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05Nov

7th Transatlantic Security Seminar, Austin, USA, November 15-17, 2021

The Kozmetsky Center of Excellence at St. Edward's University and the Center for European Studies and Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin will co-sponsor our seventh annual “Transatlantic Security Forum” entitled "NATO, Russia, China:  World Order and 21st Century Global Security Challenges” on November 15-17, 2021 with support of the United States Department of Education Title VI National Resource Program. We are delighted to hold this seventh annual session in cooperation with the Public Diplomacy Engagement Division of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO, Research Committee on Geopolitics of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) and World Affairs Council Austin.

The forum will provide expert perspectives on implications of shifting global relationships and world order for transatlantic and broader global security. Among major topics, speakers will assess the impact of COVID19 to include discussion of political systems, values and responsiveness to the pandemic, lessons of the withdrawal from the twenty-year war in Afghanistan, consequences of climate change, weapons proliferation and terrorism, regional clashes and conflicts, cyber and information security, competing visions of world order, geopolitical and security implications of shifting relationships among major powers and other topics of critical relevance to transatlantic and global security.  We are especially interested in facilitating dialogue among a diversity of national and regional experts exploring the most pressing security challenges facing the global community at this critical juncture contributing to deepening understanding of opportunities and obstacles to advancing security cooperation among nations.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2021 / 9:30 AM-12:00 PM CT

9:30 AM (CT) SESSION ONE:  TRANSATLANTIC AND GLOBAL SECURITY CHALLENGES

SPEAKERS:

Dr. Andrew A. Michta, Dean, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies

Dr. Hao Su, Distinguished Professor, Department of Diplomacy and founding Director of Center for Strategic and Peace Studies, China Foreign Affairs University

Dr. Igor A.  Zevelev, Professor, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and Global Policy Scholar, Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Dr. Jamie Shea, Professor of Strategy and Security, Strategy and Security Institute, University of Exeter and former Assistant Secretary General NATO, Emerging Security Challenges

Dr. Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow

 

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2021/ 9:00 AM-12:00 PM CT

9:00 AM Perspective on NATO’s Strategic Concept and Security Priorities

Ambassador Baiba Braže, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy

9:30 AM (CT) SESSION TWO:  PERSPECTIVES ON WORLD ORDER

SPEAKERS:

Dr. Mark N. Katz, Professor of Government and Politics, George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government

Dr. Minghao Zhao, Senior Fellow, Institute of International Studies/Center for American Studies, Fudan University

Dr. Julian Lindley French, Senior Fellow, Institute for Statecraft in London, Director of Europa Analytica, Netherlands, Fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, founder of The Alphen Group, Strategic Advisor to Chiefs of the British Defence Staff, NATO, EU and UN

Dr. Tatyana Shakleina, Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Applied Research of International Problems of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

Dr./Ambassador (Ret.) Daniel B. Smith, former U.S. Ambassador to Greece and Director Foreign Affairs Institute, Washington DC

 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021/ 9:00 AM-12:00 PM CT

9:00 AM (CT) SESSION THREE:   REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES:  EUROPE AND ASIA

SPEAKERS:

Dr. Celin Pajon, Director, Japan Research at the Center for Asian Studies of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) and International Research Fellow, Canon Institute of Global Studies (Tokyo)

Ms.  Hayley Channer, Senior Policy Fellow, Perth USAsia Centre, The University of Western Australia

Dr. Nivedita Das Kundu, Senior Foreign Policy Research Analyst, United Service Institution of New Delhi and Research Fellow Ministry of External Affairs Indian Council for World Affairs

Dr. Henrik Stalhane Hiim, Senior Research Fellow, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

Dr. Savo Kentera, President, Atlantic Council of Montenegro

Dr. Barbora Maronkova, Communications Advisor on Strategic Concept, Policy Planning Unit, Office of the Secretary General, former Director of NATO Information Office in Kiev, Ukraine and former Acting Director of NATO Information Office in Moscow, Russia

Dr. Sharyl Cross, Director, Kozmetsky Center of Excellence, Conference Moderator

In addition, academics of the Geopolitics section of the International Political Science Association representing North America, Europe, Eurasia and the Indo-Pacific (Dr. Igor Okunev, Professor and Director, Center for Spatial Analysis in International Relations, Moscow State Institute of International Relations MGIMO; Dr. Heidi Lane, Associate Professor, Strategy and Policy Department, US Naval War College; Dr. Teodor Moga, Lecturer EU Foreign Affairs, Center for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University; Dr. Alan Henrikson, Lee E. Dirks Professor of Diplomatic History Emeritus, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Dr. Deepika Saraswat, Research Fellow, India Council of World Affairs and Dr. Rouben Elamiryan, Chair of World Politics and International Relations, Russia-Armenian University) will participate in the sessions as discussants

ZOOM Registration:  https://stedwards.zoom.us/s/95675138741

21Aug

IPSA RC 41 Third International Workshop on Geopolitics "BORDERS AND GEOPOLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY", Austin, USA, April 8-9, 2019

 

IPSA RC 41 Third International Workshop on Geopolitics

BORDERS AND GEOPOLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

 

Monday, 8 April – Tuesday, 9 April 2019

Austin, TEXAS, USA

 

St. Edward’s University

Kozmetsky Center of Excellence

 

ANNOUNCEMENT / CALL FOR PAPERS

DEADLINE EXTENDED – JANUARY 1, 2019 !!!

 

The intended Workshop: "Borders and Geopolitics in the 21st Century: the Americas, Europe/Eurasia, the Middle East" in Austin, Texas represents the third international conference organized by IPSA’s Research Committee (RC 41) on Geopolitics, following those convened in Moscow (2010) and Jerusalem (2013).

Unlike open international conferences, the Workshop framework is designed to limit panel participants to a select group of invitees - 10 to 15 people - each bringing to bear his or her disciplinary expertise or area studies specialization.

Accordingly, the Austin Workshop will be conducted in an open discussion format, with scholarly presentations divided into 3 panel sessions, with 3 – 4 papers at each session, followed by additional discussion among the academic participants, representatives of the government/policy and private sector professional communities and the St. Edward’s University student and faculty campus audience. Once the panelists have concluded their presentations, a designated discussant will then respond with a brief set of oral comments (10-15 minutes), after which each panel chair will open the floor to questions and comments (45-60 minutes) from the audience. Once the panelists have concluded their presentations, a designated discussant will then respond with a brief set of oral comments (10-15 minutes), after which each panel chair will open the floor to questions and comments (45-60 minutes) from the audience.

The 3 panel themes are devoted to:

1. Borders and Geopolitics in the 21st Century: Focus on America (Chair: Dr. Sharyl Cross, St. Edward’s University). Paper-givers will include resident specialists on US-Latin America and US-Canada border issues from St. Edward’s University and other local Texas universities.

2. Borders and Geopolitics in the 21st Century: Focus on the Middle East (Chair: Dr. Aharon Klieman, Tel-Aviv University).

3. Borders and Geopolitics in the 21st Century: Focus on Europe/Eurasia (Chair: Dr. Igor Okunev, MGIMO University).

The chosen venue -- The Kozmetsky Center at St. Edward’s University -- aims to enrich the intellectual life of St. Edward's University and to serve as a resource for informing the broader public on critical global issues. It facilitates discussions among experts, students, faculty and the broader public in a variety of forums. Past speakers include American and foreign diplomats, policy makers, university scholars, and leaders from within the business, non-profit and cultural communities. It also periodically hosts short-term resident visiting scholars and practitioners from the United States and around the world to share their expertise and diverse perspectives with the St. Edward’s University community.

Anyone wishing to participate in the 2019 RC-41 Austin Workshop and to contribute by addressing any of the above topics is invited to submit an initial paper proposal.

The Proposal and/or Abstract (limited to 750 words or less) should be sent to Professor Aharon Klieman at aklieman@gmail.com

Final date for submission 1 December 2018 (DEADLINE EXTENDED - JANUARY 1, 2019 !!!)

Notice of Acceptance 20 December 2018

No Registration fee is required.

Acceptance is conditioned, however, upon the participant’s commitment to full, active attendance at all panel sessions and discussions throughout the two days of the Workshop, in addition to one paper presentation.

Participants in the 2019 Austin International Workshop are expected to cover all personal transportation and accommodation arrangements and expenses. Limited IPSA conference travel grants may be available upon special request to help defray partial air fare costs in exceptional cases.

All Workshop sessions will be held on the campus of St. Edward’s University.

 

Timeline:

1   September 2018             Announcement & Call for Papers

1   December  2018             Submission of Proposals / Abstracts (DEADLINE EXTENDED - JANUARY 1, 2019 !!!)

20 December  2018             Notice of Acceptance

15 March         2019             Full Paper Submission

1   April            2019             Final Program

 

AUSTIN_ANNOUNCEMENT.pdf

15Aug

“The New (Ab)Normal at Borders, AAG Annual Meeting New Orleans, USA, April 10 – 14 2018

The events of the past year demonstrated that the world entered a new period of flux and uncertainty at borders. While scholars have noted the expansion of walls, security infrastructure, migrant detention, and militarized enforcement for a decade or more, in 2017 actions that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago became the new normal. 

In Europe, the compassion for people on the move that existed in the early stages of the ‘migration crisis’ dissipated as countries built fences and walls and used force to prevent people from moving. Fortifying European spaces against migrants coincided with offshoring of migrant detention and deterrence, such as the EU deals with the troubled Libyan regime to detain people on the move in camps in Libya, despite evidence of the horrendous conditions, violence, and even slavery that occurs there. Italy also began to work with the Libyan coast guard to push boats back to Libya, rather than providing aid and shelter. Migrant aid boats were detained, and their operators were accused of aiding human traffickers. 

In the US, newly emboldened Immigration and Customs Agents targeted long-term residents with families and stable jobs for deportation. Plans were made to build new walls on the US-Mexico border, to hire thousands of additional immigration agents, and to cut legislated immigration quotas in half. In Southeast Asia, Malaysia and Thailand put in place new regulations to crack down on migrant labor through registration systems, while the persecuted Rohingya minority, the “most friendless people in the world,” were greeted by slammed doors seemingly wherever they sought refuge in the region. In 2017, in places across the globe, there was a global shift in mood towards nationalist policies and against the rights of people to move.

For the session, we are looking for papers that document and analyze the new (ab)normal at borders. What are the strategies and tactics the state, and non-state actors, use to prevent the movement of people? Where are the locations they are put into place? What impact do they have on people on the move and people who live in the ever widening borderlands? What do these changes tell us theoretically about borders, sovereignty, mobility and the state?

Potential session participants are should contact Reece Jones (reecej@hawaii.edu) and Corey Johnson (corey_johnson@uncg.edu) by 15 September (or earlier) to indicate your interest in participating in the sessions. 

11Oct

International Conference "The Return of Geopolitics", University of Arizona, April 4-5, 2016

Call for Papers

 

 

The Return of Geopolitics

 

University of Arizona, April 4-5, 2016

 

An International Conference Sponsored by the World Society Foundation

 

 

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS IS NOVEMBER 15, 2015

 

The forces of globalization seem to be giving way to those of geopolitics. And while it is still important to focus on what is common to the global community, we are also compelled to try and understand those shifting tectonic forces that are drawing the world back to geopolitical tensions  epitomized by the Russian annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, the continuing disorder and migrant crises in the Middle East, and disputes over islands, atolls, and air space in the South and East China Seas.  There are, obviously, many other examples.

 

Return of Geopolitics seeks to provide a forum for experts from different countries and disciplines to meet, exchange views, and assess the extent to which today’s geopolitical resurrection of boundaries has eclipsed yesterday’s de-bordering globalization processes.  The conference will also consider the implications of this rise of geopolitics for future international tension, conflict, and war.

 

We welcome papers related – but not restricted to – the following topics:

·       The Geopolitics of the EU’s Economic Crisis
·       The Migrant Crisis in Europe
·       The rise right-wing parties in Europe
·       Hegemonic Decline and Emerging Conflicts
·       New Directions in Geopolitical Thinking/Theory
·       Russia and the Ukraine
·       German and Russian Relations Today and Tomorrow
·       The Geopolitics of Disorder in the Middle East
·       Iran and Saudi Rivalry
·       The Islamic State (ISIS, ISIS, Daech)
·       Turkey’s Geopolitics
·       Iran and Nuclear Weapons
·       The US and the Middle East
·       Russia and Syria
·       Geopolitics of the Syrian Civil War 
·       China and the US:  Competition and Cooperation
·       Russia and China:  Competition and Cooperation
·       Maritime claims in the South China Sea
·       Re-Militarization of Japan
·       North Korea and East Asian Politics
·       The Future of War:  Is Symmetric War Coming Back?
·       The Geopolitics of Cyber Security
·       China’s New Silk and Maritime Roads
·       Conflicts and competition in the Indo-Pacific
·       The Geopolitics and the Environment
·       China vs. US trade:  RCEP vs. TPP

 

Venue: The Conference will be held April 4-5, 2016 at the University of Arizona (USA).

 

Conference Format:  The Return of Geopolitics conference is spread over two days, Monday, April 4th and Tuesday, April 5th.

 

Travel Grants: The World Society Foundation will provide financial support for travel to and from the conference.  Hotel accommodations will be for three nights (Sunday to Wednesday).  It is incumbent on those who wish to stay longer (earlier or later) to make their own hotel arrangements.

 

Abstract Submissions will take the form of a 1-page abstract.  Send your abstract via email to: geopoliticsconf@gmail.com.  The deadline for abstract submission is November 15, 2015.  Authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to elaborate their proposal into a draft paper (of 15-20 pages).  Notification of acceptance or refusal of abstracts will be given end of November 2015.  The deadline for delivering the draft paper is January 15, 2016.  The authors of the most outstanding papers will be invited to the conference. Notification of selected papers will be given end of January 2016.

 

Conference Publication:  Outstanding conference papers will be published in a conference volume.  Author’s full papers are required after the conference if they want them to be considered for the conference publication.

 

Organizing Committee: Albert J. Bergesen (University of Arizona), Sallie Marston (University of Arizona), Christian Suter (University of Neuchâtel), Thomas J. Volgy (University of Arizona).

 

Conference Sponsorship: The main sponsor of the conference is the World Society Foundation (Zurich, Switzerland). In addition the conference is supported by the International Studies Association and the School of Sociology, University of Arizona.  For more information on the World Society Foundation and its activities, please check out the web site: http://www.worldsociety.ch/.

14Jun

21st Annual Critical Geography Conference: How Power Happens, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, November 7-9, 2014

Hosted by Temple University’s Department of Geography and Urban Studies, the 21st Annual Critical Geography Conference hopes to include a wide array of scholars and activists doing work in critical geography. This year’s overarching theme connotes an exploration of how we understand, follow, imagine, feel, utilize, yield to and alter the workings of power. Power has been theorized from the top down and the bottom up, as structure and as capillary, as productive and destructive, and as both immaterial and material. We hope to use geography’s diverse engagements with power as an entry point for generating discussions across the ‘divides’ of critical geography – specifically divides between approaches attending to structural forces, focusing on knowledge production and meaning making, and/or tracing power into bodies and matter/materiality. As our logo <tucriticalgeography.org> seeks to make clear, the conference locates the question of “how power happens?” at the core of these three areas of inquiry, and calls upon critical geographers to create fruitful conversation and debate within the apparent areas of overlap.

The conference will begin on Friday, November 7th, 2014. The opening evening will feature a keynote address by Dr. Mona Domosh from the Department of Geography at Dartmouth College.

The program on Saturday, November 8th and Sunday, November 9th will consist of paper sessions, panels, round table discussions, and sessions with alternative formats.

We invite you to submit abstracts or proposals for sessions, by the deadline of August 10, 2014. Abstracts or proposals should be 250 words in length, and we ask that you include contact information and any titles or affiliations you would like placed in the program. Sessions may include papers, panels, roundtables, workshops, performances, or sessions with alternative formats. We are especially interested in participants organizing their own sessions, and we also want to encourage perspectives and styles of communication from beyond the academy. If you would like to organize a session, please let us know in advance and you can then issue a CFP through the appropriate mailing lists. Papers submitted individually will be reviewed by the program committee after August 20, and will be accepted for committee-organized sessions as space allows. Please send your abstract or proposal to Sarah Stinard-Kiel at sarah.sk@temple.edu

Further information on the conference, including accommodations, program, and conference events will be updated on the conference web site as the information becomes available, www.tucriticalgeography.org. You can also find updates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tucriticalgeography. Please feel free to email any further questions to the conference planning committee via Sarah Stinard-Kiel at sarah.sk@temple.edu or Allison Hayes-Conroy at anhc@temple.edu. The conference will be a caregiver and child friendly space.

09Aug

Session "The geopolitics of mobility and immobility", AAG Annual Meeting, Los Angeles , USA, 9-13.04.13

Session organisers: Mat Coleman (Ohio State University, US) Mike Collyer (University of Sussex, UK) Deirdre Conlon (Saint Peter’s University, US) and Elisa Pascucci (University of Sussex, UK)

Migration, both across and within international boundaries, has long challenged the essentialisation of territory that is central to classical understandings of geopolitics. Established critical approaches to the ‘geopolitics of mobility’ (Hyndman 1997) have identified migration control or humanitarian action as key sites for the respatialisation of state authority. As embodied subjects of that authority migrants face contradictory processes of facilitation and control of movement. We are interested in the implications of these contradictions in terms of their impact on those who are, or wish to be, mobile and for understanding state practices of control. We welcome papers that explore the intersections between (im)mobility and state action, particularly those based on recent empirical work.

States’ actions around mobility, the contradictions therein, as well as their impact on (im)mobility manifest in numerous ways. Among these are inequalities in access to mobility (and immobility). Most obviously, this involves practices of radical exclusion and spatial control exercised over migrant bodies. In some cases this results in forced mobility with the aim of reterritorialising out of place bodies, such as deportation or exclusion. In other cases it may be immobility that is enforced through migrant detention or the stranding or ‘warehousing’ of asylum seekers and refugees in camps, transit centres, and off-shore sites (Conlon, 2011; Mountz, 2011). There may be a combination of both, as recent investigations of mobility within detention estates have demonstrated (Gill 2009; Hiemstra forthcoming). These practices focus on rendering certain individuals invisible to the wider public while also serving to perpetuate the figure of the migrant as problem or threat. For other groups of people it is the borders themselves that are rendered invisible by their unencumbered passage across them and implications of state involvement also include the facilitation of mobility for these privileged actors. There may be an interrelationship between these practices of facilitation and control of mobility, as ass="mark">Sparke (2006) has suggested.

We are also interested in challenges to state practices of control. The movement of border controls away from the edges of state territory, either through extra-territorial controls or through the movement inwards (Coleman, 2012) of key elements of control, has coincided with a more elaborate performance of control at the borderline itself, the construction of new border architectures and greater public attention to statistics relating to migration and control. The analysis of state performativity in this area offers an additional explanatory framework for state action. Yet another productive line of inquiry examines inter-state agreements and practices related to mobility and migrant removal (Collyer, 2012) as well as the role of institutional actors that are external to states, such as UNHCR, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and various migrant support groups, to these processes. Coinciding with these practices of control, many states have devoted new levels of attention to attracting or influencing overseas nationals, expanding voting rights, institutionalising favourable tax arrangements or officialising forms of representation, such as diaspora ministries. Questions of ‘building’ diaspora have much in common with state building processes in their redefinition of who legitimately forms part of the nation.

In light of the above, we welcome papers that examine the geopolitics of mobility and immobility. Possible paper topics might include (but are not limited to):

§ State practices of migration control
§ The spatialised control of migrant bodies
§ Migrant experiences of mobility and (im)mobility
§ Mobility as privilege
§ Moving borders – interiorisation and/or extra-territorial mechanisms of state border control
§ Border architecture(s)
§ State performativity at border sites
§ The role of external/non-state actors in mobility and (im)mobility
§ Diasporas and state building

Please send inquiries / abstracts of no more than 250 words to Elisa Pascucci (E.Pascucci@sussex.ac.uk) by September 15th 2012

References
Coleman, M. (2012) The "local" migration state: The site-specific devolution of immigration enforcement in the U.S. South. Law & Policy. 34(2): 159-190.
Collyer, M. (2012) Deportation and the micropolitics of exclusion: The rise of removals from the UK to Sri Lanka. Geopolitics. 17(2): 276-292
Conlon, D. (2011) Waiting: Feminist perspectives on the spacings/timings of migrant (im)mobility, Gender, Place, and Culture. 18(3): 353-360.
Gill, N. (2009) Governmental mobility: The power effects of the movement of detained asylum seekers around Britain’s detention estate. Political Geography. 28: 186-196.
Hiemstra, N. (forthcoming) “You don’t even know where you are”: Chaotic geographies of US migrant detention and deportation, in D. Moran, N. Gill and D. Conlon (eds.) Carceral Spaces: Mobility and Agency in Imprisonment and Migrant Detention. Forthcoming with Ashgate.
Hyndman, J. (1997) Border crossings. Antipode. 29(2): 149-176.
Mountz, A. (2011) Where asylum seekers wait: Feminist counter-topograhies of sites between states. Gender, Place and Culture. 18(3): 381-399.
Sparke, M. 2006, A neoliberal nexus: Citizenship, security and the future of the border. Political Geography. 25 (2) 2006: 151 – 180.

10May

ISA 54th Annual Convention, San Francisco, USA, 3-6.04.2013

Theme: The Politics of International Diffusion: Regional and Global Dimensions

The ongoing global financial and economic crises, the upheavals throughout the Middle East, the emerging dispersion of power toward a broader G-20, and copycat protest movements across all regions highlight both the continued centrality of diffusion to contemporary international politics and the difficulty of predicting diffusion patterns. A conventional wisdom argues that the speed and reach of diffusion is unlike anything we have seen in the past. People, power, authority, capital, property rights, international law, religion, technology, democracy, electoral systems, flower and color revolutions, sub-national and supranational governance systems, conventional and unconventional weapons, wars, peace, regional institutional designs; norms about gender, minority, children and other human rights; knowledge, culture and information; financial, fiscal and economic crises; open and closed economic models; patterns of state expansion and retraction; and emotions regarding each of these categories are among the many politically-consequential phenomena that cross borders within and across regions. They do so however, at different rates, through different mechanisms, and with diverse effects. Of crucial concern is the need to assess what we know and what we don’t know regarding the sources, agents, mechanisms, speed, spatial and temporal domains, consequences, and desirability of international diffusion.

The 2013 conference will seek to improve our understanding of regional and global diffusion across several dimensions. What phenomena diffuse faster, why and how? What phenomena do not diffuse? Why is non/diffusion so hard to predict? What are the barriers to diffusion and how do they operate? What explains differential rates of diffusion across time and space? How can different epistemological and methodological tools be used to study those processes? What are the areas of consensus and dissent in the study of international and transnational diffusion? And what are the normative and policy implications of different findings? In addressing these general puzzles, we invite proposals that take stock of the following additional aspects of contemporary international/ transnational diffusion:

What is diffusion and how can it be studied? Interest in the specific content of diffusion (norms, trade, technology, etc.) has generally overwhelmed a focus on diffusion itself as a core concept in international studies. Hence, there is ample room to improve conceptualization that could enhance our ability to analyze, measure or compare the extent and rate of diffusion across time and space. Research relying on different methods, epistemologies, disciplines, regions, and core substantive interests often proceeds along different tracks, depriving the study of diffusion from potential synergies. Yet the analysis of diffusion renders itself an ideal subject for transcending particular international studies paradigms, methods, modes of analysis, and region-specific expertise.

What diffuses, what doesn’t, how and why? The rate of diffusion of different phenomena is uneven as is the spatial and temporal domain within which it occurs. Indeed there are instances of non-diffusion (democracy in Eastern Europe and the Middle East for several decades preceding 1989 and 2011 respectively); stalled diffusion (supranational regional institutions beyond Europe); and counter-diffusion (higher barriers to migration and citizenship; EU efforts to contain a spreading financial crisis). Hence, to avoid potential selection biases evident in at least some of the existing literature on diffusion, our understanding of what does not diffuse should be as central as what does.

Who are the agents and what are the causal mechanisms carrying out or blocking diffusion? When are agents and power structures mutually enabling or disabling diffusion? Governments, regional and international institutions, non-governmental organizations, inter-governmental associations, multinational corporations, social movements, hedge funds, political/moral entrepreneurs, and networks, among others, acts as agents of diffusion through top-down or bottom-up mechanisms. Some state bureaucracies may seek to halt immigration whereas others encourage it. States may seek to block or accelerate the diffusion of power through war, balancing, soft power, or international institutions. Causal mechanisms of interest also include coercion, persuasion, emulation, socialization, adaptation, translation, resistance, competition, bargaining, signaling, emotions and learning.

What are the spatial and temporal domains of diffusion? While analysis of global diffusion rode the wave of post-1989 globalization studies, regional processes of diffusion in the last couple of decades, and the relationship between the regional and the global, demand closer attention. What diffuses (or doesn’t diffuse) more commonly or more rapidly at the regional than the global levels? Conversely, what makes global (systemic) diffusion more likely? What diffuses from the West to the rest and vice-versa? What patterns of diffusion can be observed across different regions? When is global-to-regional, regional-to-global, or region-to-region diffusion more common? What phenomena diffuse across democracies (or autocracies) at different rates than they otherwise would?

What are the outcomes of diffusion? Will democracy be the outcome of the 2011 Arab uprisings? How does global diffusion alter the boundaries of regions? How does it affect in/equality? Some regard the diffusion of capital, technology and markets as harbingers of more egalitarian economic capabilities around the globe; others see such diffusion as perpetuating skewed distributional effects. Some see the spread of international power and authority to more states increased multipolarityas inducing greater equality; others foresee a dilution of human rights norms as a result. Some regard the rapid diffusion of bilateral and plurilateral trade and investment agreements as beneficial to a world of open economies; others foresee weakened global rules.

How desirable is diffusion? Beyond disagreements over empirical findings, intellectual excitement over the potential diffusion of public goods must be tempered with sober assessments of undesirable diffusion of public bads. Furthermore, there are bound to be contested normative standpoints regarding the diffusion of particular political phenomena. And even where consensus on the desirability of diffusing democratic institutions and human rights may exist, debates over appropriate mechanisms and their unintended effects remain. Many agree that international contagion of financial crises is an undesirable outcome but disagreement remains high on the solutions, given their implications for the kinds of arrangements in state-society relations that may emerge after the crisis. Studies of human migration can dwell on its normatively desirable and undesirable consequences.

These are suggestive rather than comprehensive sub-themes that can be complemented with other ongoing research on the nuts and bolts of international, transnational, and regional diffusion. Panel proposals that bring together methodologically and epistemologically diverse groups of scholars interested in diffusion will be of particular interest. They may lead to productive collaborations in the effort to untangle the sources, nature, speed, mechanisms, and firewalls in the diffusion of international political phenomena.

The deadline for paper and panel proposals, made through the MyISA system, is June 1, 2012. Inquiries to the program chairs should be directed to isa2013@isanet.org. The call for papers has been archived on our website here .

07Apr

19th Annual Conference on Critical Geography "The Near Future: Volatility, Opportunity, and Critique", Chapel Hill, USA, 2-4.11.2012

The Geography Department at UNC Chapel Hill invites you to join us in a discussion about the future of the political. As struggles around the world capture our collective imaginations, the legitimacy of existing social orders and previously acceptable avenues of political action have been called into question. What comes next? What connections between body and world, knowledge and practice, and reclamation and revolt are working through and beyond the limits of the current moment? What future worlds are emerging from the conflicts, contradictions, and movements that characterize the now? While informed by our mutual commitment to developing new knowledge and practice that responds to these struggles, our task is to commit focus to the discordant realities that inform our research and political engagements with the world. We invite a wide range of academics, non-academics, activists, and artists to present on these volatile times and the possibilities they portend.

The conference will take place November 2-4, 2012 and will be hosted by the Department of Geography at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. On Friday, November 2nd, our opening plenary will feature Heidi Nast (DePaul University). Arturo Escobar (UNC Chapel Hill) will host a brunch conversation on possible political futures on Sunday November 4, 2012, as our closing event.

Work, Collaborate, Present This year, the conference will be organized around four broad themes that foster inquiries into the near future (see themes below). We encourage you to propose panels that speak to the issues described here to foster dialogue and collaboration. If your panel crosses more than one theme or asks new or different questions, let us know and we will work with you to make accommodations. Please let us know as early as possible if you require additional technical support or if you have questions about the conference.

Join us in extending the traditional conference proceedings by submitting proposals for your work in a wide range of formats. We encourage paper presentations, panel discussions, interactive workshops, collaborative roundtables, visual presentations of film, dance and art, and alternative offerings that generate new theory, practice and opportunities for future work. Deadline for submissions is Friday, August 31. Abstracts or proposals should be 250 words. Please include contact information, titles, and institutional/organizational affiliations. Also include information on which of the themes below (1 through 4) your panel addresses. We strongly encourage you to think about how your proposal can build better connections between research and practice, particularly with non-academic audiences.

Proposals can be sent to: criticalgeography@unc.edu.

Additional information about the conference is coming soon. Please check back for additional information about conference programming, and details regarding logistics and accommodations.

We look forward to seeing you in November!

Themes (1) Occupation and Decolonization in the Current Crisis Three years after the peak of the financial crisis of 2008, people took a cue from the Arab Spring uprisings and took to the streets of major US cities, highlighting the plight of the 99% while denouncing the concentrated power of the 1%. We invite papers and panels that address the following: What are the contemporary dynamics of this crisis? What is the relationship between the often-highlighted sector of finance in this crisis, and the broader functioning of capital as a whole? What is the composition of the contemporary struggles responding to this crisis? And how might an attempt to shift the theoretical and empirical focus from occupation to decolonization assist or impede the conversation about building a movement that is most likely to enact profound social change?

(2) Living and Dying in a Material World Political ecologies, bio/necropolitical analyses, and materialist engagements explore the making and intertwining of social and natural worlds. Central to these inquiries is the stuff of political life: how the political is constituted and redefined around things/bodies and through contests over ontology and meaning, and how this informs struggles over spaces, resources, rights and territory, life and death. In what ways do engagements with things/bodies allow us to rethink and address current moments of crisis, be it financial, ecological, energetic, institutional, or territorial? We invite work that provides a forum for these debates and engagements, including but not limited to questions of circulation and the movement of value, energy, waste, decay, and consumption, metabolisms of nature and capital, and geographies of crisis.

(3) Embodied Knowledge as Practice Feminist geographers, queer theorists, and a wide range of non-representational scholarship have situated the body as a complex yet crucial focus of geography, calling to task the political, economic, and social imbrications that are tied up in the creation of bodies. Just as importantly, work around the body brushes against the limits of the translatable, raising both theoretical and methodological difficulties yet also untested potentials, as bodies everywhere form new knowledges, practices, and actions to meet the challenges of contemporary precarity and flux. We invite work that either uses the body as a site of empirical research or seeks to embody research-as-practice in ways that push the boundaries of traditional research exploration and presentation.

(4) Territories of Resistance Over the last decades we’ve witnessed a series of revolts on the world stage, ranging from El Alto in Bolivia to the Arab Spring. We’re interested in papers that inquire into these tremors, specifically: their relation to prior struggles, neoliberalism, occupation, global colonialism, war, and austerity; the geopolitical implications of their international encounters; and the conceptions of space, claims to territory and subjectivity, and visions of collective life at work in them. We’re also interested in papers situated domestically, where anti-neoliberal struggles – largely informed by the continued legacy of race radicalism – have centered on the construction of just cities. Often, communities of color are seen as mere objects of neoliberal policy; in contrast, we are interested in papers that recognize them as producers of viable post-neoliberal forms of urban life.

22Oct

Conference "fY+20: New perspectives on former Yugoslavia", Oxford, Ohio, USA, 15-17.03.2012

Supported by Miami University: Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies Department of Geography International Studies Program College of Arts and Science Office of the Provost Supported by Miami University:

Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies

Department of Geography

International Studies Program

College of Arts and Science

Office of the Provost

Miami University Organizers

Carl T. Dahlman, Department of Geography

Scott Kenworthy, Department of Comparative Religion

Neringa Klumbyte, Department of Anthropology

Plenary Session Speakers

John Agnew, a political geographer whose work on contemporary configurations of sovereignty and territory includes an examination of the states of the former Yugoslavia.

Robert Donia, a historian at the University of Michigan whose scholarship contributed to his expert testimony in the trials of Slobodan Milosevic and others in The Hague.

Robert Hayden, an anthropologist at the University of Pittsburgh whose work on Yugoslavia’s constitution and dissolution has set important themes for other scholars.

Scope: A two-day multidisciplinary conference promoting new and continuing scholarship on the countries and peoples of the former Yugoslavia. The timing and title of this conference recall the changes wrought by the violence that began two decades ago. We welcome scholarship dealing broadly with the dissolution, changes, and outcomes of the former Yugoslavia, especially the post-Yugoslav scene and its current prospects. We encourage scholars whose work deals with the transformative effects of the last 20 years on the social, political, cultural, and economic life of any part of the former Yugoslavia.

Targeted Participants: The disciplines we hope to have represented include any of the social sciences, humanities, and fine arts. We are especially eager to include younger scholars whose PhD or post-doctoral research draws from new conceptual perspectives and/or empirical sources to shed light on the persistent questions raised by the experience of people living in the former Yugoslavia. Travel support will be provided for select young researchers (see below).

Organization: The conference will utilize an online social networking site to facilitate conference organization, encouraging scholars to engage with each other prior to writing their papers and to share their work during the drafting phase. We expect that this model will help the group develop their ideas more fully while identifying crosscutting themes that will be used for session organization. This model will also help to coalesce diverse perspectives around themes that can be used for publication proposals.

Outcomes: During and after the conference, select young researchers and other invited scholars will be expected to prepare a prospectus for an edited volume or special issues of journals.

Deadlines:

November 15. Deadline for abstracts and travel support applications.

February 10. Paper submission. Deadline for fees.

Abstract Submission:

Please send an abstract (250-500 words) outlining the scope of your paper appropriate for a broad scholarly audience. Include your curriculum vitae. Please email to fYplus20@listserv.muohio.edu by November 15, 2011.

Selection Criteria:

The conference space limits the number of participants we can accept (approximately 25-30). The organizers seek papers that translate the author’s specialization with the broad themes of the conference. Selection will favor quality scholarship but the organizers will also consider the mix of topics and disciplines represented.

Financial Support for Young Scholars: The organizers have funding to help young scholars attend the conference. We can support up to 12 people and will cover their fees, accommodation, and $500 of their travel expenses. We define young scholars to include PhD (or similar degree) students who are writing their dissertation (ABD) and faculty who have received their terminal degree since 2005. Others may be considered in consideration of specific circumstances, which they should explain in their application. Young scholars seeking support should include with their abstract submission, a written request for support. Awardees will be notified as quickly as possible.

Additional information:

Additional information about the conference will be posted to http://fyplus20.wordpress.com/

05Jul

18th Annual Critical Geography Conference: Constructing a radical politics in an age of crisis, Worcester, USA, 4-5.11.2011

Co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University and the journal Human Geography, the 18th Annual Conference on Critical Geography seeks to bring critical geographers together to engage with a world in crisis. Historically, crises have been viewed as moments of political opportunity; as points in time where hegemonic contradictions are revealed and contested. This conference views crisis as an entry point into questions of how critical geographers can construct a responsive, radical politics. If the point of critical social theory is not only to understand but to change, we seek to question what notions of change, politics, and action underlie contemporary critical and radical geographies.

The conference will begin on Friday, November 4th, 2011. The opening evening will feature a keynote address by Neil Smith, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography and Director of the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the CUNY Graduate Center.

The program on Saturday, November 5th will consist of paper sessions, panels, and round table discussions. Saturday evening will feature a keynote panel addressing the theme of the conference. Sunday, November 6th will include additional sessions.

We invite you to submit abstracts or proposals for paper sessions, panels, roundtable discussions, or sessions with alternative formats by the deadline of August 15, 2011. Abstracts or proposals should be 250 words in length, and we ask that you include contact information and any titles or affiliations you would like placed in the program. We are especially interested in participants organizing their own sessions. If you are interested in organizing a session, please let us know in advance and you can then issue your own CFP through the appropriate mailing lists. Papers submitted individually will be reviewed by the program committee after August 15, and will be accepted for committee-organized sessions as space allows. Please send your abstract or proposal to criticalgeography@clarku.edu.

Further information on the conference, including accommodations, paper sessions, and the conference synopsis will be available at the conference web site, www.criticalgeography.org. Please feel free to email any further questions to the conference planning committee at criticalgeography@clarku.edu

04May

AAG 2012 Annual Meeting, New York, USA, 24-28.02.2012

The Association of American Geographers invites scholars, researchers, and students to begin making plans to attend its 2012 Annual Meeting in New York for the very latest in research and applications in geography, sustainability, and GIScience. The conference will be held from February 24 to February 28 at the Hilton New York. The AAG Annual Meeting is an interdisciplinary forum open to anyone with an interest in geography and related disciplines. All scholars, researchers, and students are welcome to submit abstracts for papers and presentations beginning May 15. The deadline for submitting abstracts is September 28, 2011. Details on the call for papers will be published in the June issue of the AAG Newsletter and at www.aag.org/annualmeeting/call_for_papers. The four-day conference is expected to host more than 7,000 geographers from more than 60 countries and feature over 4,000 scientific presentations, posters, workshops, and field trips by leading scholars and researchers. Sessions will be organized around topics and special themes such as political geography, natural hazards, cartography, geography education, climate change, human geography, GIScience and technologies, physical geography, planning and international development, and social justice. Special events will include special guest speakers, a reception for international attendees, World Geography Bowl, awards luncheon, and an exhibition hall showcasing recent publications and new geographic technologies. Geographers and graduating students seeking new career opportunities can participate in career development sessions and the Jobs in Geography Center, a career fair highlighting numerous job opening in all fields of geography. Attendees also will have several options to explore the rich cultural and physical geography of New York and the surrounding region through informative field trips and excursions. Visit www.aag.org/annualmeeting on May 15 to register for the meeting and submit a paper.

03Mar

Political Geography and Sexuality and Space Specialty Groups Pre-Conference, Tacoma, USA, 10-11.04.2011

This year the Political Geography and Sexuality and Space Specialty Groups are co-sponsoring a pre-conference on the University of Washington Tacoma campus immediately prior to the start of the Association of American Geographers conference in Seattle. We have extended the submission deadline for this pre-conference for one more week. The new deadline is March 8, 2011. We have some great papers and panels thus far. We welcome additional paper and panel proposals on a wide range of topics related to political geography, sexuality and space, and/or the overlaps and interconnections between the two. Participation is not limited to specialty group members. To submit a paper or session proposal, please send a title, abstract, and complete author/organizer contact information ! to Larry Knopp (knoppl@uw.edu) or Mark Pendras (pendras@uw.edu) no later than March 8, 2011.

The pre-conference will begin midday on Sunday, April 10 and will feature a Keynote Address by Dr. Lynn Staeheli, Professor of Geography at Durham University in the United Kingdom. The conference will continue through Monday, April 11. Additional registration details, including fee and fee payment details, are available at http://www.tacoma.uw.edu/events/pgs.

The University of Washington Tacoma campus is located in downtown Tacoma’s vibrant and beautifully renovated museum district. Accommodations within walking distance include the Courtyard by Marriott (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/travel/seatd-courtyard-tacoma-downtown/) and the Hotel Murano (http://www.hotelmuranotacoma.com/). The Best Western Tacoma Dome (http://www.bestwesternwashington.com/hotels/best-western-tacoma-dome-hotel/) is a very short (2-3 minute) free tram ride away. All three of! fer room rates that are considerably cheaper than hotel rates ! in downtown Seattle (including AAG conference rates). In addition, downtown Seattle and Tacoma are accessible to one another via commuter train and express busses from early morning until late evening. The trip takes less than an hour.

Special thanks to the two specialty groups, UW-Tacoma administration, and the UW-Tacoma Office of Advancement, for their support of this pre-conference. Thanks also to the local organizing committee comprised of geographers and fellow-travelers in the Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and Urban Studies programs at UW-Tacoma and the Department of Geography at UW-Seattle.

20Jan

18th Annual Conference on Critical Geography, Worcester, USA, 4-6.11.2011

Dear all,

We are pleased to announce that Clark University's Graduate School of Geography will be hosting the 18th Annual Conference on Critical Geography. Focused on 'Constructing a Radical Politics in an Age of Crisis', the conference will be held from November 4-6, 2011, and our keynote speaker will be Neil Smith, Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Please see the attached conference description for more details; a conference website is forthcoming. We invite proposals for paper sessions and panels addressing the themes in the conference description, and will be sending a formal CFP in the spring or summer.

Please feel free to forward this, and feel free to contact us (information below).

Best, Miles and John

-- Miles Kenney-Lazar PhD Student, NSF Graduate Research Fellow Graduate School of Geography, Clark University 950 Main St, Worcester, MA 01610 mkenneylazar@clarku.edu

John Lauermann PhD Student, Research Fellow Graduate School of Geography, Clark University 950 Main St, Worcester, MA 01610 jlauermann@clarku.edu \\ www.johnlauermann.com

18th_Annual_Critical_Geography_Conference.pdf