"Institutions and upgrading strategies in the global economy: a comparative analysis of Spain and Korea" abstract This talk presents the preliminary argument of a book that examines the roles of states and large firms in fostering economic upgrading in the context of late industrialising, advanced, but not world-leading economies. The empirical analysis is based on…

"Formal Modeling for Substantive Social Research: The Place of Narratives  in Linking Theory to Models" abstract This talk grows out of Mershon's book manuscript, _Formal Modeling for Substantive Research_, co-authored with Olga Shvetsova. The talk and the book focus on the methodology of using formal models as a systematic component in research design in political…

"Falling back into Gender? Men's Narratives and Practices around First-time Fatherhood"

"Explaining variation of EU effectiveness in international development negotiations" abstract This article analyses the role played by the European Union in the changing development architecture, focusing on the negotiation and conclusion of four high-level forums on aid effectiveness, held in Rome (2003), Paris (2005), Accra (2008) and Busan (2011). Drawing on published and unpublished material and…

"The Greek euro-crisis: between government failure and failed government" abstract The presentation seeks to provide an analytical account of the Greek crisis that goes beyond simple and partial explanations of the crisis, which typically focus selectively either on domestic problems and weaknesses (fiscal laxity, corruption, weak administrative capacities, reform resistance) or on external and systemic…