Evaluating Citizens' Assemblies: Facing challenges and exploring new perspectives

This workshop addresses the contemporary challenges facing deliberative citizens' assemblies. As these mechanisms face evolving social, political, and global dynamics, it is imperative for academics, public officials, and global civil society actors to critically assess and adapt. This workshop highlights the need for a comprehensive examination of these challenges and underlines the importance of formulating innovative perspectives to respond effectively.

Carrying out High-Quality Qualitative Research: The Importance of Hard Choices - Methods in Social Policy and Intervention Research

Annette Lareau discusses the tensions in how researchers approach the design for qualitative data. Emphasizing the need for depth and richness in the data, as well as a systematic discussion of conceptual issues, Lareau calls for limiting variability in data collection by making very hard choices. By focusing on specific class, race, or gender groups, and limiting the number of these groups, researchers have a greater possibility of creating very high-quality data.

Cultural Bridges and Cold War Alliances: Lessons from the GDR’s Diplomatic Dance with Japan

As countries of strategic importance on opposing sides of the Cold War divide, the domestic and foreign policies of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and Japan were expected to align closely with those of their respective superpower hegemons. At the same time, West Germany’s Hallstein Doctrine threatened to cut ties with any country that recognized the GDR as a legitimate state, severely restricting East Germany from establishing diplomatic relationships with states outside of the Soviet sphere of influence.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar

Recent weaponized interdependence research has focused on mapping international economic structures to explain states’ capacity to inflict costs on foreign actors. This paper proposes a different approach that integrates weaponized interdependence research with microeconomic concepts of substitution. If an international economic exchange is restricted, actors on either end turn to the best available alternative. Substitution costs describe the utility loss actors incur when doing so. The extent of these costs determines whether either side can ‘weaponize’ the exchange.
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