International Conference
Twenty Five Years of Post Soviet Experience:
Perspectives on Nation Building and
Democratization in Eurasia
Date: 2 –
4 November 2016
Venue:
School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi-110067
Twenty five years ago
the political and social landscape of Eurasia underwent a radical
transformation with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the emergence of 15
new states. The immediate tasks before these states were to redefine
nationalism, establish democratic political systems and economic reforms. The
nation-building process in these states grappled with the ideas of
ethno-linguistic nationalism, multiculturalism and civic nationalism. The
challenges before these states were to reclaim the lost nationhood and integrate
the minorities. They sought to achieve the first by state policies to promote
culture, language, demography and economic welfare of the majority ethnic group
which constituted the “core” of the nation. They tried to redefine nationalism
on the basis of linguistic, historical and cultural symbols. This unfortunately
engendered social conflicts leading to civil war in some of the states. The
nationalizing project remains unfinished and the process of separation and
reintegration continues unabated as witnessed in Georgia and Ukraine. As a
consequence of ethno-cultural nationalism, civic nationalism seems to have suffered
a setback. However in many other instances the states have achieved relative
success in maintaining social harmony, political stability and containing
extremism/radicalization.
The Soviet disintegration
raised hopes of democratization among the newly independent states. At the time
of independence nearly all these states declared liberal multi-party democracy
as their political ideal. Some of these have relative success in this regard. But
many post-Soviet regimes are often characterized in the Western literature as
“authoritarian”, “semi-authoritarian”, “managed-democracy” and so on. The
counter-narratives that emerge from this region often use concepts like “Sovereign-democracy”
to describe their unique models. The question is how do we understand and
analyze the concept of “Sovereign-democracy”? Is it merely a state rhetoric or
has essential normative and analytical value in interpreting the unique cases
of Eurasia? Similarly there are alternative models of democracy in Central Asia,
emphasizing the centrality of state as the guarantor of security and economic
development. Where does Indian scholarship on democracy and nationalism fit
into this debate? There is a general consensus that “one size fits all liberal
model” may not be suitable for all the countries. But what are the alternative
models? How far the varied/diverse experiences/practices of nation building,
‘political democracy’ and economic transition in these post-Soviet states help
us critically analyze and better understand these complex concepts?
The debates on these
subjects have traditionally been dominated by western ideas and scholarship.
The seminar aims to explore alternative perspectives. Scholars are encouraged
to critically examine the existing/dominant concepts and discourses and offer
their insights based on their own experience, regarding nation building,
treatment of minorities, federalism, democracy, multi-party system, economic
transition and so on.
Proposed Themes
Democracy
Theories on Nation
Building and Democratization
Democratization in
post-Soviet states: “Sovereign Democracy” vs. Liberal Democracy of West
Political Institutions
and Processes
Comparing Indian and
post-Soviet Experiences of nation-building and democracy
Nationalism
Ethnic and Civic
Nationalism in post-Soviet States
Sub-national and
supra-national identity: Eurasianism vs European
Economic Transition and Regional Cooperation
Experiences of Economic
Transformation
Eurasian Union, SCO
Foreign Policy
Geopolitics and External
Relations
Relations with India
Society and Culture
Social Transitions
Literature, Art and Cinema
Important Information
Last date for submission of paper titles along with
abstract: 30 June 2016.
The abstracts will be screened by the Organising Committee and the
applicants will be informed about the decision.
Last date for submission of full paper: 30 September 2016.
Local hospitality (accommodation and food) will be provided to
all participants for four days. Accommodation will be arranged by the host from
2nd November to 6th November 2016 morning. The inaugural
session will be on 2nd afternoon at 4 PM.
Due to limited resources we will not be able to provide airfare
to international participants.
Only in select cases Indian participants will be provided
return airfare (by Air India only) with a cap of Rs 10,000/-
For further communication in this regard please send your
Title/abstract/paper/queries on crcasconference2016@gmail.com
Host:
Prof. Sanjay
Kumar Pandey
Chairperson,
Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies,
School of
International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi-110067
Email: skpandeyjnu@gmail.com, Phone:
+91-11-26704365, Mobile: +91-9868443183
&
Prof. Ajay
Kumar Patnaik
Director,
Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies,
School of
International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi- 110067
Email: patnaik.ajay@gmail.com
