Friday, July 24th to Sunday, July 26th 2009
Lower Level Conference Room, Center for European Studies
27 Kirkland Street
Cambridge MA

Friday, July 24th

8:30 am Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 am Welcome

Frank Dobbin, Professor of Sociology and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Sociology, Harvard University
Peter A. Hall, Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies, Department of Government, Harvard University

9:15 am The Origins and Reforms of Economic and Political Institutions

Chair: Peter A. Hall, Harvard University

Presentations:

Torben Iversen, Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Department of Government, Harvard University
“Dualism and Political Coalitions: Inclusionary Versus Exclusionary Reforms in an Age of Rising Inequality”

Cathie Jo Martin, Professor of Political Science, Boston University “Gonna Party Like It’s 1899: Electoral Systems and the Origins of Varieties of Coordination”

Commentator: Daniel Ziblatt, Paul Sack Associate Professor of Political Economy, Department of Government, Harvard University

11:00 am Coffee Break

11:15 am The Reform Process in the Political Economies of the Developed Democracies

Chair: Wolfgang Streeck, Professor and Managing Director, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies

Presentations:

Pepper Culpepper, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
“Political Salience and Business Power”

Patrick LeGalès, Research Director, Centre for Political Research Sciences Po, Paris
“Adjusting to Economic and Social Challenges: The End of the New Labour Project?”

Commentator: Monica Prasad, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University

1:00 pm Lunch

2:30 pm Changes at Work

Chair: Patrick LeGalès, Sciences Po

Presentations:

Soohan Kim, Doctoral candidate, Department of Sociology, Harvard University
“Managerial Diversity and Organizational Survival: Determinants of Plant Closings in U.S. Corporations, 1983-2002”

Lucy Barnes, Doctoral candidate, Department of Government, Harvard University
“The Political Economy of Working Time: Preferences and Constraints”

Elisabeth Anderson, Doctoral candidate, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University
"Ideas as Motivators and Resources for Political Action in the Case of Early Prussian Child Labor Reform, 1817-1839"

Commentator: Suzanne Berger, Raphael Dorman and Helen Starbuck Professor of Political Science, MIT

4:30 pm Coffee Break

4:45 pm Public Policy and Private Action

Chair: Monica Prasad, Northwestern University

Presentations:

Mark Lutter, Doctoral candidate, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne
“A Market for Hope: Why We Play the Lottery”

Dian Yang, Doctoral candidate, Department of Sociology, Harvard University
“From State Capitalism to Shareholder Capitalism? Shareholder-Oriented Corporate Governance Reform and the Performance of Large Chinese Corporations”

Thibault Bossy, Doctoral candidate, Centre for Political Research (CEVIPOF), Sciences Po, Paris
“The Politics and Policy of Obesity in France and Britain”

Commentator: Bruce Carruthers, Professor, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University

6:15 pm Adjournment

7:30 pm Welcome Dinner – Harvard Faculty Club

Saturday, July 25th

9:00 am How States and Markets Cope with International Integration

Chair: Frank Dobbin, Harvard University

Presentations:

Jason Beckfield, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Sociology, Harvard University “Regionalization and Retrenchment: The Impact of European Integration on the Welfare State”

Bai Gao, Professor, Department of Sociology, Duke University
“The Rubik’s Cube State: A Re-Conceptualization of Political Change in Contemporary China”

Commentator: Mark Ebers, Professor of Business Administration, Corporate Development and Organization, University of Cologne

10:45 am Coffee Break

11:00 am Labor and Business

Chair: Jens Beckert, Professor, and Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne

Presentations:

Marissa Brookes, Doctoral candidate, Department of Political Science, Northwestern University
“Transnational Union Alliances: Why Some Succeed”

Masha Hedberg, Doctoral candidate, Department of Government, Harvard University
“The Evolution of Russian Business Associations: Macro-Determinants and Micro-Strategies”

Sabrina Zajak, Doctoral candidate, Institution Building Across Borders, Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne “Transnational Labour Standards and Social Movements: Athletic Footwear and Toys”

Commentator: Jonah Levy, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkely

1:00 pm Lunch

2:30 pm What We Know and Do Not Know about How Institutions Change

Chair: Pepper Culpepper, Harvard University

Presentations:

John Campbell, Professor of Sociology, Dartmouth College “Neoliberalism in Crisis: Institutional Roots of the U.S. Financial Meltdown”

Bruce Carruthers, Professor, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University
“Dealing with Failure: Why Corporate Bankruptcy is Not Like Death”

Commentator: Jens Beckert, Max Planck

3:45 pm Coffee Break

4:00 pm State Policy and Efficacy

Chair: John Campbell, Dartmouth College

Presentations:

Erin McDonnell, Doctoral candidate, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University
“Subcultures of Bureaucracy: Sub-State Variation in (Weberian) Bureaucratic Quality”

Dima Younès, Doctoral candidate, Centre de Sociologie des Organizations, Sciences-Po, Paris
“Can the French Government Create Industrial Clusters? The Oligopolistic Structure of the Ile-de-France Region's "Pôle de compétitivité" as a Local Response to the Policy”

Martin Schroeder, Doctoral candidate, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne
“How Moral Arguments Shape the Definition and Pursuit of Economic Interests”

Benjamin Singer, Doctoral candidate, Sciences-Po, Paris
“The Political Economy of Forest Policy in Cameroon, Indonesia and Brazil”

Commentator: Pierre Francois, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) Research Fellow, Sciences Po, Paris

6:00 pm Adjournment

7:00 pm Dinner - William James Hall room 1550

Sunday, July 26th

10:00 am Institutions and Reform

Chair: Suzanne Berger, MIT

Presentation:

Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck
“Flexible Employment, Flexible Families, and the Socialization of Reproduction”

11:00 am Panel Discussion: When are States and Markets Effective at Managing Social Change?

Chair: Frank Dobbin, Harvard University

Panelists:

Suzanne Berger, MIT
Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck
Jonah Levy, University of California, Berkeley
Peter Hall, Harvard University
Pierre Francois, Sciences Po

12:30 pm Closing Lunch, Center for European Studies