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Call for Papers Theme: Transition without Justice? Type: International Conference Institution: Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade Faculty of Media and Communications, Singidunum University Location: Belgrade Date: 23.–24.9.2016 Deadline: 6.5.2016 __________________________________________________ Transitional justice has established itself as a relatively puzzling and comprehensive problem in the modern theories of justice. Its range has expanded from the justice meted out for war crimes and other crimes committed in situations of state disintegration or transformation, marked by institutional crises, to any kind of institutional justice which arises from changing social, political, ideological and value circumstances and assumptions. Thus the scope of the concept of transitional justice is influenced by the breath of understanding of ‘transition’. This conference is triggered by the publication, in 2015, of the book authored by Klaus Bachmann and Aleksandar Fatic, The UN International Criminal Tribunals: Transition without Justice? (Routledge, 2015). The book proposes, among other ideas, the controversial thesis that transitional justice is in fact more about achieving the goals of political transition than about fulfilling the demands of moral and legal justice per se. Thus to assess transitional justice, and especially the international tribunals, fairly and historically correctly, one must first discern which specific political goals of social and institutional transition are implicit in the mission of these tribunals. While one session at the conference will focus on the book (contributors to this session are welcome to submit their abstracts), the conference as a whole will encompass a broad array of contexts for transitional justice and contributors are especially encouraged to address the following topics: 1. To what extent does transitional justice lead to stable institutional justice after state conflict or ethnic strife? 2. What kind of mechanisms of transitional justice are the most conducive to peace? 3. The relationship between transitional justice and alternative mechanisms of reconciliation and peace-making 4. Transitional justice and restorative justice 5. Social transformations/transitions and the evolution of mechanisms of justice 6. The moral philosophy behind transitional justice: deontic, consequentialist, virtue-ethics and other methodological considerations 7. The goals and price of democratization 8. Modern transitions: Is the EU in transition and to what extent can justice issues in the EU be considered ‘transitional justice? 9. Justice in international relations: moral, legal, political or something else? 10. Does international law belong to the realm of transitional justice when the world changes? How should it be handled? What are the most prodigious specific problems in this context? 11. State violence as a threat to democracy, and state violence as a means of democratization 12. Legal regulation, proliferation of legislation and the changing conceptions of social justice The above topics are indicative only. Participants are encouraged to submit 200 word-long abstracts on these and any other related topics pertaining to transitional justice in the broad sense. The deadline for the receipt of abstracts (along with a one-paragraph biography of the author) is Friday, 6 May 2016. Authors will be informed of the decision on their proposed papers by 31 May 2016. Conference fee is EUR 150 for registration before 30 June 2016, and EUR 200 for late registration. The fee is payable by bank transfer or by PayPal. The fee covers conference materials, welcome dinner and farewell dinner and the certificate of attendance, if required. A list of privileged accommodation options will be provided closer to the conference. Belgrade is centrally located in South-Eastern Europe and there are a variety of affordable travel options to and from it by air, road or railway. Completed papers are due by the time of the conference. A collection entitled Transition without Justice? will be published by a high impact publisher with selected papers. There will also be opportunities for publication in the Institute’s journal Philosophy and Society, which is indexed on the ERIH and a number of other indexing lists. Abstracts and queries should be directed to: Simona Zikic Faculty of Media and Communications Singidunum University Email: [email protected] and Prof. Aleksandar Fatic Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory University of Belgrade Email: [email protected] __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
