The Department of European and International Studies at King’s College London is pleased to announce a call for papers for their third annual postgraduate conference:

MOVEMENTS, NETWORKS, PROTEST
NEW AGENDAS FOR SOCIETY AND POLITICS

From the Arab Spring to Occupy, environmentalists and feminists, immigrants and students, the importance of social movements, protests, revolutions and riots in today’s world is undeniable. They have raised core questions regarding democracy, power, equality and the relationship between citizens, the state and the global economy, whilst social movement studies have expanded in academia, providing fruitful theoretical and analytical perspectives for the study of social networks, opportunity structures, collective identities, globalisation and transnationalism.
Our conference will explore the importance of movements for social relations, political policymaking and academic research. Empirical studies as well as critical theoretical papers are welcomed on topics including, but not limited to:

- Protest repertoires, means and tools: contemporary social movements between peaceful "acampadas", riots and revolutions
- Citizenship from below? Approaches to democracy and participation beyond the state
- Insiders and outsiders: the representation, rights and recognition of immigrants and minorities
- Explaining the success or failure of social protest
- Social, economic and political relations from the global to the local
- The impact of the internet and social networks on political participation
- The aesthetics of protest
- Leaders or followers? Hierarchies and power relations
- Transnational networks and movements beyond borders

We encourage postgraduate researchers from across the social sciences and humanities to apply in order to establish an open and critical space for analysis and discussion. Presentations will be of 20 minutes with discussion and debate from the audience.

Date: 15th June 2012
Venue: King’s College London, Strand Campus

Abstracts of 250 words, with name, contact details and institutional affiliation should be sent to Julia at Julia.feilen@kcl.ac.uk before the 22nd of April 2012. Speakers will be contacted subsequently.