AACaPS invites panel and paper proposals for the 17th Biennial Conference to be held at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand on 30-31 January 2025. The event will be hosted by the National Centre for Research on Europe, Faculty of Arts at the University of Canterbury.
Conference Theme: Changing Divisions in Europe and the Asia-Pacific: A New Cold War?
After the collapse of communist rule in the Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s marking the end of the forty-year-long Cold War West-East divisions of Europe and the World, it was largely assumed that the world had entered a new, prosperous era of ideological, political and socio-economic reunification and globalisation. However, more than three decades later the world remains deeply divided.
While some post-communist states, particularly those that were able to anchor their political and economic reform with the process of EU enlargement, have indeed transformed themselves into respectable liberal democracies with functioning market economies, the others have merely replaced the communist dictatorship with another form of authoritarianism. Although they no longer stem from differences over communist ideology, political divisions between the European West and East have not diminished, but only moved further to the East and strengthened in recent years. Putin’s military invasion in Ukraine seems not only to have cemented these divisions for an indefinite period, but to have increased the political confrontation between Russia and Western European states, the USA and NATO to an unprecedented level, which is closer to direct military confrontation and nuclear war than ever was the case during the Cold War.
Further to the east, communist China has also significantly worsened its political relations with Western democracies in recent years, despite extensive trade relations and economic cooperation. The increased assertiveness of Chinese policy in the South China Sea and its continuing support to communist totalitarianism in North Korea and other authoritarian regimes in Asia and the world, including Putin’s Russia, have largely become intolerable for China’s Western partners, regardless of any benefits from mutual economic cooperation. The conference seeks to address these and other developments, divisions, and alignments among and within the communist, post-communist and other states in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region from various angles and disciplines. The conference organisers welcome panel and paper proposals from a broad range of disciplines, including but not limited to political science, history, economics, sociology and cultural, educational or environmental studies.
Submission of Proposals:
Please submit paper abstracts or panel proposals of up to 250 words with your name, title and affiliation to aacapsconference@gmail.com by 10 September 2024. The organisers expect to inform participants of the acceptance of their panel proposals and papers by 30 September 2024.
Important notes:
1) This is an exclusively face-to-face, on campus event with no virtual presentations; the conference aims to foster academic discussion and momentum through extensive live interactions among participants.
2) At the conference, the host will cover morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea on both days. Participants will cover their own travelling and local lodging as well as the conference dinner.
3) We welcome expressions of interest among all participants to serve as panel chairs. Please send your EOI together with your paper/panel proposal submission.
4) Publications: The Authors of selected papers presented at the conference will be invited for publication in special journal issues or an edited book.
5) Two PhD student paper awards will be announced at the end of the conference.
Important dates:
Abstract submission deadline – 10 September 2024
Panel and abstract acceptance notification issued – 30 September 2024 Registration deadline for your name to appear in conference program – 10 December 2024
Conference Registration Fees:
Standard: NZ$240
AACaPS members and University of Canterbury staff: NZ$200
PG students (non-AACaPS members): NZ$180
PG students (AACaPS members and University of Canterbury students): NZ$140
Contact:
Conference email: aacapsconference@gmail.com
AACAPS website: http://www.aacapstudies.com
Conference Programme Committee:
A/Professor Fengshi Wu, AACaPS President (University of New South Wales)
Dr Milenko Petrovic, Jean Monnet Chair, AACaPS Vice President (University of Canterbury)
Emeritus Professor Graeme Gill (University of Sydney)
Emeritus Professor Leslie Holmes (University of Melbourne)
A/Professor Alexandr Akimov (Griffith University)
Dr Anna Taitslin (University of Canberra)
Dr Natasha Wilson (University of Melbourne)
aacapstudies.com 