Friday, August 21, 2009

Deadline extended: CFA: McGill Visiting Fulbright Chair in the Theory and Practice of Federalism, 2010-2011

See the award announcement here (cumbersome pdf) and information on applying here and here. Applications go through Fulbright/ CIES, not directly to McGill.

The deadline for all Canada-US visiting Fulbright Chairs has apparently been extended to September 30. The McGill Visiting Fulbright Chair in the Theory and Practice of Federalism is open to junior or senior scholars, doing empirical, normative, or theoretical work, who wish to spend a semester of or the whole of AY 2010-11 at McGill in the Department of Political Science and the Research Group on Constitutional Studies. Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents, and must not also be Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Stipend of $CAN 25000, plus up to $CAN 1000 for in-country travel and enrichment.

Feel free to contact me directly for more information-- the Fulbright website is kind of cumbersome.
CFA: GRIPP graduate fellowships, 2009-10


[le francais suit]

Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en philosophie politique de Montréal (GRIPP) Fellowship program

The Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en philosophie politique de Montréal (GRIPP) invites applications to its graduate student fellowship program for the academic year 2009-10. Interested graduate students should submit a letter of application of one page (300 words) explaining their research agenda, the work they propose to do in 2009-10, and the link between their individual projects and GRIPP's research axes, described below. Applicants should also describe their existing fellowship and stipend awards, if any. Applications should also be accompanied by the email address of a Professor capable of commenting on the academic qualifications of the applicant.

All fellows will be expected to take part in a faculty and graduate student seminar that will meet roughly biweekly throughout the academic year, and will be given the opportunity to present work to that seminar. Meetings of the Montreal Political Theory Workshop will ordinarily be scheduled during the regular seminar time, and attendance at the MPTW will be expected in the same fashion as attendance at other meetings of the seminar.

Admission to the fellowship will be awarded based on the merit of the individual research project and its fit with GRIPP's research agenda. The size of the awards will vary by level of study and by the availability of other fellowship support, but may be up to $5000 for Ph.D. students and $2000 for M.A. students.

Please submit applications to danielweins@gmail.com . Deadline is September 11.

Research axes:

GRIPP is made up of over twenty professors of political philosophy and political theory from Concordia University, McGill University, the University of Montréal, and the University of Québec at Montréal, as well as associated postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. Under the conceptual umbrella of "New developments in democratic theory: toward an integrated approach," its research projects cluster along four axes, though each is meant to enrich and inform all of the others.

1) History and principles: The evaluation of democratic institutions and of their ability to respond to contemporary political challenges must be based on a solid grasp of the founding and organizing principles of democratic theory. We thus begin with a critical confrontation with the most important texts in the liberal and democratic traditions. We seek in particular to uncover arguments and conceptual resources from the tradition of political theory that have been relatively neglected in the contemporary renaissance of liberal and democratic thought, including attention to passions, affects, and emotions; to dissensus and disagreement; to aesthetics; and to institutional constraints.

2) The moral psychology of the democratic agent: Political theories have often depicted moral agents in very reductive fashions as beings moved by purely self-regarding interests and preferences which rules and institutions must constrain. A recentering of the theory of liberal democracy which gives a greater importance to democratic practices should at the same time endow us with a richer conception of the democratic agent, of that agent's disposition and character, and of the virtues to which that agent might aspire.

3) Democracy and diversity: GRIPP seeks to build on the turns to multiculturalism and pluralism in liberal and democratic theory, with a particular emphasis on theoretical approaches to the democratic management of diversity that steer between the aspiration to consensus and the acceptance of radical fragmentation; and on associational and jurisdictional pluralist approaches to understanding the diverse sources of norms in modern societies.

4) Democracy, justice, and transnational institutions: GRIPP seeks to bring political philosophy into fuller engagement with the various social, technological, cultural, and economic phenomena of globalization, and to understand how political principles and political actors can be understood in transnational contexts.

---------------------------

Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en philosophie politique de Montréal (GRIPP)

Programme de Bourse

Le GRIPP a le plaisir d'offrir plusieurs bourses d'étude de deuxième et troisième cycle pour l'année académique 2009-10. Les étudiants intéressés sont invités à soumettre une lettre de candidature d'une page (300 mots) détaillant leurs projets de recherche, le travail proposé pour l'année académique 2009-10 et les liens entre leurs programmes de recherche et les travaux des membres du groupe. Les candidats devraient aussi indiquer les bourses reçues jusqu'à présent. Enfin, chaque demande devrait être accompagnée de l’adresse électronique d’un répondant pouvant témoigner de la qualité de la candidature.

- Hide quoted text -

Chaque boursier s'engage à participer à un séminaire de deuxième et troisième cycle qui se tiendra toutes les deux semaines pendant l'année académique pendant lequel les étudiants auront l'opportunité de présenter leurs recherches aux membres du groupe., ainsi qu'aux ateliers en philosophie politique pendant l'année académique.


Les bourses individuelles seront attribuées au mérite selon la qualité du projet de recherche et ses liens avec le programme de recherche du GRIPP. Les bourses individuelles prendront en compte le niveau d'étude de chaque candidat/e et la disponibilité d'autres sources de soutien, jusqu'à un maximum de $5000 pour les étudiants au troisième cycle, et de $2000 pour les étudiants au deuxième cycle.

Veuillez soumettre vos projets par courriel au Professeur Daniel Weinstock à danielweins@gmail.com .

La date d'échéance est le 11 septembre

Axes de recherche :

Le GRIPP est composé de plus de vingt professeurs de philosophie et de théorie politiques oeuvrant dans les quatre universités montréalaises : l¹Université de Montréal, l¹Université de Québec à Montréal (UQÀM), les universités Concordia et McGill. Sous l¹intitulé général : « Nouveaux développements en théorie démocratique : vers une approche intégrée », les projets de recherche qui lui sont associés se rassemblent autour de quatre axes distincts:



1) Histoire et principes : L¹évaluation des institutions démocratiques et de leur capacité à relever les défis politiques contemporains suppose une solide compréhension des principes et fondements de la théorie démocratique. Celle-ci requiert une confrontation critique des textes les plus importants des traditions démocratiques et libérales. Une telle confrontation suppose, plus particulièrement, la mise en évidence d¹arguments et de ressources conceptuelles de ces traditions, jusqu¹à présent relativement négligés; citons, pour exemple, les passions, affects et émotions; le dissensus et le différend; l¹esthétique; ainsi que les contraintes institutionnelles.



2) Psychologie morale de l¹agent démocratique : les théories politiques ont souvent décrit les agents moraux en des termes très réducteurs, comme des êtres mus par des intérêts et des préférences purement égoïstes que les règles et les institutions cherchent à limiter. Un recentrement de la théorie de la démocratie libérale, qui a pour effet de reconnaître l¹importance des pratiques démocratiques, devrait avoir pour autre conséquence le développement d¹une conception plus riche de l¹agent démocratique, de ses dispositions et de son caractère, ainsi que des vertus auxquelles il peut aspirer.



3) Démocratie et diversité : Le GRIPP entend contribuer aux récents tournants de la théorie démocratique libérale vers le multiculturalisme et le pluralisme, en s'intéressant plus particulièrement aux approches théoriques de la diversité qui tentent de maintenir le cap entre l'aspiration au consensus et la célébration d¹une fragmentation radicale. Le GRIPP s¹intéresse également aux courants pluralistes en théorie sociale et du droit qui tentent de mettre en évidence la diversité des sources des normes dans les sociétés modernes.



4) Démocratie, justice, et institutions transnationales : Le GRIPP cherche à encourager un dialogue fructueux entre les réflexions en philosophie politique et les différents phénomènes sociaux, politiques, technologiques, culturels et économiques liés à la globalisation. Un des objectifs poursuivis est de clarifier la façon dont notre compréhension des principes et des acteurs politiques est affectée lorsqu¹on les considère dans des contextes transnationaux.
Chinese Politics, McGill University

The Department of Political Science invites applications for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in the area of Chinese Politics. The Department is particularly interested in candidates whose research is on Chinese domestic politics but who can also teach on some aspect of China’s international relations. The successful candidate will have the linguistic abilities required for field work in China. The Department seeks applicants whose research is theoretically and empirically informed, who possess strong training in qualitative and/or quantitative and/or formal methods, and who can teach effectively at the undergraduate and graduate levels. An applicant’s record of performance must provide evidence of outstanding research potential. Candidates should have already completed the PhD or be very near completion. Applications should include a curriculum vitae, graduate transcript, three letters of reference, a sample of written work and materials pertinent to teaching skills. The position start date is August 1, 2010. Review of applications will begin on October 1, 2009 and will continue until the position is filled. For more information about the Department and University, visit our web site at www.mcgill.ca/politicalscience/.



PLEASE FORWARD SUPPORTING MATERIALS TO:

Professor Richard Schultz
James McGill Professor and Chair
Department of Political Science
McGill University
855 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2T7

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Quote of the day

From the Gazette, in an article about the elimination of English translations from the hard copies of community newspapers distributed for free in some parts of greater Montreal, due to shrinking ad revenue, and the resulting complaints and petitions:
"If we don't start sticking up for our rights we've lost them" [LaSalle borough councillor Michael] Vadacchino said. [...] "I understand the economics of it, of course, it's a business, but as a citizen, that's not my problem, they've given this service for years, so now what?"