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Call for Papers Theme: Cultural Diversity and Value Pluralism in European and Global Politics Type: International Conference Institution: Charles University Anglo-American University Location: Prague (Czech Republic) Date: 20.–21.11.2015 Deadline: 10.9.2015 __________________________________________________ The modernisation thesis implied that inevitable social progress will result in cultural, religious and value pluralism becoming largely irrelevant as a factor in domestic and international politics. The plausibility of such prediction was further strengthen by an expectation that the process of globalisation and the information revolution is bound to lead to growing cultural homogenisation which in turn will facilitate the global spread of liberal democracy as the default political model. However, the developments of the last 15 years made it clear that these predictions were unfounded and that the end of the Cold War, which at that time seemed like the end of the age of ideologies, in fact created an ideological vacuum in which such cultural "primordial ties" as ethnicity, language, land of birth or religion continue to constitute the essential aspect of the narrative identities of peoples and as such inform their political preferences. The new international context in which the eclipse of the hegemonic power of the United States and the growing tendency towards multi-polarisation is accompanied by a rising tide of populist and nationalistic tendencies, as well as growing popularity of claims to cultural exceptionalism – and not just in China – makes the problem of cultural and value pluralism politically more relevant than ever before. Moreover, the processes of globalisation and the information revolution lead to growing trans-nationalisation of the problem of pluralism, highlighting the limitations of the theories of multicultural accommodation which do not appreciate the impact of non-domestic factors. Hence the need for a more comprehensive and interdisciplinary analysis of the political implications of cultural diversity and value pluralism. The conference, which is jointly organised by the Institute of Political Studies and the Institute of International Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, and the Anglo-American University in Prague, is open to researchers from the fields of political theory, political science, international relations and European studies, as well as other social and human sciences. We invite papers on the following broadly defined topics: - Value pluralism and cultural diversity as a challenge to liberal democracy - Multiculturalism in policies of the EU countries: success or failure? - The role of values in international relations and in the EU foreign policy - The current surge of nationalism and populism and the future of the nation state in the context of European integration and globalisation - Human rights, anti-cosmopolitanism, and search for foundation of global ethics - Global (in)justice, global inequalities and their impact on the current political events Abstracts should be submitted by September 10th, 2015 via email at [email protected]. The abstracts should be no longer than 500 words. You will receive a notification about the acceptance of your paper by September 24th, 2015. Publication Plan All conference participants are strongly encouraged to submit their papers for publication in a special issue of Acta Politologica – a peer reviewed journal published by the Institute of Political Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague. Moreover, the authors of the 3 – 5 most outstanding papers may be invited to submit an extended version of their paper to be published in a planned book in the prestigious series Bloomsbury Studies in Global Ethics. Conference fee: CZK 1000 (Approx. EUR 40) Keynote Speakers Göran Collste (Linköping University, Sweden) Peter Jonkers (Tilburg University, The Netherlands) Graham Parkes (University College Cork, Ireland) John Skorupski (University of St Andrews, UK) Organizers Jakub Franěk [email protected] Janusz Salamon [email protected] Conference email address: [email protected] Important note: Paper abstracts should be submitted exclusively via this official conference address. This address should also be used for all inquiries regarding the conference. Conference website: https://sites.google.com/site/valuesinpolitics/ __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
