Update on San Diego and other things

Dear Caucus Members:
As the San Diego conference nears, I would like to ask you to be sure to try to attend the innovative virtual panel that we are sponsoring. We have completed the test run on Skype and are keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well. Here are the details. Remember this has never been done before at ISA!

Townhall meeting with virtual panelists from Asia, Africa and Latin America to discuss questions of civil society and access to information. Monday April 2, 8:15 am in Room 304, Hilton Bayfront Hotel, San Diego.

Virtual participants:
Professor Andres Serbin, Venezuela and Argentina
Professor Alan Chong,Singapore.
Professor Emmanuel Dandaura, Nigeria
Professor Imad Salamey, Lebanon.

In studio responding: Prof. J. Braveboy-Wagner, Prof. Naren Kumarakulasingam Prof. Imad Mansour; Doctoral candidate Charity Green, Prof. M. Bahramzadeh.

Please be sure to attend this as well as other presentations to show your support for the caucus.


IMPORTANT:
As you know, we are honoring Prof. Ali Mazrui at a (box) luncheon on Tuesday April 3, in the Indigo D, Hilton Bayfront, 12.30-1.30. Since space is limited, you must let me know if you will attend. Moreover, I am asking anyone who has favorite positive memories of Prof. Mazrui to please WRITE these down in a note which can be handed to him. Because of the short time allotted for the luncheon, we will only have one preliminary speaker aside from Prof. Mazrui himself..

ALSO IMPORTANT:
Anyone who would like to serve on the Executive Committee of the Global South Caucus should contact me ASAP. Slots are open. In particular we are interested in persons who will expand our outreach globally. We also need a Communications Director!

Best,
JBW

Conference: Call for Papers

Message from:
Dr. Clive Gabay
Lecturer in International Politics
School of Politics and International Relations
Queen Mary University of London
Tel: 020 7882 5832
E: c.gabay@qmul.ac.uk



Apologies for cross-posting:

‘Post-post’ independence? African political thought, contemporary protest and the international

19th-20th July, Queen Mary University of London.

In the past year anti-government protests have broken out in a number of sub-Sahara African countries, including Cote D’Ivoire, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Uganda and Mozambique. Some of these protests have emerged recently, whilst others have longer histories but have only recently come to international prominence. Responses from western countries and donors, and the western media have tended to view these as ‘post-post independence’ phenomena, that is, as a rejection of the failures of the post-independence political leaders and settlements, and an embracing of Western discourses on individual rights. This workshop seeks to explore the political economy and genealogies of these protests in order to question how far this wave of protests, as well as other contemporary protest and social movements in sub-Sahara Africa, should be seen as a ‘coming of age’ awakening to western discourses on rights. Instead, the workshop will explore the enduring legacies of independence-era political promises and contemporary forms of African radical political thought.

Potential paper-givers are invited to submit abstracts of no more than 200 words addressing any or all of the following themes, or any other theme pertinent to the overall workshop aims:

i) The continuing resonance and reworking of independence-era
political promises and thought through contemporary sub-Sahara African protest and social movements, including variants on African social democracy, Afro-socialism, nationalism and pan-Africanism;
ii) The influence of contemporary African radial political thought on
current protests and social movements
iii) How protesters mediate western discourses on rights through
locally-generated independence discourses;
iv) The deployment of independence-era thought in government responses
to protest, be that rhetorical or through social and economic programmes.
v) The ways in which western actors interpret protest in sub-Sahara
Africa, and the extent to which differences emerge between regional and global interpretations of the protests and how different conceptions of ‘Africa’ emerge from these interpretations.

Potential paper-givers are also encouraged to give thought to relevant non-academic speakers who might contribute to the value of the workshop, in particular activists and public intellectuals engaged in some of the struggles addressed by the papers, whether from exile and ex-pat communities in the UK, or from Africa. Please note that this is not an essential condition of workshop participation.

Please submit paper abstracts of no more than 200 words, and suggestions for non-academic speakers to c.gabay@qmul.ac.uk by Friday 24th February 2012


--

Dr. Clive Gabay

Happy Holidays and news about Newsletter volume 1

Dear Colleagues:
Happy holidays whatever you celebrate. Good news! The first volume and edition of the GSCIS newsletter is now out (well, as soon as ISA puts it up). I'd like to draw your attention to a special featured article, a thoughtful commentary, entitled "Seasonal Effects of the Arab Spring" by Imad Mansour of McGill University. From time to time we will feature such pertinent articles. Please feel free to send in your comments.
The very best,
JBW

Qaddafi's Demise

Posts on Qaddafi from some known academics/policy people (if links still work):

An African view:
http://www.theroot.com/buzz/why-africa-uneasy-about-qaddafis-death

Stephen Walt:
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/10/20/on_ghaddafi?wpisrc=obnetwork

Michael Ignatieff
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/africa-mideast/gadhafis-bloody-demise-a-warning-shot-for-arab-dictators/article2208863/

GSCIS EURASIA SUBSECTION PROPOSAL

The GSCIS Developing Eurasia subsection proposal

Jason E. Strakes

International School for Caucasus Studies

Ilia State University

Tbilisi, Georgia

PLEASE REVIEW

While the recently independent states of former Soviet Eurasia exhibit many of the conditions and characteristics of post-colonial and developing nations, the study of these countries in the U.S. and Western European academy has traditionally been either relegated to a generic "post-communist" subfield, or framed according to narratives of an enduring geopolitical dichotomy between power centers representing a reified "East" and "West". It is thus arguable that these disciplinary conventions have possibly imposed unnecessary limitations on the ability of regional scholars to introduce new approaches and, more importantly, to generate novel findings regarding the foreign policies and international relations of these states. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to extend a proposal for establishing a research agenda within GSCIS directed at developing a conceptual framework for integrating "Eurasian" and "developing"/Global South perspectives in IR.

One recent empirical example which underscores the relevance of this endeavor is provided by the case of Azerbaijan, which in spring 2011 became the third former Soviet republic (following Belarus and Turkmenistan) to join the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), defying the expectations of observers who have sought to characterize it as an inherently "pro-Western" or "European-oriented" state. The creation of a Eurasian/developing north facility within GSCIS would serve to attract participation by regional scholars who question prevailing standards of categorization, as well as to address current trends and expand the scope of regional studies within the discipline. Interested parties may direct correspondence to: jason.strakes@iliauni.edu.ge.:

IMPORTANT: Incorporating Eurasia into GSCIS

The GSCIS wishes to initiate a Developing Eurasia subsection. Here is a proposal from
Jason E. Strakes
International School for Caucasus Studies
Ilia State University
Tbilisi, Georgia
Please take a moment to review.

While the recently independent states of former Soviet Eurasia exhibit
many of the conditions and characteristics of post-colonial and
developing nations, the study of these countries in the U.S. and
Western European academy has traditionally been either relegated to a
generic "post-communist" subfield,
or framed according to narratives of an enduring geopolitical dichotomy
between power centers representing a reified "East" and "West". It is
thus arguable that these disciplinary conventions have possibly imposed
unecessary limitations on the ability of regional scholars to introduce
new approaches and, more importantly, to generate novel findings
regarding the foreign policies and international relations of these
states. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to extend a
proposal for establishing a research agenda within GSCIS directed at developing a conceptual framework for integrating
"Eurasian" and "developing"/Global South perspectives in IR. One recent
empirical example which underscores the relevance of this endeavor is
provided by the case of Azerbaijan, which in spring 2011 became the
third former Soviet republic (following Belarus and Turkmenistan) to
join the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), defying the expectations of
observers who have sought to characterize it as an inherently
"pro-Western" or "European-oriented" state. The creation of a
Eurasian/developing north facility within GSCIS would serve to attract
participation by regional scholars who question prevailing standards of
categorization, as well as to address current trends and expand the
scope of regional studies within the discipline. Interested parties may
direct correspondence to: jason.strakes@iliauni.edu.ge.

Update on Our Activities

Dear Members and Friends:

Since I last posted, Program Chair Lisa Richey and I have been very busy trying to maximize the GSCIS’s presence at the next ISA, despite the fact that caucuses are allotted so few slots in the program. We know that if we prove ourselves capable this time around (as we will), we will be able to secure more slots in the future. We are sponsoring/co-sponsoring panels on inter-sectional approaches to the GS, teaching and research about the GS, emerging powers, and gender/race perspectives. In addition, we have finalized an innovative panel which was supported by ISA’s president, within the theme of civil society and the information era. Various regional scholars will participate virtually with discussants located on the spot in San Diego. I am certainly preparing to push forward various publications from the presentations in San Diego.

I should add that we are pleased that other sections have been so supportive of us. Special kudos to Aseem Prakash who heads IPE. We will be inviting other sections to participate in the luncheon for Ali Mazrui.

Our website is also up, our constitution drawn up (still subject to member approval in S.D.), and we have initiated these two blogs – one by me, primarily used to post messages which would take too long to be routed via ISA, and the second by Secretary-Treasurer Griffin, intended to be a more legitimate blog. A short newsletter should be coming out soon. if you wish to publicize anything you’ve done or provide conference information etc, please do so soon. Photos, podcasts etc. are particularly welcome so that we can liven things up a bit. Just send to me or to Clifford Griffin.

Clifford has opened up a blog on Prof. Ali Mazrui who will be our first distinguished scholar honoree. Please write anything complimentary about him on the blog. We will collect these comments up until the convention for forwarding to him as a package. Prof. Mazrui will receive a certificate in San Diego at a (for now, “box”) luncheon which we are trying to arrange in as classy a manner as possible given ISA’s time and style restrictions. More information will be available soon.

Participants need to register for the ISA Convention by October 17th. Other convention information is available on the ISA website so there is no need to repeat it here.

Fiinally, we have offered to sponsor a panel on "Exploring 'Difference' in International relations: Theory and Practice in the Global South" for the BISA/ISA Joint Convention next June in Edinburgh. We await word on whether our panel has been accepted.

jbw