Professor Rein Taagepera, University of California at Irvine and Tartu University, Estonia, has been awarded the Johan Skytte Prize in political science for 2008 'for his profound analysis of the function of electoral systems in representative democracy'. The prize is given annually by the Skytte Foundation at Uppsala University from a donation made in 1622 by Johan Skytte, councillor of the realm, and goes to a scholar who in the view of the foundation has made the most valuable contribution to the discipline of political science. With its 500,000 Swedish crowns (approximately 83,000 US dollars) the prize is one of the biggest and most prestigious in political science. Professor Taagepera has especially studied the consequences of various electoral methods.
Born in Estonia, Taagepera fled as a young boy from the Nazi and Communist occupations at the end of World War II, first to Germany and then to Morocco. He then left for North America, where he studied nuclear electronics and finally got his Ph.D. in physics. Politics was, however, his main interest and he began to study political science. Eventually Taagepera was Professor of Political Science at University of California, Irvine.
Taagepera is also a fiction writer and has among other things published the subtle fable Livland-Leaveland about Estonia's relation to the threatening great powers Germany and Russia, which was awarded the Tuglas Prize in 1990.
When Communism collapsed, Taagepera returned to his homeland after more than forty years. He got a chair in political science at University of Tartu and as dean he built up a faculty of social science. In 1992 he ran for president and got 23 per cent of the votes. Taagepera has been a member of Parliament and a party leader. He has now left Estonian politics and returned to California but is still an inspiring colleague for the political scientists of Tartu.
Professor Taagepera will receive the Skytte Prize at a solemn ceremony in Uppsala on Saturday 27 September, 2008.
A presentation, in Swedish, of Professor Taagepera's work is to be found in Svenska Dagbladet, understreckaren, 1 April 2008.
See also http://athena.statsvet.uu.se/prize. For more information, please contact Professor Leif Lewin, Department of Political Science, Skytteanum, Uppsala University, 018-471 34 12, e-mail: Leif.Lewin@statsvet.uu.se.
ecpr jean blondel ph.d. prize 2008
The ECPR is delighted to announce that the Jean Blondel Ph.D. Prize in 2008 will be awarded to Silja Häusermann for her dissertation 'Modernization in Hard Times: Post-Industrial Pension Politics in France, Germany and Switzerland'.
REPORT OF THE JUDGING PANEL
Silja Häusermann's thesis aims at explaining why, over in recent decades, the three European countries France, Germany and Switzerland have been able to adopt far-reaching reforms, which adapt their pension regimes to two major challenges of the post-industrial era: fiscal austerity (i.e. a need for benefit retrenchment) and new social risks (i.e. a need for benefit expansion). Thereby, the thesis generates new insights with regard to (a) theories of welfare state development, (b) empirical methods for the analysis of institutional change, and (c) the political debate on the viability and reform-capacity of European pension regimes.
Dr Häusermann maintains that the most common explanatory approaches found in the welfare state literature – functionalism, power resources theory, varieties of capitalism and institutionalism – fail to explain the dynamics of these reforms. She proposes her own complex model of institutional change to explain the 'postindustrial reforms' of the continental welfare state.
This is a sophisticated, multi-dimensional analysis of support for pension reform in three countries, looking at groups, sectors, parties and their constituencies, and interests. It is original and convincing in tracing new alignments of interests and values. The empirical work is thorough.
The judges of the prize considered this is a high-level dissertation in comparative political science, following the tradition of leading European political scientists like Jean Blondel and Stein Rokkan.
ABOUT THE WINNER
Since June 2007, Silja Häusermann has been a lecturer (Oberassistentin) in comparative political science at the University of Zurich. In 2002 she received a Master in Public Administration and Public Management MPA at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration (IDHEAP), Lausanne, Switzerland. In May 2007 she defended her dissertation 'Modernization in Hard Times. Post-Industrial Pension Politics in France, Germany and Switzerland'.
The prize will be awarded to Dr Häusermann by Professor Blondel at the Joint Sessions in Lisban, Portugal, next year.
stein rokkan prize for comparative social science research announcement and information for candidates for the XIIIth (2008) and XIVth (2009) prize
The Stein Rokkan Prize for comparative social science research was first awarded in 1981 in honour of Stein Rokkan (1921–1979), former President of the International Social Science Council (ISSC) (1973–1977) and professor of comparative politics at the University of Bergen, Norway. The prize was instituted jointly by the ISSC and the Conjunto Universitario Candido Mendes in Brazil, and until 2002 was awarded jointly by both institutions. Candido Mendes served as President of the ISSC from 1981 to 1992. Since the early 1980s, the Stein Rokkan Prize has been managed, on behalf of the ISSC, by the ECPR.
The ISSC, the University of Bergen and the ECPR are pleased to announce that, thanks to the generosity of the University of Bergen, the Stein Rokkan Prize for comparative social science research will now comprise an award of 
5,000 and will be awarded on an annual basis.
The prize is open to all social science disciplines. It is given to a submission that is deemed by the jury to be a very substantial and original contribution in comparative social science research. It can be either an unpublished manuscript of book length, or a printed book, or collected works published no more than two years before the award ceremony is to take place.
Nominations for the XIIIth (2008) and XIVth (2009) prize are currently welcomed. The deadline for submission of nominations is 1 December 2008.
The 2008 and 2009 prize jury comprises:
- Professor Klaus Armingeon, Universität Bern (chair)
- Professor Maurizio Ferrera, Università degli studi di Milano
- Professor Stein Kuhnle, University of Bergen/ Hertie School of Governance, Berlin
- Professor Manfred Schmidt, Universität Heidelberg
Both the 2008 and 2009 Stein Rokkan Prizes will be awarded during the ISSC's first World Social Science Forum, which is to be held in Bergen, Norway, from 10 to 12 May 2009. For further information on the Forum, please see http://www.rokkan.uib.no/wssf/.
REQUIREMENTS FOR CANDIDATES
In a change from past criteria, there is no longer an upper age limit for candidates, although the jury will try to ensure that both younger and more senior scholars are awarded the prize.
The prize is open to candidates from all social science disciplines.
REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSIONS
- Must be a very substantial and original contribution in comparative social science research.
- Can be either an unpublished manuscript of book length, or a printed book, or collected works published within the two years preceding the award ceremony.
- Should include four copies of manuscripts, typed double space, or of printed works.
- Should be accompanied by a formal letter in support of the nomination from the head of a research institution – a university department, research centre or institute; the letter of nomination must provide information on the nominee, his/her work, and justify their candidacy for the award.
- Should preferably be submitted in English; if a submission is written in another language, it should be accompanied by an English summary of the work.
- Should be submitted by the deadline of 1 December 2008.
Submissions should be sent to:
Clare Dekker, Administrative Director of the ECPR
ECPR Central Services
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park, Colchester
Essex CO4 3SQ, UK
Clare Dekker can also answer any queries; her e-mail address is: dekker@essex.ac.uk.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE 2008/2009 PRIZEWINNERS AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE AWARD CEREMONY
- The decision of the jury will be announced by early February 2009.
- The 2008 and 2009 prizewinners will be invited to attend an award ceremony, which will take place during the ISSC's World Social Science Forum in Bergen, Norway, from 10 to 12 May 2009 (see http://www.rokkan.uib.no/wssf/).
- The ISSC will organise the award ceremony, during which prizewinners will be expected to give a public lecture on the work for which they have been awarded the prize.
- The ISSC will organise a reception in honour of the laureate.
ecpr executive committee elections 2009
WHAT IS THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?
The ECPR's Executive Committee consists of twelve persons elected by the ECPR Council. Six members step down and six are elected every three years. Each member of the Executive Committee must be a member of a full (not associate) ECPR member institution and is elected in order to serve the organisation, not to represent a constituency. Each member of the Executive Committee is allocated a 'portfolio' covering one of the main areas of responsibility – publications, Joint Sessions, finance, for example – that is backed up by a sub-committee, but members are also expected to contribute to furthering and publicising all the Consortium's activities. The Executive is responsible for deciding policy and directing the affairs of the Consortium and though it is supported on a day-to-day basis by the Academic and Administrative Directors and Central Services staff, it is an important and increasingly demanding job that requires commitment and energy. Anyone who cares about the ECPR and wishes to see it flourish should consider standing for the Executive Committee. It is, however, important to understand that being a member of the Executive Committee is not simply one more line on one's CV. Doing the job seriously needs time and commitment, and may be hard to combine with other significant responsibilities.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2009?
Each member of the Committee is entitled to serve for a maximum of two three-year terms. Six members retire every three years, thus ensuring continuity. The term of office of the six members of the Executive Committee who were elected during the Edinburgh Joint Sessions in 2003 will come to an end during the Lisbon Joint Sessions in April 2009. They are required to stand down, thus creating six vacancies. The following people will stand down in 2009:
- Carlos Alba, Autonoma University of Madrid
- Michael Cox, London School of Economics
- Maurizio Ferrera, Università degli studi di Milano
- Ursula Hoffmann-Lange, Universität Bamberg
- Hanne Marthe Narud, University of Oslo
- Erik Neveu, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Rennes
The following people will continue in office:
- Klaus Armingeon, Universität Bern
- Luciano Bardi, Università di Pisa
- Eileen Connolly, Dublin City University
- Joaquim Molins, Universitat Autònoma Barcelona
- Vello Pettai, University of Tartu
- Jacob Torfing, Roskilde University
Nomination forms and guidelines for nominations and the election process will be sent to all official representatives at least three months before the election takes place. This information will also be available on the ECPR website. The deadline for nominations (which require the signature of the person standing for election, together with the signatures of five nominees who must be official representatives of ECPR member institutions) is approximately two weeks before the election takes place (18 April 2009).
WHAT DO I DO IF I AM INTERESTED?
Talk to a current member of the Executive Committee or one of the Directors. Their email addresses can be found in the 'ECPR people' pages of the ECPR website at www.ecprnet.org.
2009 JOINT SESSIONS, LISBON, PORTUGAL: 14–19 APRIL
Workshops currently welcome paper proposals. If you would like to summit a paper proposal, please contact the workshop director(s) directly. A full list of workshops, contact details and information on how to apply to participate are now available on the ECPR website at: http://www.ecprnet.org.
The deadline for submitting a paper proposal is 1 December 2008.
2010 JOINT SESSIONS, MUNSTER, GERMANY: 22–27 MARCH
The ECPR currently welcomes proposals to direct workshops at the 2010 Joint Sessions that will be hosted by the University of Münster.
Please see our website for full details on how to submit a proposal to run a workshop at: http://www.ecprnet.org.
The deadline for proposals is 1 February 2009.
