The Consortium for Comparative Research on Regional Integration and Social Cohesion (RISC) will hold its first annual conference from the 13th to 15th November at the European Commission’s headquarters in Luxembourg. This meeting will examine leadership and social cohesion politics cross-regionally in specific subject areas, such as environmental management, the quality of democracy, public health, social risk, urban security and immigration. Each of the panels is topically defined and each inlcudes four presentations and a chair/discussant in order to promote comparative debates of social cohesion issues.

The three day meeting will focus on crucial social issues such as leadership, governance and power within the context of social cohesion in Europe, North America, South America and Africa. The format of the conference will promote open discussion on these vital issues where speakers and guests will be welcome to articulate their views on present situations and future perspectives. The keynote panels will comparatively analyze types of leadership and their impacts on social cohesion. The papers presented in these two panels will be published in 2009 in the book series entitled Regional Integration and Social Cohesion (Bruxelles: P.I.E./Peter Lang). This international conference will include presentations made in French, English and Spanish with simultaneous translation. It is free to attend but registration is obligatory. For registration, general questions about this conference or more detailed informations please do not hesitate to contact conference2008@risc-consortium.com or katalin.baranyi.001@student.uni.lu or telephone (352) 466-644-9573. If you are very interested on the consortium or its related activities please visit http://www.risc.lu