2012 Presidential Elections in the United States: challenges and expectations

International Conference at the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland October 26-27, 2012

Call for papers

American presidency, the most important office in the U.S. political system, has long been considered as one of the most powerful political institutions in the world. Due to its enormous power and fact that its holder also symbolizes the United States as the country, the presidency gained a notion of an 'elective kingship'. Therefore recruitment process for the office had become a very much sophisticated and time-consuming process, that led journalist Arthur T. Hadley to coin it as 'irrational marathon'. Indeed, running a presidential campaign has nowadays been multivariable enterprise, which consumes vast amounts of time, energy and financial resources.

 To appeal to voters, presidential candidates plan their operations years in advance, building huge campaign organizations that cost more and more money from electoral cycle to cycle. As media reporters and crews are assigned to each person creating their exploratory committee to run a campaign, the presidential election process gains more audience nationally and worldwide. In this environment, again to borrow from Arthur T. Hadley, 'running for president has become a full-time profession' for everyone interested: candidates and their families, political consultants and operatives, media people, scholars and ordinary citizens, etc.

Within this context, we would like to hold a discussion on the ongoing issue of 2012 Presidential Elections in the United States. What are the problems that the next president is going to be challenged by? How are candidates expected to appeal to voters and what challenges they must meet on the contemporary campaign trail? What are the challenges of the modern campaigning and how the U.S. political system is expected to deal with them?

To discuss the phenomenon, we welcome panel and paper proposals for wide range of issues, including, but not limited to, American electoral system, presidential nomination and general election process & outcomes, campaign finance, electoral turnout and voting behavior, the role of media and new media, political communication and campaign rhetoric, election and political parties, interests groups and grassroot movements in the electoral process, and others.

All those wishing to participate are encouraged to send their proposals either for 15-20 minute presentations or whole group panels (abstract of max. 300 words + brief CV) by May 31, 2012 to 2012electionsconference@gmail.com. Authors of accepted submissions will be notified by July 1, 2012 at the very the latest.

Conference fee, that covers conference materials, coffee breaks & refreshments, lunches, official banquet dinner, and publication of post-conference volume, is 450 PLN (about 100 EUR), paid until September 1st, 2012 or 650 PLN (about 150 EUR), if paid later.

The Conference will be held at the old buildings of the Jagiellonian University in the beautiful historical center of Krakow.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the conference organizers, Paweł Laidler, PhD, and Maciej Turek, PhD, at 2012electionsconference@gmail.com.