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From: Petra Deger <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: International conference
Date sent: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 11:37:15 +0100
Apologies for Crosspostings!!
Invitiation to young researchers (up to the age of 35) to the conference "'United
States' - On the Significance of Space and Borders in Modernity. A Comparison
between Europe and the USA"
International Symposium, 13th - 17th May 2002, Villa Vigoni, Italy
Young researchers who work on a topic related to this symposium can be
invited to the conference. Hotel accomodation will be free, only travel costs
must be covered by the participants.
Please send an abstract on your research project and a short CV ( in english) to
[log in to unmask]
Deadline: 15th January 2002
In case of any questions you can contact Petra Deger.
About the Symposium
The connection between the theoretical and practical implications of space as
basis of political organizations of territories is the guiding line of the conference. Of
special interest shall be the symbolic creation of spatial formations in the form of
states and the implication for national/spatial identity. Concerning this it is of
special importance that the formation of united states is a federal organization of a
territory.
The current discussion about processes of globalization and their implications refer
to the orientation on territory, which is almost taken for granted, and its control.
Formerly significant frontiers also lose some of their importance in the globalization
process, which causes partly considerable (inter alia fiscal) difficulties for the
states. Although sovereignty over the territory is maintained formally, the
possibilities of interfering action are actually reduced. The globalization s cultural
implications are nothing else but a logically consistent product of the modern age,
which is known for the principle of free-markets, the nation state and an
international system of states.
Space and the removal of borders through globalization is not only a political
phenomenon but also a cultural one. Probably in this fact lies one of the most
distinct differences between the USA and Europe. As there are also strongly
developed nation-state identities in Europe, being the crandle of the nation state,
hardly any room for a European identity is to be found. In contrast to this one can
find the American ideology, which has an uniting effect despite the federal system
exists in the United States. This ideology gives expression to uniform ideas of the
political system, for example in the disapproval of the accumulation of power, in the
belief in democracy and in the strongly developed individualism, which considers
property as part of the private sphere. In addition to these basic beliefs newer
research on political culture in the USA corrected the former picture of internal
homogeneity.
In regard of homogeneity it seems that in Europe and the USA the relation between
market and administrative regulations is a different one. Homogeneity in the sense
of making living conditions in Europe similar is considered to be a fundamental
driving force in the development of a European identity. This is the reason why
homogeneity represents a main political aim. Regional and structural policy is one
of the important and particularly most expensive political fields.
The topic of the conference is the question, which spatial implications a political
organization of a territory has, especially under a social, political, historical and
legal perspective. Especially at the beginning of the twenty-first century, this
question seems to be particularly interesting to observe in federal states; for the
federative formation in particular is regarded as very modern and is considered to
give an answer to different questions possible in a uniform or completely different
way, according to the political field and level. What makes the model so attractive
is that even very centralistically organized (industrial) nations increasingly permit or
even promote processes of regionalization.
There will be a lot of time for discussion of the papers (which should take about
30 minutes), so the symposium should really be a working conference with special
emphasis on interdisciplinarity.
Sessions:
Theoriesof space, nations and territory
Borders,peripheries and their problems
The nation state as a product of modernity
Mechanismsof exclusion and inclusion
Conceptsand contents of (national) identity
Globalizationand the question of political organization
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