Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE) 2021 Annual Meeting
The Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE) brings together faculty and advanced graduate students in Economics and Political Science who combine field research experience in Africa with training in political economy methods. The group has met semi-annually to discuss the in-progress work of its core members and invited guests since 2002. It is co-led by Daniel Posner (UCLA), Edward Miguel (UC Berkeley), Amanda Robinson (Ohio State University), and Amma Panin (University of Louvain), and hosted by the Center for Effective Global Action at UC Berkeley. WGAPE is generously funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. This annual meeting will be held online (over Zoom) in August 2021.
Meeting Information
The meeting will be held virtually from Wednesday, August 11 through Friday, August 13. WGAPE meetings center on research discussion sessions rather than presentations. Papers are circulated and expected to be read in advance by all participants. Presenters provide brief, orienting comments before the floor is opened for an hour-long discussion of each paper or research design. WGAPE accepts early working papers, near-complete drafts, and research designs/pre-analysis plans (see an archive of papers from past WGAPE meetings here). Additionally, this meeting will include 2-3 “speed networking” sessions where attendees will be paired one-on-one with other conference participants to discuss research interests.
Submitting Papers and Research Designs
We invite paper and research design submissions that reflect WGAPE’s broad research agenda on the political economy of African development, including ethnic politics, civil conflict and violence, decentralization and democratization, corruption, local governance, public economics, and other related topics. Submissions outside of these areas are very unlikely to be selected regardless of their quality. WGAPE commonly, but not exclusively, selects submissions with a strong focus on fieldwork and quantitative analysis.
We invite submissions of 1) working papers or 2) research designs. Early-stage papers and research designs will be prioritized for inclusion. Highly polished papers are unlikely to be selected. These submissions should describe a fully planned research study on topics relevant to WGAPE, as listed above. A suggested format for these submissions is the Pre-Analysis Plan (please find a template here). It is not necessary to reformat your Pre-Analysis Plan to fit the linked template, but a strong Pre-Analysis Plan will include the elements listed in the template.
Anyone is welcome to apply, but graduate students, junior faculty, and applicants who teach, study, or have completed a degree at an African university are particularly encouraged.
To submit your materials, please submit to the form by clicking the orange button on the right hand-side by 11:59pm PT on June 7, 2021.
Withdrawing or Amending your Application
If you have already applied for this RFP, and would either like to withdraw or amend your submission, please contact the WGAPE coordinator at wgapeworkshop@gmail.com.
For further information, please contact wgapeworkshop@gmail.com.
