The Eighth National Social Science Congress (NSSC 8) will be held on 15–17 June 2016 at the Lyceum of the Philippines University in Batangas City. With the theme “Inclusive Governance: Gateways to Sustainable Futures,” the Congress will provide a platform for the active engagement of scholars and students for rethinking social science categories such as growth, equity, power, legitimacy, inclusion, gender equality, empowerment, and justice in relation to inclusive governance and sustainable futures. It will dissect the concepts of governance and sustainable development in particular contexts or levels of social life in the Philippines, or in the larger global setting.

Structured around plenary sessions and thematic panels, NSSC 8 invites submissions for papers, short films or other multimedia presentations that delve into different aspects of inclusive governance and sustainable futures. Individual presenters and panelists are challenged to examine the ability of governance mechanisms to draw inclusive participation from different constituencies of society, particularly marginalized and vulnerable groups in a nation, region, or across the globe. Speakers are prompted to demonstrate how different forms and levels of governance influence accountability, transparency, or access to justice, and how these affect the rights and well-being of various peoples. Participants are challenged to reflect on how (if at all) inclusive governance can cement the high road towards sustainable futures. Most importantly, the presentations and discussions need to consider in what ways the social sciences can provide meaningful directions, methods and insights to this process.

SUGGESTED THEMES FOR INDIVIDUAL AND PANEL PRESENTATIONS

• Governance, economic growth and sustainable development
• Contested territories and spaces: local, national and global issues
• Managing cultural heritage and diversity
• Migration, populations and governance
• Theoretical perspectives on governance: power, authority, legitimacy and community
• Governing the megalopolis: ensuring safety, sustainability, inclusivity and resilience?
• Gender, empowerment and good governance
• Governing cyberspace and online communities
• Peace, social justice and the law
• State, military, and security governance
• Measuring and operationalizing governance and sustainable futures
• Sustainable management of utilities: water, energy, and transportation
• Managing climate change and natural disasters
• Nonstate alternatives: civil society governance
• How our history of governance shapes our sustainable futures
• Rethinking legitimacy: extra-legal governance
• Global, transnational, and local: the locus of governance
• Shaping Philippine education for sustainable futures
• From the margins: grassroots participation
• Language policies towards sustainable futures
• Problematizing ‘sustainable futures’ through governance
• Governance of natural resources towards inclusive development

DATES TO REMEMBER

Submission of paper/panel abstracts: 30 January 2016
Notification of acceptance: 29 February 2016
Submission of full papers: 30 April 2016
8th National Social Science Congress: 15-17 June 2016

Download the conference poster here.

For more information, visit the conference website.