*The deadline has been extend to November 4th.

The Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management invites scholars and practitioners to submit proposals for papers to be presented at the 7th annual Deil S. Wright Symposium. The symposium honors the career and contributions of Professor Deil S. Wright, who was a charter member of the Section and remained active until his passing in 2009. The Wright Symposium will be held on April 3, 2020 at the national conference of the American Society for Public Administration in Anaheim, CA.

The Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management (SIAM) of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and the Section on Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations Section (FIRS) of the American Political Science Association (APSA) are very excited to collaborate on the Wright Symposium for 2020.   Although the disciplines of Public Administration and Political Science address similar research topics such as federalism, intergovernmental relations, state and local government, and public management, the two disciplines often speak past each other regarding research questions, theory, methodology, and policy areas. As a tribute to Professor Wright, who was also a long-time member of FIRS, SIAM and FIRS will collaborate on the Wright Symposium at the ASPA annual meeting in March 2020 and a short course at the APSA annual meeting in September 2020 to promote conversation and collaboration between Public Administration and Political Science scholars.

The goals of the 2020 SIAM-FIRS collaboration events follow:

1. Introduce Public Administration and Political Science scholars with shared research interests to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration
2. Discuss similarities and differences between Public Administration and Political Science research on federalism and intergovernmental relations
3. Identify new research questions, theory, methodology, and policy areas to advance the interdisciplinary study of federalism and intergovernmental relations

The theme of the all-day 2020 Wright Symposium is “Future Directions in Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations Research.”  As presented above, the vision is that the Wright Symposium will not be a “business as usual” conference, but rather an opportunity for new conversations between scholars of Public Administration and Political Science who may not be in regular dialogue with one another.  As such, we desire paper and/or panel proposals that: 

• Identify similarities, differences, or new directions in Public Administration and Political Science research regarding prevalent subtopics, research questions, framing, terminology, theoretical approaches, methodology, and data sources
• Discuss and evaluate the strengths or limitations of the disciplinary perspectives of Public Administration and Political Science to explain past and current trends in federalism and intergovernmental relations
• Introduce new research questions, theory, or methodology based on disagreements or gaps between Public Administration and Political Science research on federalism and intergovernmental relations

In addition, potential paper or panel themes may include:

• Current or emerging trends in federalism and intergovernmental relations
• Contemporary trends in the politics and administration of major intergovernmental policies
• Impact of political institutions, political behavior, or recent economic and demographic shifts on intergovernmental relations, policy, management, and finance.
• Role of public finance on intergovernmental relations, policy, and management
• Impact of changes in the administrative state on federalism and intergovernmental relations
• Cross-national studies of federalism and intergovernmental relations, policy, and management
• Domestic or international policy areas involving federalism and intergovernmental relations
• Emergent policy issues facing metropolitan areas

Submission Guidelines

Individual Paper Proposals.  The committee welcomes individual paper proposals of 400 words or less. Proposed papers should feature high-quality theoretical, qualitative, or quantitative research.  Proposals should make their connection to the symposium theme direct and clear, and specifically discuss how their work advances the research on federalism and intergovernmental relations.

Full Panel Proposals.  The committee also welcomes the submission of complete panels consisting of four papers and a chair.  Panel submissions should bring together complementary papers that tackle compelling research questions or theoretical frameworks for federalism and intergovernmental relations.

Panel proposals should include a panel title and description (400 words or less), the panel chair, and four individual paper proposals (400 words or less each). Each paper proposal will be evaluated separately on whether it meets the criteria for individual paper submissions.

Panel chairs are encouraged to incorporate diverse participants in panels, whether in gender, race, institution, rank, disciplinary perspective, or methodology.

The program committee may alter panels to remove individual papers that do not meet review criteria or to add an individual paper submission that fits well with the panel, particularly if dropouts occur. The program committee plans to do so sparingly.

Submission Process

Proposals for the symposium should be submitted by email to Christine Palus (christine.palus@villanova.edu) by November 4, 2019.  We welcome proposals from members and nonmembers of SIAM and FIRS and will select papers that seek to advance the field of federalism and intergovernmental relations in a unique way as discussed above.

The Wright Symposium planning committee – Kim Nelson (UNC-Chapel Hill), Christine Palus (Villanova University), Philip Rocco (Marquette University), Chris Stream (UNLV) and Mona Vakilifathi (NYU), will review proposals and make decisions by October 22, 2019.  Questions can be directed to committee members.

Please circulate this call for papers among interested colleagues.

Wright Symposium Format

For this special joint endeavor, we will operate under a different set of “ground rules” for the actual symposium meeting.  In order to truly facilitate an engaging conversation as well as an agenda for future interdisciplinary and collaborative work on federalism and IGR, we hope that scholars will come ready to roll up their sleeves, share ideas, and engage with one another.   Participants will not be permitted to use PowerPoint, but rather are encouraged to approach presenting their work using a more casual and conversational style.

Publius and State and Local Government Review

The editors of Publius: the Journal of Federalism (sponsored by FIRS) and of State and Local Government Review (sponsored by SIAM) endorse and encourage the development of manuscripts for the ASPA Wright Symposium and APSA Short Course. Papers that are prepared and presented at these sessions and are suitable could be considered for submission to and publication in one of those journals.  Junior scholars are also encouraged to take advantage of SLGR’s Junior Scholars Program that supports the development and refinement of papers suitable for publication.

APSA Short Course: A short course at APSA in September 2020 will build on the Wright Symposium and continue the conversation about “Future Directions in Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations Research.” Additional details about the workshop will be released in the coming months.