APSA 2014 is around the corner!

From 28 September to 1 October more than 415 conference participants of over three dozen countries will attend the 2014 Australian Political Studies Association annual meeting at the University of Sydney. 

Conference participants will have the opportunity to attend all-day interactive thematic workshops, over one hundred stream panels, several special plenary sessions and multiple major social events!

This year’s general theme is ‘Democracy, Autocracy and Elections’, and we want to draw your attention to a few key events.

We are delighted with the addition of ‘Docos for Politicos’, a film series devoted to a retrospective of the documentary films of Eugene Jarecki: award-winning filmmaker, public thinker on international affairs, author, and one of only two people to have twice won the Sundance Grand Jury prize for documentary. 

These special sessions will screen four of his major documentary films and feature a live interactive discussion with the director and producer, moderated by Professor James Der Derian from the Centre for International Security Studies (CISS) at the University of Sydney.

More information is available here. 

Professor John Keane from the Sydney Democracy Network is involved in two fascinating special sessions. On Monday 29 September, Lance Bennett will speak about "Democratic Mobilization in the Digital Age" from 09.00-10.30am, and on Tuesday 30 September Professor Keane will lead a Q&A with Professor Marian Simms about "Funding Opportunities with the Australian Research Council".  

We would also like to highlight two pre-APSA thematic research workshops on electoral integrity that are to take place on Sunday 28 September, and which will offer scholars and practitioners alike an opportunity to exchange ideas and build their networks.

The workshop on “Challenges of Electoral Integrity in Asia-Pacific” will review cutting-edge research on electoral integrity in the Asia-Pacific region, aiming to strengthen working relations between experts and identify challenges and opportunities for research and teaching in this emerging sub-field. The workshop will cover topics including comparative institutions, political violence, political finance, and media and communication technologies and is not to be missed!

The EIP’s Money, Politics and Transparency project will host an authors' workshop on “Comparative Political Finance”. It is meant for those working on a new executive report on Comparative Political Finance Worldwide, which is to be released online and designed primarily for practitioners. With this publication and a subsequent longer book-length volume meant for scholars, students and policymakers, the project aims to explore the workings of the ‘political finance regime’. This is the set of public policies, legal frameworks, and procedural rules, institutions, court decisions, and social norms that regulate the role of money in politics, .e.g. the funding of political parties, candidates, election campaigns, and elected representatives.

And last but not least, on Monday 29 September from 6.00-8.00pm, participants will have the opportunity to get acquainted and mingle at a cocktail reception with drinks and canapés, hosted at one of Sydney’s most stunning venues: the Stranger’s Dining Room at the New South Wales Parliament. This event features an official welcome to Sydney and a brief speech by the well-known ABC political commentator Antony Green!