Rokkan Symposium: The life and scholarly legacy of Stein Rokkan

ECPR Press has just published the translation of the biography of Stein Rokkan (Stein Rokkan. A man of several worlds, by Arild. Stubhaug, 2024), a leading scholar of comparative social research and one of the founding fathers of ECPR. At this year's Rokkan-symposium the invited speakers will discuss the life and scholarly legacy of one of the great political scientists of all times.

Stein Rokkan (1921-1979) was born and grew up in the poor periphery of the periphery of Northern Norway. From a background in political philosophy, he moved into sociology and political science and became a pioneer of comparative social science research in Norway and internationally in the 1950s. He was also pioneering the development of the international and national data services in the mid-1950s, and he became in 1960s and -70s one of the greatest organizers of international social science research networks through International Sociological Association (as Vice-President), International Political Science Association (as President), International Social Science Council (as Chairperson), and the ECPR, as one of the founders and its first Chairman of the Executive Board (1970-76). He made original contributions to the study of state- and nation-building in Europe and developed ‘a conceptual map of Europe’. He coined the concept of ‘critical junctures’ and the formulation ‘Votes count, but resources decide’, and his book on Party Systems and Voter Alignments (1967), co-authored with Seymour Martin Lipset, is a classic work on party system development in Europe.

The very esteemed presenters will discuss how Rokkan's theories influence their own ongoing research, the legacy of Rokkan's scholarly writings, and to what extent is Stein Rokkan's analyses and conceptual tools relevant today?

The author Arild Stubhaug will start the symposium with a short presentation about his work with the book. The biography of Stein Rokkan was originally published in Norwegian in 2019. The English version has been translated by Lucy Moffatt.

Programme:

12.45-12.55
Introduction by Leiv Marsteintredet
- Head of Department, Department of Comparative politics, University of Bergen

13.00-14.00
Short presentations by:

Daniele Caramani
- Professor, Department of political science University of Zurich. Stein Rokkan lecturer 2023

Katharina Sass
- Associate professor, Department of Sociology, University of Bergen

Hakan Sicakkan
- Professor, Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen

14.15-15.15
Roundtable on the life and legacy of Stein Rokkan

There will be a simple serving with fruit and coffe.