Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE) 2021 West Coast Regional 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. This regional meeting will be held virtually (online over Zoom) in April 2021.
Meeting Information
The meeting will be held virtually from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm PST on Friday April 9 and Saturday April 10. 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.
Submission Categories
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. As this is the west coast regional WGAPE meeting (additional meetings are held annually in the Midwest, Boston area and New York area (CAPERS)), graduate students and junior faculty from west coast universities are particularly encouraged to apply.
We invite submissions of papers or 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.
To submit your materials, please submit to the form by clicking the orange button on the right hand-side by 11:59pm PT on January 25, 2021.
Withdrawing or Amending your Submission
If you have already applied for this RFP, and would either like to withdraw or amend your submission, please contact Michelle Layvant at wgapeworkshop@gmail.com.
For further information, please contact wgapeworkshop@gmail.com.
