Comparative Analysis of Élites
This new project, coordinated by Jean-Pascal Daloz (Director of Research, appointed to the MFO as of September 2007), is designed as an interdisciplinary initiative. From a political science standpoint, it concentrates on comparative analysis of political representatives within European democracies, and particularly on the symbolic dimension of their role. In a more sociological vein, the programme also sets out to stimulate comparative studies of élitist distinction, and encourages the participation of historians and anthropologists who can bring important temporal and cultural perspectives of the question into play. The 2007-2008 academic year was devoted to the establishment of Franco-British joint initiatives in this area.
The main event was the international conference held at St Antonys's College on ‘The Fifth Republic at Fifty : Fifty years of constitutional change in Britain and France' (convened by Vernon Bogdanor, Brasenose College, and Jean-Pascal Daloz). Distinguished guests, such as Jack Straw and Noëlle Lenoir, took part as well many British and French scholars. A second conference (convened by David Goldey) was organised at Lincoln College on ‘The Fifth Republic and Political Parties'.
In 2008-2009
1. A symposium on ‘Elite Symbolic Superiority : Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives' was held on October 16th. Historians, political scientists, anthropologists and sociologists from the UK, the USA, Norway and France met with their counterparts from the University of Oxford, and with three other academics from Scandinavia and the US. The aim of the workshop, organised in collaboration with Muriel Le Roux (CNRS/MFO), was to compare and contrast research on various types of elites (political, economic, scientific, artistic, etc). The focus was on key dynamics and on methodological/conceptual issues. The conference proceedings are to be published in the bilingual journal ‘Historical Reflections/Réflexions historiques'.
Lecture report : French / English
2. A symposium (convened by Tak Wing Chan, New College, and Jean-Pascal Daloz, MFO) on ‘Social Distinction: Comparative Studies' was held on 5 December 2008, with leading specialists from France, Britain and other European countries. Papers on the UK, Russia, China, South Africa, Nepal and Mauritius were discussed. Publication of the proceedings has already been agreed with the journal "Comparative Sociology" (as a special issue), to be followed by a book publication with Brill Publishers.
3. On 4 March 2009, Heinrich Best (Friedrich Schiller University, Jena) gave a lecture on ‘Europe's Political and Economic Elites: What can we say about their Europeanness?'. He presented the main results of a major quantitative research project sponsored by the E.U. Commission. This research concerns the perceptions of the E.U. by both political and economic elites within many countries. Kalypso Nicolaïdis (Director of the European Studies Centre, Oxford) served as discussant.
4. On 2 May 2009, an international conference on ‘Political Leadership in France: Presidents & Prime Ministers of the Fifth Republic' (co-organised by David Bell, University of Leeds, Jean-Pascal Daloz, MFO, and David Goldey, Lincoln College) took place. The objective of this conference, to which both British and French participants contributed, was to compare the style of leadership of presidents and prime ministers, and notably to analyse logics of continuity and discontinuity.
Forthcoming:
5. On May 20th, a workshop about ‘Current Research on Elites' will give an opportunity for the PhD students (in Sociology or Political Science) of the MFO to present their research, which will be discussed by John Higley (University of Texas at Austin and Chair of the RC on Political Elites of the International Political Science Association). John Higley will also deliver a speech on ‘Problems in Elite Theory and Analysis'.
6. The study of political rituals has experienced a significant growth in recent decades, and it will be the focus of an international conference organized by Jean-Pascal Daloz (CNRS, Maison Française) and Sudhir Hazareesingh (Balliol) on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 June at the Maison Française and at the Department of Politics and International Relations, co-sponsor of this project (with OXPO and Balliol College). Its purpose is to explore what this scholarship has contributed to our understanding of the political, most notably the power, authority, and cohesiveness of the state; the unity and lines of fracture within society; and the role of myth and memory in the construction of nationhood. Among the participants: Pierre-Yves Baudot (Nanterre), Luc Borot (Maison Française); Jeroen Duindam (Groningen); Denis Fleurdoge (Montpellier); François Foret (ULB Brussels); Emmanuel Fureix (Paris-XII); Antoine Mandret-Degueilh (IEP Paris); Marc Stears (Oxford); Marine Roussillon (Paris-III); and Harald Wydra (Cambridge). The papers will cover a range of cases (Britain, France, the United States, and the European Union) and historical periods (from the 17th century to the present); among the key themes to be touched upon will be the functional role of rituals (the extent to which they are instruments of social integration or fragmentation); how far states are able to exercise control over rituals; the ethical dimensions (rituals as purveyors of moral codes and understandings); the conceptualization of rituals, and their ideological underpinnings; the symbolic and anthropological dimensions, and the value of ‘thick descriptions' of rituals; variations in ritual forms between centre and periphery, and their significance; variations in ritual forms over time (how renewal can be achieved, and stultification avoided); ritual cross-fertilizations (how political rituals may be influenced by pre-existing local cultural norms); and finally, the value of interdisciplinarity in the study of rituals.
Contacts have been made with the ‘Journal of Power' and with ‘International Political Anthropology' in view of publishing a special issue on this theme.
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