SociologistEuropeanSociologis opeanEuropean Sociologist European Sociologist European Sociologist EuropeanSociologist Sociologist European Sociologist European Sociologist European ISSN 1385 478 x Bulletin of the European Sociological Association o Summer 2007 Issue Number 25 Conflict,Conflict, CitizenshipCitizenship andand CivilCivil SocietySociety 3rd-6th September 2007, Glasgow / Scotland Opening Plenary at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Contents The BIGGEST ESA-Conference ever! The 8th ESA Conference / Glasgow 01 1,800 abstracts have been accepted and President’s Message 02 1,500 delegates have preregistered already Full Programme 03 as this Newsletter is being prepared. See Abstracts for Plenaries 04 Programme for the Semi-Plenaries 06 the full program in the next pages. Conference Registration 06 Presentation of Research Streams 07 All about the ESA-Elections Getting to Glasgow / Local Transportation 07 ESA-Conference - Frequently Asked Questions 08 The election of the new President of the Conference - Workshops 09 ESA and of the new Executive Committee Meet the authors 11 will take place at the General Assembly News for Research Networks 12 meeting in Glasgow. See a full list of ESA Research Networks 13 candidates in this issue. If you are not able to attend the conference, you can vote in Election of the President / Executive Committee 14 advance by sending in the ballot which is Proposed Changes of ESA Statutes 17 included with the mailed paper version of this issue. ESA Contact Information 18 1 Summer 2007 Issue 25 o Bulletin of the European Sociologist Association President's message Giovanna Procacci takes a look back at her work with the Executive Commitee Dear ESA members, rationalizing their functioning over Secondly, my effort has been to While the 8th ESA Conference in two calendar years and reducing consolidate the presence of ESA at Glasgow is under preparation and their amount, despite increased the European level. It seems to me my term of presidency is number of issues of the Journal. self-evident that ESA can offer to approaching an end, I would like to sociologists from all European share with you some of my views Decreasing fees has been part of a countries a chance to take part in a over the work I have been doing broader strategy of rebalancing debate about what is European together with the Executive income and expenditures in the Sociology, within a broader Committee during 2005-2007. Association, which has also discussion about EU policy for meant more investments in sciences. Our task is to help We have been through a period of activities for doctoral and post- constructing common views about important changes in the doctoral researchers (a longer needs and priorities for the Association. We had to hire our Student Workshop, a new ESA development of Sociology in own secretary, given the end of Summer School for years between Europe. ESA is part of the Initiative secretarial support from the French two conferences, the ESA Prize for for Science in Europe, which was CNRS. This has been the occasion young sociologists-under the at the origin of the European for reshaping the work of our supervision of a newly established Research Council, and we have office in Paris, also thanks to a Postgraduate Research strengthened our link with the bookkeeper who is now working Committee) and for the RNs (there social sciences section of ESF. We together with our secretary and is no limit any longer to the number have opened a process of Treasurer. We are also considering of ESA-grants in the intermediate consultation with all European the need for a more active website: year between two Conferences, up national associations of sociology some changes in this direction will to 15 RNs have been funded in (meeting Dec. 2006). If we are able be already realized in the next 2006). to get also our RNs to participate in months, and hopefully the next such consultation, we can establish Executive Committee will go further Our action has been guided by two ESA as a platform where European on this task. convictions. First of all, the Sociology is acting for its own conviction that RNs need to be purposes. A further relevant change has more involved in the activities and occurred in our journal European choices of the Association; for this, This Executive has put lots of Societies with the arrival of a new we have created a new energies and invested money into General Editor, Prof. John Scott consultation body, the ESA RNs this kind of activities, under the from Essex University, the partial Council, where the Executive and supervision of the newly renewal of the Editorial Board representatives of all RNs will have established External Relations under the chair of Carlo Ruzza, a chance to directly exchange their Committee. I strongly hope that and the conclusion of a new views. I look forward to its first the next President and Executive contract with Routledge till 2016. meeting at Glasgow. I do believe will continue to consolidate what is The main points of the new that we need to improve by now a new field of action for contract are the increase of our communications with the RNs. This ESA. This activity ought to journal from four to five issues per is why the RNs will be asked to become, at least in my view, the year at the same price for at least bring to the Council a page with core of ESA mission within our two more years, and the possibility main information for our office scientific community. of downloading a paperback records (see p.12). I have also tried edition of books in our book-series to involve the RNs in our We shall have several "Studies on European Societies". It consultation strategies for opportunities to debate all these is very important that all our enhancing the role of ESA as issues in Glasgow. members and RNs are aware of representative of the scientific such extensions in our publications community of sociologists in and consider submitting articles to Europe. I must say that so far RNs With my best wishes to all of you the Journal and book-proposals to have not reacted very actively, for a good conference, the book-series. hopefully the ESA RNs Council will encourage them to get more Yours, We have also defined a new involved, otherwise only a few most structure for membership fees, active RNs will dominate. Giovanna Procacci 2 Bulletin of the European Sociologist Association o Issue 25 Summer 2007 On the following pages you will find detailed information about the events at the 8th Conference of the ESA. You can read about the full program, the social events, the research networks and about booking and registration. Full Programme The programme below shows * RS/RN Sessions organised by Research Streams and Research Networks * Poster sessions on 4th and 5th September from 11.00am-4.00pm Monday, 3rd September: Tuesday, 4th September: Wednesday, 5th September: 3 Summer 2007 Issue 25 o Bulletin of the European Sociologist Association Thursday, 6th September: Abstracts for Plenaries Opening Plenary Monday, 3rd September, 16.00-18.00 / Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Donatella della Porta them to the specific instances of the phenomenon to Conflict, citizenship and civil society: How be studied as well as the methods for studying them. emerging social conflicts challenge social A challenge to those images comes from such science approaches characteristics of the new conflicts as; a cross-issue framing of "old" social questions and "new" differential The lecture shall start with a discussion of the concept rights; the trans-nationalization of the movement's of "civil society" and similar ones developed in organizational structures; the emergence of a global different subdisciplines. First, I shall locate the discourse and the targeting of supranational concept of civil society (as opposed to the state and institutions; the convergence of different types of the market) within normative theory of Non- actors (social movement organizations, unions, Governmental Organizations (as opposed to nation- parties, NGOs) in networks and campaigns and the states) in international relations, and of social presence of multiple and "tolerant" identities. In movements (as opposed to party and interest groups) concluding this part of the lecture, I shall suggest that in political sociology and comparative politics. Second, these elements - far from making old sociological I shall make a plea for going beyond the recognition of categories useless - actually stimulate an examination the specific origins and location of these concepts and of the emerging nature of social movements as actors try to bridge them discursively in order to overcome capable of producing resources in-action. some limitations in their actual use. With respect to the field of social movement studies, I will stress that the Finally, I shall discuss how these conflicts reflect upon risk of self-referentiality and parochialism have their conceptualizations of citizenship. While bringing roots, in part, from the very success of the field (with a social rights back in, they challenge, however, the growing number of journals, chairs and the like) but conception of national borders, that had helped define also from internal cleavages between disciplinary, the boundaries for the recognition of those rights. At methodological and national approaches. the same time, the language of rights is also much more in evidence, linking social, civic and political In a second part, departing from some results from universal rights to the specific concerns of new empirical research on recent conflicts, I shall stress constituencies. how their very nature poses a strong demand for cross-fertilization among different approaches. In In conclusion, I will express my hope that some particular, I shall suggest that the new wave of conflict developments in the social sciences might facilitate that became visible with the protest against the WTO our capacity to understand the new conflicts through a millennium round in Seattle in 1999 has shaken some cross-fertilization of different theories and methods.