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Hi, This conference may be of interest to those on the list- apologies for earlier email... Dave Conference 'Central America: Challenged transition?' 14th & 15th June 2007 Organised by: The Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London in association with the University of Glasgow and Chatham House Supported by: The Society for Latin American Studies and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Venue: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DR Programme <http://www.americas.sas.ac.uk/events/centralamerica.php#prog> Introduction 2007 is a year of historic milestones for Central America, with the fifteenth anniversary of the signing of peace accords in El Salvador coinciding with a decade of transition in Guatemala. Although the media spotlight has been off the region in recent years, its countries remain important sites of comparative interest. In particular, the negotiated peace processes of Guatemala and El Salvador created an historic precedent for democratic transition from violent civil conflict. The success of the regional democratic project has, however, come under scrutiny in recent years. Present-day indices of violent crime and homicide are amongst the highest in the world, and repressive criminal justice strategies have gone some way towards reversing the demilitarisation of the immediate post-war period. National economies are meanwhile increasingly dependent on migrants, with around 17% of El Salvador's GNP presently coming from remesas. The 'importation and exportation' of gang violence to and from the US has also brought a new and explosive dimension to the question of migration. The challenges of regional integration in such a context are considerable, and yet initiatives in free trade areas and the free circulation of the region's goods and people may have lessons for other integration initiatives. This conference will explore the major challenges facing the region's governments and citizens today. It will identify and analyse how processes of transition shaped the region's political, social and landscape, asking to what extent historic cleavages have been addressed by the peace and transition processes and what lessons other regions might draw from Central America's recent experience. PROGRAMME OUTLINE DAY ONE Thursday 14 June 13.00 Registrations and Welcome 13.45 Opening remarks from the Chair, James Dunkerley, Director, Institute for the Study of the Americas Session One: New patterns of violence and state responses Chair: Jeremy Hobbs, Principal Research Officer (First Secretary), Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) 14.00 Dennis Rodgers, Lecturer, LSE: Slum Wars of the 21st Century: the new geography of conflict in Central America 14.20 Bernardo Arevalo, Director, UNDP-Interpeace Joint Programme Unit for Participatory Strategies in Peacebuilding and Development: Beyond post-conflict: de-militarization and re-militarization of the Security Sector in Guatemala 14.40 Mark Joyce, Jane's Country Risk: International policy and the prospects for an integrated Central American security force 15.00 Questions and discussion 15.30 Refreshments Session Two: Gender equity, civil society and citizenship Chair: Tessa Mackenzie, International Advocacy Coordinator, Central America Women's Network (CAWN) 16.00 Sarah Bradshaw, Senior Lecturer, Middlesex University: Cooperative Conflict and the Autonomous Women's Movement in Nicaragua 16.20 Matilde Neret, Social Development Adviser for Central America, DFID: Title TBC 16.40 Marina Prieto-Carron, Lecturer, University of Bristol: Central American Women Workers' Organising Strategies and Knowledge 17.00 Questions and discussion 18.00 Edelberto Torres Rivas, UNDP, Guatemala. Keynote Address: Que Democracia Puede Salir de la Boca del Cañon?/ What kind of democracy springs from the barrel of a gun? 19.00 Questions and discussion DAY TWO Friday 15 June Session Three: Migration, remittances and the US border Chair: Mo Hume, Lecturer, University of Glasgow 09.30 Nicola Phillips, Professor of Political Economy, University of Manchester: The New Offshore Development Model: Transnational Migration and the Restructuring of Central American Development 09.50 Sally O'Neill, Trocaire Representative, Central America: Can Remittances Reduce Poverty and Inequality?: Perceptions and Trends from civil society experiences in Honduras and El Salvador' 10.10 Ailsa Winton, Research Fellow, UNAM: Youth Gangs, Borders and Migration 10.30 Questions and discussion 11.00 Refreshments Session Four: Economic & development prospects, regional integration and free trade Chair: Aaron Schneider, Senior Research Fellow, IDS, University of Sussex 11.30 Diego Sánchez, Lecturer in Economics, ISA, University of London: The Central American Economies: Challenges and Opportunities in the post-CAFTA era 11.50 Peadar Kirby, Associate Professor, Dublin City University: Civil society-state relations in Central America's development: Towards a new paradigm? 12.10 Ed Brown, Senior Lecturer, Loughborough University, Jon Cloke, Senior Lecturer, Newcastle University and Jose Luis Rocha, Associate Professor, Universidad Centroamericana in Managua: Rethinking Approaches to Corruption in Central America 12.30 Wouter Wilton, Head of the European Commission Delegation in El Salvador Central America's Association Agreement Negotiations with the EU - the State of Play 12.50 Questions and discussion 13.15 Lunch Session Five: Indigenous politics Chair: Cath Collins, EULARO Latin America Research Fellow, Chatham House/ ISA Associate Fellow 14.15 Diana Pritchard, University of Kent: Conservation or appropriation: global discourses of environmental protection and pretensions to access 'marginal' resources and lands 14.35 Rachel Sieder, Senior Lecturer, ISA: Indigenous rights through peace building: comparative reflections on the Guatemalan experience 14.55 Corinne Caumartin, CRISE Project/ QEH, University of Oxford: Emerging ethnic politics? Guatemalan indigenous movements and participation 15.15 Questions and discussion 15.45 Refreshments Session Six: Roundtable: Central America, challenges and opportunities 16.15-17.45 Roundtable Discussion Participants to include: * Edelberto Torres Rivas * Bernardo Arevalo * David Holiday (TBC) * Jenny Pearce * Marilyn Thompson 17.45 Closing remarks from the chair