Sent on behalf of Dr Mark Boyle...
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (WITH IBG)
ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 28th- 31st AUGUST 2007
CALL FOR PAPERS : SESSION SPONSORED BY THE
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY RESEARCH GROUP
REFLECTIONS UPON 'CIVILISATIONAL'
THINKING IN GLOBAL POLITICS
THEORISING AND CONTESTING 'CIVILISATIONAL' THINKING IN THE WESTERN
IMPERIAL PROJECT
The idea that international relations are now primarily structured
around clashes of major world civilisations is one that continues to
grow in influence. This growth has been fuelled in no small way by the
coupling of a trenchant and virulent moralism with new developments in
the western imperial project. In particular, in the United States, an
apparently strange alliance between 'neoliberalism' and
'neoconservatism' has emerged. Wendy Brown (2006) refers to this
relationship in terms of 'the eruption of the theological into the
political'; the 'intertwining of a market political rationality and a
moral-political rationality, a business model of the state in one case
and a theological model of the state on the other'. The specific focus
of this session will be the deployment of civilisational thinking in
contemporary western foreign policy, the ways in which neoliberalism and
neoconservatism are combining to mobilise such thinking, and the
possibilities of combining the perspectives of critical geopolitics and
moral geographies to contest the clash of civilisation thesis and to
effect alternative scriptings of the new world order.
Contributions on the following topics are especially welcome.
* Theorisations and (re)theorisations of civilisations in
historical context,
* The genealogy of civilisational thinking within geopolitical
discourse in the past decade,
* The relationships which exist between neoliberalism and
neoconservatism and the role of these relationships in framing western
foreign policy.
* The extent to which the neoliberal/neoconservative nexus is
peculiar to the United States or finds expression in other guises in
other western states.
* The extent to which theology generally and Christianity in
particular has been 'captured' and put to the service of legitimating
western imperial projects.
* The moral spasms and convulsions which civilisational thinking
has invited from alternative secular and religious movements
* Ongoing efforts to promote a 'civilisation of clashes' as
opposed to a 'clash of civilisations'.
Two sessions will be held, one based upon paper presentations, the other
based upon a panel-discussion. Contributors who wish to present papers
or serve as panel members should contact Dr Mark Boyle by Feb 20th
(Dept of Geography and Sociology, University of Strathclyde, 0141 548
3762, [log in to unmask]). All abstracts need to be received by the
RGS(IBG) on-line by Thursday 1 March 2007.
Dr Wun Fung Chan
Lecturer in Geography
Department of Geography and Sociology
University of Strathclyde
Graham Hills Building
50 Richmond Street
Glasgow
G1 1XN
[log in to unmask]
Tel: 0141 548 3795
Fax: 0141 552 7857
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