__________________________________________________
Call for Papers "Africa in the 21st Century: The challenges of Globalization, Environmental Degradation and Global Terrorism" Africa Berlin International Conference Mediateam IT Educational Center Berlin (Germany) 22-26 August 2011 __________________________________________________ The crucial issues the world is faced with today are: globalization, environmental degradation and global terrorism. Africa is at the receiving end of these issues. Globalization represents a process of pervasive force of connectivity and interdependence among countries in the realm of economics, technology, politics, culture, and language to mention a few. Globalization has replaced the prior minimalist-interactionist relationship between countries, with an ever-increasing interaction between countries known as the developed world and developing world. Given the inequity between the two worlds, globalization is favorable to the developed world against the developing world. Although globalization has many undeniable advantages, its inherent negative consequences are glaring as poor countries and minority groups, i.e., Africa is being submerged. The issues most associated with environmental degradation are: the destruction of the bio-diversity, the loss of habitats, and the depletion of resources such as air, soil and water. Caused mainly by pollution and overuse of resources, its main consequence is the constraint on means of livelihood. However, some nations bear the brunt more than others. The developed world, which utilizes larger share of the resources of the world and therefore pollutes more, is able to mitigate the impact of environmental degradation it bears, but the developing world known to pollute less because it uses less of the resources of the world, bears the full brunt of the impact of degradation because it lacks the capacity to mitigate it. Africa belongs to this category. Yet, the developing world, including Africa, must adhere to the regulations set by the developed world called Cartagena Protocol. Terrorism poses a serious danger to the world. The 9/11 attack on US and the subsequent attacks in Europe and Asia, cast a shadow of fear and insecurity across the globe. But, while terrorists are getting sophisticated by the day in the use of advances of science and technology, and are perhaps striving to acquire weapons of mass destruction to inflict maximum casualty: nations are vigilant and resolved and ready to defeat them - what with crack counter terrorism forces developed and equipped to ensure this. Sadly, however, Africa which is an “open society” i.e., insecure, shows no evidence of urgency to fight terrorism. African nations are not just conduits or gateway routes for illegal international drug trade and arms deal; they remain operational free zone for terrorist plots and activities. The expedient question that arises in view of this is: Wither Africa in the 21st century? The following sub themes are among the issues to be examined: The Global world: Conceptual and methodological Issues Africa in the face of globalization: problems and prospects Globalization: Why Developing countries are discontented Losers and gainers of globalization Environmental Degradation: Environmental ethics and impact assessment of environmental degradation Conceptual and methodological issues of environmental discourse The idea of corporate social responsibility and the green house emission Global energy policy The impact of environmental degradation on Africa Global Terrorism: What is terrorism? Global Terrorist Network, who initiates it, what sustains it? Religion and Global Terrorism: Any link? Contending with Global Terrorism What approach should African nations adopt in the global fight against terrorism? To examine these issues, Africa Berlin International Conference (ABIC), invites papers for a conference on August 22nd – 26th, 2011. Papers are welcome from all scholars and all subjects, young scholars, post-docs and students from all disciplines are also invited to participate. Please send your application and abstract electronically to: [email protected]. Your abstract which must be a maximum of 250 words, should give detailed information about the objectives, method, results or findings (or expected results) and main conclusions drawn from the research questions. The abstract must also contain the following information: research title, the author's name, contact address, telephone number and email address, institutional affiliation and about 5 key words. Deadline for submission of abstract: February 29th, 2011. Extended deadline: March 15th, 2011. Full-length papers must be submitted to same address by: June 30th, 2011. Extended deadline: July 15th, 2011. Submitted papers will be peer-reviewed and published in a reader. Contact: Mrs Bianca Goelz-Ngwu Mediateam IT Educational Center Lahnstr. 23 12055 Berlin Germany Phone: +49-30-68083073 Fax: +49-30-68224864 Email: [email protected] __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
