CALL FOR PAPERS

WESTERN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION
2024 ANNUAL MEETING
March 28 - 30, 2024
Vancouver, British Columbia
Proposal Deadline: Friday, September 29, 2023
Check to make sure your passport is up-to-date!

The 2024 meeting of the Western Political Science Association will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver, British Columbia, from March 28 to 30. Please make plans to attend and encourage others to join us! If you need to acquire or renew a passport, we encourage you to apply with the State Department as early as possible given the current delays in the passport process.

The DEADLINE for submission of paper proposals/program participation forms will be Friday, September 29, 2023.

If you are interested in shaping the content of the program by serving as a section chair, please contact:

2024 WPSA Program Chair
Lorrie Frasure
University of California, Los Angeles
Email: lfrasure@polisci.ucla.edu

Theme: Political Backlash and Its Consequences

Political scientists alongside an interdisciplinary group of scholars from across the globe will convene in Vancouver, BC for the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association. We gather to appraise the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery efforts domestically and globally, especially considering the relentless attacks and backlash against minorities of all kinds in the post-Covid era. These developments exacerbated already serious “pre-existing conditions” and racial/ethnic inequities related to disparities in health, income, education, housing, and other economic and social vulnerabilities. The global pandemic, coupled with resolute international, national, and local organizing for racial and social justice, further exposed the persistence of racism, nativism, xenophobia, and discrimination. Recent global protests, including those in Canada, often centered Black-led multicultural groups, in solidarity against state violence. In response, public, private, and nonprofit institutions (including colleges/Universities) sought to address demands with a series of diversity, equity and inclusion types of programs and initiatives— which are now experiencing intense backlash at the national, state, and local levels.

The WPSA continues its long tradition of fostering innovation, diversity, and inclusiveness. We are excited to convene scholars from various types of institutions to explore political problems from multiple perspectives, including historical, analytical, quantitative, qualitative, interpretive, normative, and other empirical points of view. As political scientists and, more generally, social scientists, we are in a unique position to examine the root causes, contours, and consequences of political backlash. We are also well positioned to examine the role political scientists play (individually and collectively), in the face of political backlash. We invite panels and paper proposals that broadly assess the various formations of backlash and how it affects different parts of society, culture, and politics, and what long-term consequences will be for organizations, institutions, and identities. What are some examples of how political backlash was constructed and impacted our political discourse? How do we understand the role of political backlash on our academic institutions, hiring practices, promotion and tenure, teaching and learning pedagogy, as well as avenues to secure resources for our research? One of the features of the conference will be to foster dialogue between political science and interdisciplinary fields of study on issues of race, ethnicity, indigeneity, gender, sexuality, religion, immigration, multiculturalism, equity, diversity, social justice, and related topics.

Please note: All participants in the program are required to preregister for the 2024 WPSA meeting by December 31, 2023.

Submit Your Proposal