Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 18:03:38 +1100
From: Ephraim Nimni <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Call for Papers: Beyond the Nation?
 

Call for Papers:


Beyond the Nation?: Critical Reflections on Nations and Nationalism in
Uncertain Times
 
Conference
 
Hosted by: School of Politics, International Studies & Philosophy, 
Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland

12th-14th September 2007
 
(Pre-conference Workshop, 10th-12th September 2007)
 

Few ideas have proved more alluring and yet controversial than 
nationhood and nationalism.  Celebrated by some as the source of 
political value and a key organizational principle, decried by others 
as treacherous and intellectually moribund, the nation and its 
attendant ideologies have endured despite the momentous upheavals of 
the 20th century.  But in an age of increasing globalization and 
political fragmentation, does the nation have the relevance it once 
had?  Are we, in short, finally moving into a post-national era?  A 
major interdisciplinary conference, ‘Beyond the Nation? Critical 
Reflections on Nations and Nationalism in Uncertain Times’ will explore 
the nation and nationalism as realities and ideals in the early 21st 
century.  Its goal is to bring together leading international 
researchers and thinkers from the fields of nationalism studies, ethnic 
conflict studies, multiculturalism, comparative politics, European 
studies, international relations/theory, political history, political 
theory/philosophy, social history/theory, and law to critically 
interrogate the role and viability of nationalism in our time.

The conference will take place in Queen’s University Belfast’s central 
campus and run over a three day period, from Wednesday 12th to Friday 
14th September inclusive.  It will be comprised of three strands, each 
strand taking the form of a workshop devoted to a particular 
sub-theme(s) or discipline(s).  There will be a number of plenary and 
keynote speeches, as well as social events on each of the evenings, 
including Friday 14th September.

There will also be a pre-conference workshop running from Monday 10th 
to Wednesday 12th September.  It is organized by the International 
Political Studies Association’s (IPSA) Research Committee on Politics 
and Ethnicity (RC14) and is devoted to the theme of ‘The Challenge of 
Ethno-Nationalism.’  A number of social events will take place over the 
course of the pre-conference workshop.

Confirmed speakers:

Adrian Guelke, Queen’s University Belfast
Richard English, Queen’s University Belfast
Michael Keating, European University Institute
John McGarry, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
Michael Mann, University of California at Los Angeles/Queen’s 
University Belfast
David Miller, Nuffield College, Oxford
Margaret Moore, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
Ephraim Nimni, University of New South Wales
Geneviève Nootens, Université du Québec
Brendan O’Leary, University of Pennsylvania
Shane O’Neill, Queen’s University Belfast

The workshops are open to all with a research interest in any aspect of 
nationalism studies, including postgraduate students and researchers.  
Papers are invited for the following workshops and themes:

Pre-Conference Workshop: The Challenge of Ethno-Nationalism (10th-12th 
Sep 2007)

Theme(s):  The theme of this workshop is the current reality of 
ethno-nationalism.  The workshop pursues two questions, broadly 
conceived:

Does ethno-nationalism threaten the organization of the world into 
nation-states or is it congruent with the notion of a world made up of 
nation-states, with each ethnic group claiming the rights of nationhood?
Is it possible to accommodate ethno-nationalism without a further 
multiplication of the number of sovereign states?
Disciplines: Papers are welcomed from researchers in the areas of 
ethnic conflict studies, nationalism studies, international relations, 
and comparative politics.
Organization: this workshop is a colloquium of the International 
Political Science Association’s (IPSA) ‘Research Committee on Politics 
and Ethnicity’ (RC14).  However, participation by other researchers and 
postgraduate students is encouraged.  Those wishing to participate 
should contact the workshop convenor, Prof Adrian Guelke 
([log in to unmask]), for further information.  Note that you should 
let Prof Guelke know whether you will be participating in the 
pre-conference workshop (10th-12th Sep) only or whether you would also 
like to participate in the main conference programme.

Conference Workshop 1: New Modalities of National Self-Determination 
and Sovereignty

(12th- 14th Sep 2007)

Theme(s): The traditionally accepted assumption of the legal and 
political exercise of national self-determination is the existence of a 
sovereign nation-state that represents the nation as a cultural 
community.  However, given that there are more nations than the 
possibilities of creating nation-states, that the abode of many nations 
overlaps with the abode of others, and, of course, the unprecedented 
mass movement of different peoples across continents, this conventional 
vision of national-territorial sovereignty is increasingly called into 
question.  While the problem is not new, it is only recently that it 
has been explicitly discussed in a plethora of new works on identity, 
sovereignty, and self-determination, as exemplified in debates over 
indigenous and minority rights, multiculturalism, the ‘politics of 
recognition,’ and the growing number of stateless nations.  The aim of 
this workshop is to empirically and conceptually evaluate new 
modalities for self-determination and sovereignty that transcend the 
bounds of the traditional nation-state.  It will therefore include case 
studies and conceptual discussions.  Areas for discussion include:

National self-determination and indigenous rights
Sovereignty, ethnicity, multiculturalism, and the politics of recognition
National sovereignty and the securitarization of minorities
National sovereignty, conflict, and violence
New developments in the area of nationhood and sovereignty
Sovereignty and stateless nations
Security and prejudice: the securitization of Islam in Western
democracies
Case studies on the self-determination of stateless nations, ethnic 
minorities and religious groups
Disciplines: Papers are welcomed from researchers in the areas of 
ethnic conflict, nationalism studies, comparative politics, 
international relations, law, multiculturalism studies, and political 
theory/philosophy.

Organization: Those wishing to participate are encouraged to contact 
the workshop convenor, Dr Ephraim Nimni ([log in to unmask]), for 
further information.
 
Conference Workshop 2: Theorizing Nationalism and the Nation
(12th- 14th Sep 2007)

Theme(s): Up until the late 20th century, political theory and 
philosophy simply presumed the existence and continued endurance of the 
nation-state.  Despite their fundamental differences on what the good 
or just society ought to look like, most political thinkers took for 
granted that the institutional structures of such a society would be 
unproblematically national.  However, recent historical experiences 
have fundamentally questioned such easy assumptions.  In order to make 
sense of these experiences, this workshop addresses the key theoretical 
questions and challenges posed by a changing world to our understanding 
of nations and nationalism as realities and normative ideals.  These 
include:

Is liberal nationalism a defensible theoretical position?
Are we in a post-national era?  What does post-nationalism mean?
Does globalization spell the end of ‘the nation’ or does it demand, 
instead, a reconfiguration of nationalism?
Does cosmopolitanism represent a theoretically viable alternative to 
nationalism and national citizenship?  What would a defensible 
cosmopolitan conception of political sovereignty and citizenship look 
like?
What are the demands of global distributive justice, if any, and do 
these demands fatally undercut nation-state centred normative theories?
What are the implications of multiculturalism and internal 
politico-cultural diversity for the nation-state?
What impact does and should gender and sexual differentiation have on 
contemporary conceptions of ‘the nation’?
What consequences do contemporary challenges to the nation-state have 
for our understanding of legitimate political violence and of war?
Disciplines: Papers are welcomed from researchers in the areas of 
political theory/philosophy, social theory, legal theory, nationalism 
studies, international political theory, and multiculturalism studies.
Organization: Those wishing to participate are encouraged to contact 
the workshop convenor, Dr Keith Breen ([log in to unmask]), for further 
information.
 
Conference Workshop 3:  European Governance Beyond the Nation-State
(12th- 14th Sep 2007)

Themes(s):  The post-World War II development of European integration 
has created a distinctively successful and dense network of 
institutions of governance beyond the nation-state. Highly 
institutionalized forms of ‘shared sovereignty’ have penetrated deeply 
into the fabric of the continent’s polities and societies, creating the 
potential for significant reconfigurations of both structures of power 
and senses of identity. The present workshop interrogates this 
distinctive, multi-level ‘European model of governance,’ seeking to 
understand how the processes of European integration broadly conceived 
have variously challenged, redefined, or ‘rescued’ state and nation.  
Contributions are invited which provide new theoretical or empirical 
insights into the developmental dynamics of European institutions of 
governance, the impact of such ‘Europeanizing’ trends at national and 
sub-national levels, and the relationship of European developments to 
wider international arenas.  Topics for discussion include:

The ‘constitutionalization’ of the European Union
New modes of European governance
Problems of democratic legitimacy/ accountability in systems of
multi-level
governance
The ‘Europeanization’ of national polities, societies, and political 
economies
Shifting senses of territoriality and the reconfiguration of European
borders/political space
‘European citizenship’ and the redefinition of national identity
Patterns of political/intellectual opposition to European integration
(‘Euroscepticisms’)
‘Europe’ as a foreign policy actor and the reshaping of international
order
European Union enlargement as a process of ‘normative export’
European integration and globalization
Comparisons between European integration and other processes of regional
integration

Disciplines: Papers are welcome from researchers within the fields of 
European Union studies, European integration history, federalism, 
constitutionalism, comparative politics, and international relations.
Organization: Those wishing to participate are encouraged to contact 
the workshop convenor, Dr Robert Harmsen ([log in to unmask]), for 
further information.

Submitting a paper:

The conference is open to those who intend to present papers and those 
who simply want to attend the various workshops.  If you would like to 
give a paper, please submit a title and abstract (150-300 words) to the 
appropriate workshop convenor (see above).

Deadline for submission of title/abstract: 1st March 2007

Paper acceptance notification: 2nd April 2007

Registration Deadline: 14th May 2007

For further details about the conference please visit: 
http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofPoliticsInternationalStudiesandPhilosop
hy/NewsandEvents/BeyondTheNationConference2007/#d.en.51488

 
Ephraim Nimni
University of New South Wales