Category Archives: academia

Europe as antipolitics machine

Posted on 24 October 2012 by

The customers in this Westminster café seem a strange mix of  suited civil servants and builders in boots and hi-vis. But it’s worth the early start and the cup of industrial strength tea to beat a path back to the … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, EU politics, Ireland, protest, W European politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Populism in Central and Eastern Europe Spectres of moderation?

Posted on 22 September 2011 by

Radicalism and extremism, especially of the far-right variety, hold an enduring hypnotic fascination for political scientists and journalists. Extremist populism and illiberal movements more generally, we are told, relentlessly on the rise in both Western and Eastern Europe. In countries … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, British politics, Bulgaria, CEE centre-right, CEE far-right, communism and post-communism, Poland, political parties, populism, Romania | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reykjavík diary

Posted on 29 August 2011 by

The  decision of the European Consortium for Political Research to stage its biennial (soon to annual) General Conference in Reykjavík has resulted in one of the biggest such events ever, with some 2000 political scientists temporarily boosting the Icelandic capital’s … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, Democracy, economic crisis, Iceland, political parties, political science | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Area studies in the dock again?

Posted on 14 July 2011 by

In the early-mid 1990s  -  along with a chain of momentous social and political consequences- the fall of communism also triggered soul searching and crises in the academic world among specialists on Soviet and East European politics: Why, with the … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, Arab Spring, Area studies, communism and post-communism | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Setting the seal on CEELBAS: Parties and post-communism

Posted on 13 July 2011 by

The Centre for East European for Language Based Area Studies (CEELBAS) research consortium which has brought researchers interested in  various aspects of Russia and CEE at UCL, Birmingham, Oxford and beyond together in a variety of events and networks over … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, communism and post-communism, Poland, political parties | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

>Cutting edge stuff

Posted on 2 May 2011 by

> To minimise exposure to the royal wedding, I spent part of the weekend reading Gabriel Weston’s short semi-autobiographical memoire-cum-collection of short stories Direct Red: A Surgeon’s Story, the tale of an English graduate turned surgeon and how things really … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, suburban life | Leave a comment

>The quality of governance is not strained

Posted on 24 March 2011 by

> Prof. Bo Rothstein of Gothenburg’s University’s Quality of Government Institute  is a supporter of the Glorious Blues. Not Chelsea, but sixteen times Swedish champions FF Malmo. His presentation to SSEES’s politics centred on Anti-Corruption Indirect Big Bang Approach  was, … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, Democracy, institutions, political science, ssees, Sweden | Leave a comment

>Coffee and blue horizons

Posted on 23 March 2011 by

> Spring sunshine, view of the Downs, coffee bar across the car park. Sussex University is a virtual Nirvana. But what is the ideological identity of the European Conservatives and Reformists group? Market liberalism in economics reckon my collaborators. Comparision … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, ECR | Leave a comment

>It was twenty two years ago today…

Posted on 25 November 2010 by

>That student demonstration in London against the Tory government that turned violent? I was there. Quite close to where it all kicked off, in fact, although by accident and I missed the more dramatic bits that got on the telly. But don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, British politics, populism, protest | Leave a comment

>Colourful language at SSEES

Posted on 20 October 2010 by

> Conceptual art has descended on the School of Slavonic and East European Studies – and not before time.  Artist Julia Vogl has created an installation entitled  Colouring the Invisible representing the different languages spoken by people passing through SSEES … Continue reading →

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