News Release:
Politics conference attracts national experts in government
| 4/2/04 022/04 How do we know we can trust our governments? More than 30 academics from across NSW will be gathering for a conference at The University of New England next week to try to answer this question. The conference entitled, Legitimacy and the State, will address questions as diverse as what our approach to the problem of terrorism should be, to how the general public can play a role in the processes of government. It will include academics from a range of disciplines including Politics, Philosophy and Sociology. "The conference examines the social and political systems under which we live, and seeks to understand to what extent governmental decisions are really expressions of what people want, and if they aren't how can we make them more so," said Emeritus Professor Graham Maddox, who has been the prime mover behind the conference.
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The conference will attract some of the leading figures in the relevant fields, including prize-winning Professor Chris Reus-Smit (currently Professor of International Relations at The Australian National University) and his colleague, Bob Goodin, who is joint Professor of Social & Political Theory and of Philosophy. Both speakers have international reputations as experts in the field. "In an election year we need to get local issues and international agendas into perspective. To do this we need to think clearly about how we want our politicians to think about not only the terrorist threat but about Australia's international alignments," said Fiona Utley, one of the conference organisers. The conference will be run over two days next week, on Monday, February 9 and Tuesday, February 10. It is open to the public and anyone interested in attending should phone Fiona Utley on 6773 3581 or email: futley@metz.une.edu.au Media contact: Fiona Utley, (02) 6773 3581 or Lydia Clifford, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 2779. |
