Graduate Conference:
“Rethinking State-Society Relations in Contemporary China”
10-11
May 2013
St Antony’s College, University of Oxford
Three
decades of reforms in China have brought profound changes to the
country’s socio-political structure. The phenomenal economic growth
has given birth to new social groups receptive to a plurality of ideas
and norms. The spread of the internet and the process of marketization
allow them to better articulate their interests and organize themselves
than ever before. The myriad of social issues,
popular discontent and religious and ethnic tensions are also forcing
the party-state to adapt new modes of governance and pursue new control
strategies.
Making
sense of this changing relationship is crucial to our understanding of
China’s political and social development. Is the relatively
empowered civil sector ready to push for more fundamental changes, or
is the state simply reconfiguring power with new ways of exercising it?
Or perhaps the very idea of state-society relations has become obsolete,
ready to be replaced by new concepts that
go beyond the dichotomy of state and society?
The
conference examines the complex dynamics and transformations of
state-society relations in China and aims to bring together students
and researchers from diverse social science disciplines for an
inter-disciplinary dialogue. Graduate students (both masters and
doctoral levels) and early career researchers are invited to submit
papers addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:
· Theoretical perspectives
on state-society relations in China
· Social control, stability maintenance and governance
· Social organizations
and international NGOs
· Social
entrepreneurship and social innovation
· Cultural governance
· Media, Internet,
propaganda and censorship
· Grassroots political participation and activism
· Religious development, ethnic issues and nationalism
· Specific social groups
such as migrant workers, the middle class and elites and their relationship to the state
The one-day conference will be held on Saturday,
11 May 2013
at St Antony’s College, Oxford. On the evening of Friday, 10 May 2013,
there will be a roundtable discussion with Oxford faculty members on the
theoretical and methodological
issues of studying state-society relations in China. All conference
participants are invited to the discussion and to the wine reception
afterwards.
Submission Deadlines:
Please submit an abstract (no more than 1 page) of your research and
your brief CV by
09 March 2013 to oxfordchina2013@gmail.com.
If a travel grant is required, please give us an estimate of the travel expenses.
We will notify applicants whether their papers are accepted for the conference by
23 March 2013. Successful applicants are required to submit their completed papers by
20 April 2013.
Funding:
Free accommodation is provided for participants from outside Oxford.
Limited funding is available to cover student travel cost to and from the conference within the UK.
The
conference organizers acknowledge the generous financial support from
the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of
Oxford
and the Annual Fund of St Antony’s College, Oxford.
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