The format of the PDW is designed to stimulate a highly interactive discussion and to help participants identify emerging research opportunities and spark dialogue that can advance research on alliance dynamics and instability. To that end, we intend to structure the PDW as follows:
5-10 minutes: The co-organizers of the PDW will make an introductory talk about the purpose of the workshop and will introduce the panelists.
30-35 minutes: The panelists will briefly introduce one of the three topics, present some of the contributions that he/she will suggest to discuss at the round table with other interested scholars attending the PDW.
45-50 minutes: The third part of the PDW will be organized in a theme-related round table format. Participants will gather in smaller groups to discuss specific interests and contribute to the discussion of the questions that the panelists will previously introduce. Staring the roundtable discussion right away is expected to stimulate the involvement of all PDW participants and create more proximity between the distinguished panelists and their young and senior colleagues. The panelists will lead open table discussions of issues and concerns related to the theoretical and empirical investigation of the theme. Depending on turnout and the size of each group, two panelists may be assigned to a table in order to stimulate dialogue and debate. We may also rotate panelists across tables to enrich discussions and provide participants with ample opportunities to interact. We will schedule two breaks so participants can learn about each other’s’ research projects and form an informal interest group.
30-40 minutes: The panelist will be given each 3-5 minutes to highlight the discussion held with his/her interest group and present his/her perspective on the challenges and prospects of recent and emerging research on alliances and alliance portfolio, with focus on one of the aforementioned themes. Each presentation will be followed by a Q&A and a brief open discussion, with the objective of highlighting core issues that merit further discussion.
We believe that the optimum amount of time for our PDW would be 2.5 hours, but we could adjust the format if necessary.
Informal lunch: depending on the scheduled time for our PDW, we would like to invite the panelists and other participants to join us for an informal lunch to further foster social ties between the scholars sharing research interests on alliance dynamics and instability.