Dear Section members,

It’s already more than a month since our Madrid conference on ‘Comparing Political Communication Across Time and Space’. Everybody who attended the conference will certainly agree with me that this was a fantastic event, both academically and socially. Some people I spoke to even said that this was one of the best conferences they’ve ever been to. I found the quality of the papers of extremely high standard throughout, indicating the maturity of our field and the tremendous progress that has been made in comparative research. The social programme, including a choice of lovely tapas bars and an exciting flamenco show, also contributed to making this conference a memorable occasion in the history of our section. So I would like to express a big Thank You to the local organiser Maria Jose Canel and her excellent team.

During the conference we also had a business meeting: for those who are interested, the minutes can be downloaded here. You’ll find more information about activities of the Section past and future as well as details about the conference itself, including selection of papers. The business meeting also agreed on a revised text for our section website including our objectives. These documents need the approval of the ECREA Board and will be uploaded as soon as we get their okay.

Looking ahead, the call for papers for the next general ECREA conference, which will be held in Istanbul 24-27th October 2012, has now been issued. More details can be found on the conference website. Please remember that the deadline for submitting proposals is 28th February 2012. Proposals should be submitted through the conference online submission system, and there should be a clear indication on your proposal which section you want your paper to be considered for.

Maria Jose, Jesper and myself wish you all a very enjoyable Christmas break and we hope to see you all next year in Istanbul and/or at any other occasion.

With best wishes,
Katrin Voltmer (Chair)