Leonard Schapiro Memorial Lectures
The Government and Opposition Leonard Schapiro Memorial Lecture is given annually in honour of Leonard Schapiro, one of the journal's founding editors.
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We are delighted that Professor Brigid Laffan gave this year’s Schapiro Lecture for us on ‘The Emergence of Collective Power Europe (CPE)’. Her analysis was of significant contemporary significance, highlighting the cases of Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
This year’s lecture was be particularly special. The Royal Irish Academy hosted the event in Dublin. It gave us an opportunity also to formally commemorate our G&O colleague and friend Professor Robert Elgie, who was also a member of the RIA, and to have his family present.
The lecture was opened by Dr Mary Canning, President of the Royal Irish Academy.
Professor Helen Thompson gave a short tribute to Robert Elgie on G&O’s behalf.
You can watch a recording of ‘The Emergence of Collective Power Europe (CPE)’ below.
Following a long decade of crises, it is timely to revisit a macro question concerning the European Union, namely, the nature of the beast or the kind of polity that has emerged from crises and challenge. Concepts such as Market Power Europe and Normative Power Europe no longer capture the essence of the EU as it struggles to act in response to crisis. This lecture offers the concept of Collective Power Europe (CPE) as a suggestive means to address the kind of EU that is emerging. The lecture addresses what is meant by collective power and what its essential ingredients are. Then the analysis pivots to three cases where it will be argued the EU exercised collective power. These are Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The underlying assumption is that the EU represents a robust and resilient form of political order and that its distinctiveness serves to disguise its strengths.
The 2021 Leonard Schapiro Lecture was “The Shifting Relationship between Postwar Capitalism and Democracy” by Professor Peter A. Hall, Harvard University.
Watch a recording of the Lecture using the YouTube link shown.
Professor Hall's article based on the lecture is available online here.
The 2020 Government & Opposition Leonard Schapiro Memorial Lecture, entitled ‘The would-be federation next door: what next for Britain?’ was delivered by Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge, UK.
Watch a recording of the Lecture using the YouTube link shown.
Professor Thompson's article based on the lecture is available without charge here.
The 2019 Lecture was delivered by Professor Cas Mudde of The University of Georgia (USA) and the University of Oslo (Norway) who presented a lecture on “Populism in Europe: An Illiberal Democratic Response to Undemocratic Liberalism.”
Professor Mudde's lecture is now available as an article with Government & Opposition.
Watch a recording of the Lecture using the YouTube link shown.
2018 - A Fresh Perspective on the Origins of “Civic Culture” and Why It Matters for the Study of the Arab World - Carrie Rosefsky Wickham
2017 - The Global Economics of European Populism: Growth Regimes and Party System Change in Europe - Jonathan Hopkin and Mark Blyth
You can also download Professor Blyth's PowerPoint slides from his lecture here.
2016 - The European Union between Intergovernmentalism and ‘Shared and Responsible Sovereignty’: The Haptic Potential of EMU’s Institutional Architecture - Simona Piattoni
2015 - Making Immigration Work: How Britain and Europe Can Cope with their Immigration Crises - Randall Hansen
2014 - Which Map? Which Government? Malapportionment and Gerrymandering, UK-Style - Ron Johnston
2013 - On Violence and Repression: A Relational Approach - Donatella della Porta
2012 - The Federalization of Iraq and the Break-up of Sudan - Brendan O'Leary
2011 - ‘England Does Not Love Coalitions’: The Most Misused Political Quotation in the Book - Iain McLean
2010 - Pathology Without Crisis? The Strange Demise of the Anglo-Liberal Growth Model - Colin Hay
2008 - The Western Ideology - Andrew Gamble
2007 - Comparative Theory and Political Practice: Do We Need a ‘State-Nation’ Model as Well as a ‘Nation-State’ Model? - Alfred Stepan