Call for papers - African Political Systems

Deadline for proposal submissions: January 31, 2012 February 7, 2012 (Extended deadline).

Proposal of 400 words maximum.

Panel languages: Spanish and English.

Presentation via web: [link]

Notification of acceptance: March 15, 2012.

Full papers should be submitted on May 15, 2012.

Information about the Panel: African Political Systems.

Most common interpretations of African states in the field of political science consists of a (i) neo-patrimonial interpretation of the state, (ii) the conceptualization of a hybrid structure, where the state and the civil society are affected by norms arising from colonial and traditional life, and (iii) the rejection of a transplant of colonial structures to African territory. 

These positions go above analysis of African political structures, depriving them of value and meaning. Within the study of political systems, sub-Saharan Africa has not been a large geographic area that brings together research in part by such interpretations, partly because studies have focused more on issues such as weakness or strength of African states, the patrimonialism, good governance and African dependence of the world political system. 

This panel will center attention on the study of African political systems, valuing their structures, values and institutions. It will focus African case study, with a comparative approach that takes into consideration only African cases or cases with Africans and other political systems from different geographic areas.

Information about the Iberian Conference of African Studies. 

The Group of African Studies will host the 8th Iberian Conference of African Studies in Madrid on June 14-16, 2012. The Conference will contain a total of 48 panels. Authors are invited to submit abstracts of no more than 400 words to any panel until January 31, 2012 February 7, 2012 (extended deadline).

All abstracts will be available on the website on March 15. Full papers should be submitted before May 15. Abstracts and papers should be sent through the online application in our website.

More information: www.ciea8.org