Call for Papers "States, Nations, Territories: Self-determination and Security in the Contemporary World" Interdisciplinary Conference Specialist Group on Ethnopolitics University of Bath, England (UK) 23-26 September 2004
Web: http://staff.bath.ac.uk/mlssaw/ethnopolitics/ Journal: http://www.ethnopolitics.org/ Mailing List: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ethnopolitics.html Even before it was enshrined in the UN Charter in 1945, the principle of self-determination of peoples was a powerful rallying call for a variety of movements. Traditionally, such movements comprised local ethnic, linguistic or religious minority communities subjected to political suppression, economic discrimination and/or policies of forced cultural assimilation. More recently demands for self-determination also, and often only thinly, disguise the economic and political agendas of predatory elites and transnational movements waging a global campaign of religious fundamentalism. As a result, the links between the struggle for self-determination and security have become more evident in relation to so-called new or non-traditional security challenges. The refugees and IDPs created by such conflicts, the wastage and destruction of natural resources that often accompany them, and the transnational organized crime networks and terrorist organizations that flourish in the conditions that they create have long been recognized as serious security threats. States that are failing and/or collapsing in the face of challenges mounted against them by self-determination movements pose major regional and global threats as breeding grounds and safe havens for international terrorist networks and their local off-shoots and allies and as sources of complex humanitarian emergencies. At the same time, the capabilities of major regional and/or global powers to influence, directly or indirectly, the dynamics of self-determination conflicts has also grown. The recognition, in academic and policy circles, that there is a link between local and regional instability and international security means that policy instruments have been, and are being developed to address the emerging issues. The global ‘war on terrorism’, proclaimed by President Bush in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and reaffirmed one year later in the National Security Strategy of the United States (NSS), are not only the most pointed expressions of this policy response but also their most powerful and impactful manifestations. Against this background, we invite papers from scholars, analysts and policy makers addressing the nexus of self-determination and security from a wide range of angles, but with a clear focus on the policy implications of their analyses. We are particularly interested in papers examining: - international efforts to prevent, manage and settle self-determination conflicts and the conditions of their success in past, present and future - the viability of different types of settlements (such as different forms of power sharing, autonomy and federal arrangements, as well as human and minority rights-based approaches) - the tradeoffs between stability and human rights and between long-term and short-term security concerns and their direct and indirect consequences for actual and potential self-determination conflicts - the broader and longer-term consequences of the 'war on terrorism' on the dynamics of self-determination and security Proposals of no more than 500 words and a one-paragraph bio should be sent to: Stefan Wolff ([email protected]) Deadline for receipt of proposals is: 31 July 2004. All proposals will be peer-reviewed and selected based on their merit and potential contribution to the conference. _________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org/ Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://agd.polylog.org/cal/
