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BJPIR at the PSA 60th Anniversary Annual Conference

As one of the PSA's high profile political science journals, the now ISI-cited British Journal of Politics and International Relations (BJPIR) celebrated the association's 60th Anniversary in style at the recent PSA Conference held in Edinburgh. Led by Drs. Alistair Clark and Susan McManus from BJPIR's editorial team, the journal ran two well-attended and hotly debated roundtable sessions on the first afternoon of the conference.


Participants at the BJPIR 2010 Election Roundtable: L-R, Prof Paul Whiteley, Dr. Rosie Campbell, Prof. John Curtice, Dr. Alistair Clark and Dr. Andrew Russell.

The first roundtable, 'The 2010 UK General Election: Prospects, Challenges and Implications', examined the forthcoming general election in depth. Dr. Rosie Campbell (Birkbeck) discussed the issue of gender in the so-called 'Mumsnet' election, while Prof. Paul Whiteley (Essex/BES) assessed the parties' opinion poll performances, voting behaviour and prospects for a hung parliament. Dr. Andrew Russell (Manchester) followed up by assessing the parties' campaigning behaviour prior to the election being called, while Prof. John Curtice (Strathclyde) returned to the opinion polls to discuss the performance of the opinion pollsters in tracking developments in public opinion. Extensive discussion between the panellists and audience followed with all convinced that the 2010 contest would be one of the most closely fought in many years, something which the election campaign has not failed to deliver.


Prof. John Street addressing the 'Celebrity Politics' BJPIR Roundtable

The second roundtable on 'Celebrity Politics' celebrated a specific and noteworthy achievement related to BJPIR. Prof. John Street's article 'Celebrity Politicians: Popular Culture and Political Representation' (2004) has been the most downloaded article since BJPIR was launched. To celebrate this, this second roundtable was organised by Dr. Debbie Lisle, supported by the PSA's Art and Politics Specialist Group, and chaired by Dr. Susan McManus. Discussion revolved around Prof. Street's seminal article and the contribution that it has made to developing research in the field of celebrity politics. Prof. Street opened the discussion by reflecting upon the shifting roles of politicians and celebrities in shaping and delivering policy. While recognising a certain amount of increased power of celebrities in 'endorsing' politicians and causes, his recent research on how young people 'read' celebrity politics suggests a more sceptical eye is now being cast upon 'celebrity effects'. Dr Mark Wheeler (London Metropolitan) developed important methodological insights in the field before applying these to the relationship between Hollywood and Washington - exemplified by Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger - in order to propose an analytical model of 'celebrity diplomacy'. Moving into the field of aesthetics and International Relations, Riina Yrjola (Jyvaskyla) developed a critical analysis of 'celebrity humanitarianism', exemplified by Live Aid and Live 8, particularly focusing on the ways in which the interventions of 'celebrity humanitarians' reproduce potentially depoliticizing imaginaries of Africa. Nathan Farrell (Bristol) developed a robustly critical argument on the dangers of the involvement of celebrities in activist politics, such as the ways in which celebrities can function reductively so as to marginalise and exclude other participants and voices. Finally, Dr Philip Drake (Stirling) brought the discussion closer to home, deploying 'frame analysis' in order to order to critically analyse the way in which David Cameron has created 'performances of legitimacy' through the construction of 'leadership frames'. The animated discussion that followed attested to the significance of these new research trajectories in the endeavour to identify, respond to, and critically analyse this increasing important medium through which contemporary political life works. The roundtable was also recorded and can be downloaded as a Podcast podcast


The 'Celebrity Politics' BJPIR Roundtable in deep deliberation

Although the weather in Edinburgh extended a typical Scottish welcome, plenty of hospitality was available at the post-roundtable BJPIR Reception, sponsored by Wiley Blackwell, the journal's publishers. This was an extremely busy event, held in the splendid surroundings of the Merchants Hall just off Princes Street in Edinburgh. Thanks are due to the Edinburgh organising committee for organising such a splendid venue and the message of the reception was to thank BJPIR's wide range of authors, reviewers and readers for their continued support. Equally importantly, it was to remind authors that BJPIR is always on the lookout for excellent scholarship and to encourage colleagues to think of the now ISI-cited BJPIR as one of the first places to submit their research to.



Drs. Alistair Clark and Susan McManus of the BJPIR Editorial Team at the BJPIR wine reception sponsored by Wiley Blackwell

International Studies Association Convention, New Orleans, February 2010
At the ISA annual convention, BJPIR increased its international presence by running a 'Meet the Editors' session at the Wiley-Blackwell stand. The event went well, generating plenty of interest, and editors Lee McGowan and Dan Bulley felt it was a crucial step in raising the profile of the journal still further. BJPIR would like to thank the Wiley-Blackwell team, and especially Terri Teleen, for their help in staging and advertising this event.

BJPIR editors

Electoral Studies Virtual Issue, January 2010