Dear colleagues, friends, and members of our RC10 community,

I wish you all the best on the upcoming holidays. May all your wishes come true, both in private and academic life. We had great collaboration this year, and I believe we will continue to do so in 2023. As always, our goal in the new year is to create great stories and projects, conduct research, and hold conferences that are important to the community.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of our 27th World Congress of International Political Science Association that will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina July 15-19, 2023. I invite you to submit your Closed Panel Proposals until January 18, 2023. Also, Call for Papers is open until January 18, 2023. Please respond to these dates with your proposals and papers, but also encourage your colleagues to join us.

I look forward to the next meeting and new common challenges!

Best wishes for 2023!

Call for Proposals

Dates of the Conference: January 11-14, 2023
Place: Orlando, FL, USA

Conference: RC 08 and RC 13

International Political Science Association (IPSA)

In collaboration with the Southern Political Science Association (SPSA), USA

Deadline to submit your proposal: by August 5, 2022

RC08 (Legislative Specialists) and RC 13 (Democratization in Comparative
Perspective) are collaborating on organizing a conference to bring together
academics and practitioners from around the world to discuss topics related to
modern legislatures and the processes of democratization and de-democratization.
We are inviting papers on a broad range of topics, including (but not limited to) the
role of legislatures and their capacity to address the most pressing challenges that
our world is facing, such as crises (including economic, migration and pandemic
crises), legislative decline, and the rise of strong executives, corruption, and overall
democratic/ authoritarian tendencies. When faced with challenges domestically and
internationally, what roles and how do legislatures play?
We are also interested in papers addressing the roles of legislatures in a time of war
or military aggression domestically or internationally. Given the current crises
precipitated by Russian aggression in Ukraine, we welcome papers that address the
role of Ukrainian and other worlds legislatures in dealing with the consequences of
the aggression and discuss the consequences of it for the future of democracy.
In addition, we would like to pay a particular attention to the rise of authoritarian
tendencies in the world and challenges to other democratic institutions than
parliaments. We are interested in the process of democratization and de-
democratization themselves, their current status and trends, and related topics. We e
welcome also discussion of solutions to the de-democratization problems.

Submission Instructions:
Please, send the paper proposal, including your name, institutional affiliation, the title,
and a short abstract of your paper (up to 250 words) to Associate Professor Adam
Szymanski (University of Warsaw, Poland) at: ar.szymanski@uw.edu.pl
Queries: should be submitted as e-mails also to Prof.. Szymanski at:
ar.szymanski@uw.edu.pl:

Location: “Tradewinds Island Resort at St. Beach, Florida, USA (details on the
location/ venue can be found here: https://www.tradewindsresort.com/index)

Dates of the Conference: January 11-14, 2023

One of the main objectives for the conference:
to allow for an exchange of ideas, comments, and discussions that can potentially
lead to either individual publications or to a submission of the entire panel for
publication as a special issue to one of the journals or edited volume.

The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism?

Authoritarian and Democratic Politics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Within just a couple of years, artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved from an object of scientific curiosity to a salient political issue. Driven by the promise of deep learning algorithms, which infer patterns from massive datasets to make predictions, AI systems have become a pervasive feature of public and private life. In democratic and authoritarian states alike, governments have sought to leverage the efficiency of AI systems to their advantage. In various domains, bureaucracies now routinely delegate life-altering decisions to AI, ranging from criminal justice and surveillance to border controls, education, health, and the allocation of social benefits.

Unsurprisingly, the rapid uptake of AI systems worldwide has sparked a lively debate about the possible implications for democratic processes and norms. Scholars and policymakers have focused in particular on the dangers of so-called digital authoritarianism, i.e., the use of digital information technology to surveil, repress, and manipulate domestic and foreign publics. Most prominently, they point to China as a cautionary tale for the repressive potential of an AI-powered surveillance state, as it integrates practices such as live biometric identification, online content control, and censorship to control its population. Similarly, scholars increasingly highlight the transnational dimension of digital authoritarianism, for instance, China’s export of surveillance technology to other countries or Russia’s targeted misinformation campaigns to disrupt democratic elections abroad.

Yet, AI’s potential to undermine democratic norms and processes is not necessarily limited to authoritarian or non-democratic regimes. The widespread adoption of possibly biased, unsafe, or untransparent AI systems by democratic governments has produced its own challenges. As these governments automate decisions over social benefits, parole sentences, or asylum procedures, they challenge fundamental rights such as the rights to non-discrimination, a fair trial, privacy, or the freedom of movement. Furthermore, in the absence of robust regulation, corporations and other private actors may produce AI systems that undermine fundamental democratic norms without being held accountable.

In this special issue, we seek to shift the focus of the debate from potentiality to existing practices. Put differently, we want to explore how AI technologies are already being employed and contested in concrete settings and sites. Through case studies and comparative analyses covering both authoritarian and democratic states, as well as states in transition, we want to create a comprehensive, empirically grounded picture of how AI systems affect democratic and authoritarian processes worldwide.

How, and to what end, have governments across the world deployed AI systems? What effects has this had on democratic norms, including the protection of human and individual rights? How and by whom have such practices been contested, and what strategies have these actors employed? To what extent do we see transnational coordination between both regimes deploying AI systems (e.g. in border control) and the movements challenging them? What role do AI systems play in authoritarian or democratic transitions? To what extent does contestation over AI and democracy play out at the international level, where we are seeing early attempts at AI governance? Do democratic and authoritarian regimes behave differently at this level of AI politics?

To explore these questions, we invite case studies and comparative analyses tackling:

• AI and human rights

• Digital authoritarianism

• Use of AI systems in border control and migration

• Predictive policing, surveillance technology, and biometric identification

• Challenges to democratic norms from automated decision-making in the public

  sector (e.g. education, chatbots, allocation of benefits)

• Online content control and social media

• Export of AI surveillance technology and misinformation

• AI and (transnational) social movements

• Questions of accountability and democratic control in the context of private actors

• International discussions about AI governance, ethics, and human rights

  If you are interested in participating, please send us an abstract of your proposed paper (~250 words) to ai.democratization@wzb.eu until Sunday, December 12, 2021.

  Overall, we aim to select a total of 8-10 papers of around 9,000 words. In preparation for the Special Issue, we would like to organize a workshop with all authors, likely to take place in June or July 2022.

  We look forward to your contributions!

• Irem Tuncer Ebetürk, WZB Berlin Social Science Center 

• Jelena Cupać, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

• Hendrik Schopmans, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

We are very pleased to point out that this fall the InMed Institute, in cooperation with the Faculty of Political Science and the University of Zagreb, is organizing an international conference on information technology and journalism. It is also one of the longest-running conferences at the IUC Dubrovnik, which has been monitoring and predicting trends in Internet communication and its impact on society for 26 years in a row.
 
As part of the conference, a workshop supported by the largest international political association - IPSA has been organized for more than ten years, this year a workshop called "Media, Politics and Discourses of the New Normal" was supported by IPSA RC10 and RC22.

After the challenging 2020 and 25th edition of the conference, which brought together an enviable number of participants in completely new circumstances, and was selected for the IPSA Digital pilot project, we are pleased that this year most of the participants in the conference participated live.

Introduction of the nominations for Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary General and the Advisory Board. The list includes Dr. Domagoj Bebić, Dr. Deodatus Patrick Shayo, Dr. Saurabh Chandra, Dr. Shelley Boulianne, Dr. Régis Dandoy and Dr. Sabu Thomas. Find their full Bios here.

MEMBER NEWS
Research Committee (RC) 10 – Electronic Democracy
International Political Science Association
July 2021

Research Opportunities
Call for participation in the Research Committee on Migration
As part of the execution of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed between IPARN foundation, India and The Migration Institute of Finland (Siirtolaisuusinstituutti), IPARN Foundation is constituting a Research Committee on Migration to study the migration issues in developing countries of Asia and transnational migration between Finland and Asia.

Scholars and Researchers who are interested in joining this research committee are requested to send their CV, cover letter and at-least three published research publications to the IPARN Foundation Chairman through email at: md@iparn.org
Interested Academic/Researcher Prerequisites:

• Must have a Ph.D. or a D.M. degree.
• Must be employed in any academic institution or research organization.
• Must have relevant publication in reputed journals on Migration.
• Must have demonstrated evidence of superior academic and professional achievement.

Suitable profiles will be contacted by the IPARN Foundation, India for a face-to-face interview through the Internet.

IPARN Foundation (Integrated Policy and Administrative Research Networking Foundation) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of scientific research and exchange of knowledge in the field of Public Policy and Public Administration, and its ecosystem, and to contribute to its national and international development. To learn more about IPARN Foundation, visit: https://www.iparn.org/

Click here to find recent publications and books of RC10-Members:

The submission process for the IPSA World Congress on Political Science has started. Here are the key informations and dates:

Submission of Proposals

All paper and panel proposals must be submitted online via the Congress website. No emails, PDFs or Word documents will be accepted as submissions.

Paper proposals may be submitted in up to three (3) sessions of interest.
Paper submissions for panels must be submitted using the specific link provided in the invitation from a panel convenor.

Submit a Paper
Instructions

Panel proposals may be submitted in up to three (3) sessions of interest.

Please note that the Program Chairs have established new submission procedures for panels for this Congress and only complete panels (closed) may be submitted during the Call for Proposals.

Submit a Panel
Instructions 

View All Sessions Open to Submissions

Key Dates

Call for Panels and Papers for an IPSA/AISP International Conference
Political Science in the Digital Age: Mapping Opportunities, Perils and Uncertainties

CALL FOR PROPOSALS. IPSA/AISP Internation Conference - Political Science in the Digital Age: Mapping Opportunities, Perils and Uncertainties (PDF)

The Research Committee 10 Electronic Democracy encourages panel and paper proposals for this IPSA sponsored international conference "Political Science in the Digital Age." The conference theme of digitalization and the intersection with political science and democracy is highly relevant to the RC10 as the conference aims to examine the challenges of digitalizaion for the discipline of political science. Proposals for panels or papers are due April 15, 2017.

Panel proposals are submitted by the RC, so please contact Karen.Mossberger@asu.edu as soon as possible if you are considering submitting a panel proposal.  Paper proposals can be submitted individually.

Date: 4th-6th December 2017
Location: Hannover, Germany
Program Chairs: Marianne Kneuer, University of Hildesheim, First Vice President of IPSA; and Helen Milner, Princeton University, former President of Ipsa (2012-2014)

IPSA is sponsoring an international conference from 4-6 December this year 2017, organized by Marianne Kneuer and Helen Milner. The conference, entitled “Political Science in the Digital Age: Mapping Opportunities, Perils and Uncertainties,“ provides the opportunity for a reflection on the discipline and one of its most relevant challenges, namely digitalization. At the same time, the conference aims to bring together national Political Science Associations, other IPSA members, and the IPSA Research Committees in order to further develop networks and cooperation among these groups. The conference also will be a platform for addressing problems as well as designing ideas for future research within IPSA.

Critical questions to be addressed will be:

• How did our discipline react in the last years to the challenges of the digital era and how can it respond in the future? What new demands or tasks emerge for the discipline? 
• Do we need new theories and concepts? How should studies be tailored to capture the empirical implications of digitalization in the various subdisciplines? Where is interdisciplinary cooperation required? Which methodological tools are necessary or adequate for research?
• Are there new subjects political science has to address? How does the reconfiguration that digitalization induced in polity, politics and policies change the research on domestic or international politics? 
• Which new opportunities provides digitalization for teaching (see e.g. MOOCs)? Who can benefit from e-learning and how? How can citizenship education benefit from digital modes of knowledge and value building? 
• What implications does digitalization have for authors and publishers? 
• What new challenges come up for political consulting? With which challenges are political foundations, think tanks etc. confronted through digitalization? 

For more information, see the website at
https://hannover2017.ipsa.org