Roosevelt “Doctrine” of January 1936
Tony McCulloch (Canterbury Christ Church)
Woodrow Wilson’s New Wars: The Genesis and Legacy of Democratic Interventionism
Jon Roper (Swansea University)…

The Islamic Republic of Iran in 2009 -
New Course or Old Paradigms?

we are pleased to announce that conference proceedings can be followed LIVE at:
http://www.legatum.com/eventdisplay.aspx?id=1755
Conference proceedings run from 09.00 – 17.30 GMT.
Participants include:
Ali Alfoneh – Visiting Research Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Nazenin Ansari – Diplomatic Editor, Kayhan
Charles Allen – Former Under Secretary for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, Department of Homeland Security and Former Special Assistant to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Rafael Bardaji – Director, GEES & Former National Security Advisor to Jose Maria Aznar
Mark Fitzpatrick – Senior Fellow for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme, International Institute for Strategic Studies
Lawrence Haas – Former Spokesman for US Vice-President Al Gore and international relations commentator
John Hannah – Former National Security Advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney and Senior Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Michael Jacobson – Senior Fellow…

NYC International Relations/ Business, and PoliSci digital community meets on first Mondays of the month for a drink and some debate! 
Where? @RSHotel 501 Lexington Ave (between 47 and 48 st), New York City, NY
When? First Monday of the month, 2009  7pm – 10pm
More information: http://twtvite.com/ibst8p
Latest news: http://twitter.com/nycir

A one-day seminar at the University of Exeter, 1st October 2009
Ethical consumption has been endorsed early on by academic critics of consumer culture. It was – and to an extent still is – seen as an alternative to de-politicised and largely unsustainable consumer capitalism. Alternative trading organisations were seen establishing new links of solidarity between Northern consumers and Southern producers based on equitable exchange and mutual respect.
The impressively successful promotion of fairtrade and organic goods in mainstream retail outlets, however, meant deeper involvement with the institutions of the global market and with established players in it. Many academic commentators turned their critical attention to “mainstreaming”, to fairtrade marketing and on the effects on producer communities.
This does not mean that critical researchers have turned against ethical consumption. For the most part they remain sympathetic to and supportive of the project of bringing moral considerations back into the economy…

A conference to be held at Rhodes University, Grahamstown,
8/9 of November 2009.
The fall of the Berlin Wall signalled the collapse of communism in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, as well the end of the Cold War.  It also had an immediate impact on southern African where the Cubans withdrew from Angola, South Africa ended its occupation of Namibia, and a relatively peaceful domestic transition from apartheid to democracy was achieved.
This conference offers an opportunity to reflect on how post-Cold War/colonial developments have affected human society and scholarship in the region. It is also interested in examining how post-Cold War thinking continues to shape the world in which we live. We particularly welcome inter/multi-interdisciplinary approaches to these issues and participation from across the academic disciplines.
The proceedings or, at least, a selection of the papers will be published.
The distinguished scholar of the Cold War, Marilyn Young…