African scholars’ contributions to public policy theoretical debates and research have remained little or quasi-invisible, especially at the global level of international journals’ databases. There is also little evidence of African terrain. This panel would like to contribute to filling this gap, thereby asking why such gaps, and looking at policy implications. The panel seeks to systematically question, understand and explain the economic divides in producing public policy research and publications at the international level. This panel is an interdisciplinary venue. It is open to contributions from different political and social sciences fields using public policy as an area of research in Africa: economics, anthropology, political sociology, public administration, political economy, international relations, etc.

6th Edition of the International Conference on Public Policy, 27th - 29th June 2023, Toronto, Canada: panel T15 P02: Public Policy in Africa: A Political Economy Perspective.

Argument

Since its emergence in the United States in the early 1930s and France during the 1970s, academic interest in studying and researching public policy has followed different trajectories. Top-ranked economies cover most publications on public policies within and beyond the African continent. Most specifically, African scholars’ contributions to public policy theoretical debates and research have remained little or quasi-invisible, especially at the global level of international journals’ databases. There is also little evidence of African terrain. This panel would like to contribute to filling this gap, thereby asking why such gaps, and looking at policy implications.

The panel seeks to systematically question, understand and explain the economic divides in producing public policy research and publications at the international level. Indeed, although objects and subjects may be ontologically distinct, the production of public policy research is analyzed as a public policy per se through three directions. First, it addresses the role (activity) of funding and sponsoring in contributing to the visibility of academic publications and contributions to the field. Second, it tackles the individual and collective actions of governmental and non-governmental agencies, researchers, heads of political science departments, and faculty members in sponsoring, promoting, and sourcing academic publications in public policy. Third, it interrogates the types of literature promoted and used in researching and analyzing public policies in Africa.

This panel is an interdisciplinary venue. It is open to contributions from different political and social sciences fields using public policy as an area of research in Africa: economics, anthropology, political sociology, public administration, political economy, international relations, etc. It is open but not limited to concrete case studies or empirical papers addressing the research and production policies of public policy research papers or books in African universities. In particular, we would happily welcome articles that focus on researched topics within specific universities or countries and publishing mediums, sponsorships, the role of governmental and non-governmental agencies in sponsoring research in public policies, etc. Last but not least, proposals may also focus on specific studies while describing how they use or not contemporary literature or theories on public policies.

How to apply

Interested authors should send us abstracts of no more than 500 words, giving details about the title of their papers and methodologies or theories used

not later than 30 january, 2023.

You can find more details about the call through the following link.

Panel Chairs and Co-chairs

• Dr R. Mireille Manga Edimo, IRIC, University of Yaoundé II (manmir2001@yahoo.com)
• Abdoul Karim Saidou, University of Thomas Sankara, Burkina-Faso (akarims40@yahoo.fr)
• Siphamandla Zondi, University of Johannesburg, South-Africa