Announcements
20 – 22 ноября 2023 года
Conference "Engrained Conflicts in the East: Genesis and Transformations"
The Center for the Study of General Issues of the Modern East of the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences) invites those wishing to take part in the exploratory conference. The event will be held in a mixed online-offline format on the 20th-22nd of November, 2023 at the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences).
The Global East is one of the most conflict-prone regions of the world. That is due to the high degree of civilizational, ethnic, confessional, socio-cultural heterogeneity of the countries that form it, the colonial past of most of these countries, a complex body of historical factors of these countries’ independent development that are diverse in time and impact, and a number of modern economic and political issues. Moreover, the rich resource, economic and strategic potential of the East makes it an arena for the interests’ clash of the leading world players (including those from among the Eastern states themselves claiming regional hegemony). This factor also contributes to the destabilization of some Eastern regions.
Ultimately, large-scale contradictions in Asia and North Africa result in territorial, ethnic, and religious conflicts. Their dynamics affect not only the regional, but also the global architecture of the international relations’ system. Among them a significant place is occupied by interstate conflicts, the most difficult for a peaceful settlement. They may be defined as stale: they last for decades and periodically take the form of an armed confrontation that, however, does not bring an unconditional victory to one of the parties. These conflicts become the cause of socio-economic, humanitarian and migration crises.
Studying the nature of chronic interstate conflicts in the East is an extremely important research task for economists, political scientists, and historians, including military historians and historians of international relations. The purpose of the planned conference is to search, review and discuss new approaches to the analysis of the specific historical causes and circumstances of long-standing eastern conflicts emergence, to the study of their dynamics in general and the specific features of concrete military confrontation, as well as the impact of such conflicts on the societies participating in them.
It is planned to present and discuss reports within the following thematic blocks / panels within the conference’s framework:
- History of old interstate conflicts in the East: origin, dynamics and settlement / non-settlement;
- Factors contributing to the long/exclusive duration of chronic conflicts;
- The impact of protracted conflicts on the political and economic structure of the participating countries and on the historical memory of the societies involved;
- Cultural and spiritual life in the states-participants of old conflicts. How do these conflicts affect the society’s daily life?
What features of collective psychology are inherent in such societies? How is the history of military confrontation reflected in literature, music, cinema and other spheres of art?
We do not exclude the possibility of considering and including other panel proposals in the conference’s thematic repertoire. Please send them, as well as applications for separate reports, by the 5th of November, 2023, to Ms. Sofia Melnikova, the secretary of the conference’s organizing committee at: sophiazavodnik@gmail.com
Not only orientalists are invited to participate in the conference, but also specialists in other regions, whose scientific interests intersect with the conference’s issues. We will be especially looking forward to the participation of younger generation - students, undergraduates and graduate students.
The event will be held on the 20th-22nd of November, 2023 at the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences) at the address: Moscow, st. Rozhdestvenka, 12 (metro station "Kuznetsky Most") in a mixed online-offline format.
S.A. Panarin, Ph.D., is the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, the Head of the Center for the Study of General Issues of the Modern East of the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences).
Those wishing to take part in the conference please send applications by the 5th of November, 2023 to Ms. Sofia Melnikova, the secretary of the conference’s organizing committee at: sophiazavodnik@gmail.com