Development Studies Association conference on Global Inequalities in Manchester, 27th-29th June 2018

Inviting paper proposals for panel on “Critical Junctures of Change: Comparative Subnational Politics, Spatial Inequalities and Development”. Deadline for submission is 5th March. See details of other panels and submit proposals here: https://nomadit.co.uk/dsa/dsa2018/conferencesuite.php/panels/6360

Panel abstract

The uneven nature of development outcomes within countries has led to a surge of interest in subnational research for illuminating problems that national level research misses. The persistence of spatial inequalities within countries has focused attention on the subnational political unit as a basis for uncovering the most significant drivers of difference.

Within this growing body of scholarship however, limited attention has been given to the role of critical political junctures in explaining divergences in subnational development trajectories through their impact on political environments, the roles assumed by key political actors and development institutions. Some scenarios of change could include: spatial or territorial reorganisation of subnational units, institutional shifts, political regime change, new forms of identity politics or subaltern mobilisation, the introduction and expansion of social protection policies or new forms of extraction.

What are the most salient subnational inequalities and variations in development trajectories?

What are the critical political junctures that have produced these differences?

What are the historical, social, political and other characteristics of these junctures?

How do these critical junctures interact and transform the pre-existing political context, social configurations and institutional capacities to produce unequal development outcomes?

These questions aim to shed new light on persistent inequalities as well as the possibilities for change. This panel calls for papers that compare either across time or space or both, while drawing upon a critical watershed to interrogate distinctive subnational trajectories of development.