Theda Skocpol (Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology vid Harvard University) will be the keynote speaker (by link) at SWEPSA. Skocpol's work covers an unusually broad spectrum of topics including both comparative politics (States and Social Revolutions, 1979, Bringing the state back in, 1985) and American politics (Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States, 1992). Her books and articles have been widely cited in political science literature and have won numerous awards, including the 1993 Woodrow Wilson Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book in political science for the previous year. Skocpol's research focuses on U.S. social policy and civic engagement in American democracy, including changes since the 1960s. She has recently launched new projects on the development of U.S. higher education and on the transformations of U.S. federal policies in the Obama era.
The keynote is a public part of the conference SWEPSA2024 and welcomes both students and employees at Umeå university.