‘US Elections in Historical Perspective’

Symposium
8^th November 2016, The Institute of Americas, UCL

No one needs reminding that the 2016 election has been a race like no other. Two historically unpopular candidates are claiming democracy is under threat. Ideological coalitions are breaking apart and the spectre of re-alignment hangs over the party system.

To make some sense of it all, we’re organising a half-day symposium on ‘US Elections in Historical Perspective’ at the Institute of Americas on Election Day itself – Tuesday November 8^th.

We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers on American elections from any period of the nation’s history. Although we’re keen to look at elections in historical perspective, we do not require speakers to explicitly link back to the 2016 race. Given the nature of the event and the limited time frame, presentations can be fairly informal.

In addition to the presentation of papers, there will be a roundtable on the historical significance of the current presidential election, which will include a Q&A session. We welcome papers from historians, and those in related disciplines, on any aspects of elections in the United States.

*******

Please send 250-400 word abstracts for papers and any queries tomark.smith.10@ucl.ac.uk Deadline: September 20^th 2016.