Essex academics head stateside to debate legitimacy in the contemporary world

Political scientists from the University of Essex are going to San Francisco for the 113th Annual Meeting and Exhibition of American Political Science Association (APSA).

The theme of this year’s meeting is The Quest for Legitimacy: Actors, Audiences, and Aspirations and delegates have been encouraged to question what legitimacy is, what it means, who bestows it and the underlying processes of legitimation of actors, institutions, aspirations and political goals.

Professor Sasha Roseneil, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Essex said, “We are living through a period in which the legitimacy of elected governments and leaders is being questioned from all sides of the political spectrum. Essex political scientists are grappling with some of the most pressing issues facing all those who care about the future of democracy, peace and global stability.”

The research being presented and discussed by Essex academics includes the effects on democracy of self-appointed actors such as NGOs, celebrities and activists; the idea that when State governments work alongside more traditional, local forms of governance there is less civil war; and the notion that mandatory military service prolongs civil conflicts.

For the first time at this event, and to mark the 50th year of the Essex Summer School in Social Science and Data Analysis, the Department of Government will be hosting an evening reception for fellow delegates. This will take place on Thursday 31 August from 5pm until 7.30pm at Jasper’s Corner Tap and Kitchen.

The Department of Government at Essex is the top politics department in the UK, and has been since national assessments began in the 1980s.

APSA 2017 will run from 31 August until 3 September and the venue is the Hilton Union Square in San Francisco.

Find out more

• Read the full meeting programme
• Follow the Essex research being presented via @EssexSocSci and @uniessexgovt and via the hashtag #APSA2017