In order to include a wide array of potential contributors and to make the NISPAcee Annual Conference even more attractive to Public Administration and Policy scholars, experts, and practitioners and to further enhance its position as one of the most important meetings in the field internationally, the 23^rd NISPAcee Annual Conference will again include General Sessions, in which papers that cover topics, which go beyond the conference or working group themes, can be presented. The only criteria for acceptance are (a) scholarly quality, (b) interest of the topic and (c) "from or about the region”, i.e. papers should come from Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, or be about that region.