Critical Relations between International Relations and Islam

Call for papers and/or panels for the section on the "Critical Relations between International Relations and Islam" chaired by Nassef Manabilang Adiong.

8th Pan-European Conference on International Relations

18-21 September 2013

Warsaw, Poland

Organized by the Standing Group on International Relations (European International Studies Association) in cooperation with the Institute of International Relations, University of Warsaw and the Polish Association for International Studies.

Application period has been extended until 28 February 2013.

For a very long time, the Muslim world was regarded as an outsider from the cultural and normative pretext and state relations of the West. Even during the reign of the Ottoman Empire, scholars of International Relations (IR) excluded her as a subordinated stealth ally or non-ally of major European powers. 

The shift from Bush to Obama in their foreign policies toward the Muslim world, Imam Khamenei’s position about nuclear weapons, transitional political elites such as Egypt’s Pres. Morsi (Muslim Brotherhood) and Tunisia’s PM Jebali (Ennahda Movement), and Malaysia and Indonesia’s rising Salafi (political) movements are few examples that it is now apparent that there is an imperative motivation why Islamic discourses gradually dominate contemporary international relations, and how it affects the West in a theory-praxis spectrum.

The objectives of this section are to show juxtaposed positions of mutual or diverse perceptions between IR and Islam based on conceived notions of contested conceptions like sovereignty, nation-state, human rights, gender, etc., and place Islam in the epitome of global discourse of international relations as a major causal factor that affect the behaviors of actors in the international system. 

It hopes to examine two inquiries:

1. How International Relations scholars perceived the field of Islam since the Interwar period (1919-39) until now?

2. How Islamic scholars (Muslims or non-Muslims) perceived the field of IR since the Interwar period until now?

Tentative themes within the disciplines of IR and Islamic Studies:

- Towards the Idea of an Islamic IR theory?

- Islamic episteme and methodology: (In)Applicable to IR

- IR and Islamic Interpretations on the principal element of nation-state

- Probable fifth IR’s Great Debate: An Islamic (religious and cultural) challenge to the mainstream IR paradigms and theories?

- Examination of current positions, status, and progress of scholars, practitioners, and students engaged in the research of both IR and Islamic Studies.

Tentative themes in the practice or phenomena of international relations and Islam:

- Revisiting integration studies of Muslim migrants in Europe and their present political climates in shaping EU’s foreign policy.

- How Islamic symbols like veils and minarets affect the political life in Europe and the United States in their creation of domestic policies affecting the issue on Muslim’s minority rights

- Depiction of Prophet Muhammad in printed literature and films in the West, and the reactions of Muslims worldwide

- The victory of Islamists parties in post-Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt, and their foreign policies toward the West (specifically the US, EU, and Israel)

- Iran’s velayat-e faqih and the nuclear issue

- Efficient or not: Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Arab League, and the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) 

- The Muslim youth and the social media (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) in the Arab Spring process.

- The relations of Israel and the Muslim world

- Turkey’s AKP positions in Middle Eastern issues, e.g. Syria’s ongoing civil war, Iran’s nuclear energy or Palestinian question 

- Updates on the US War-On-Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq

- Pakistan-US relations after Osama’s capture

- The rise of Wahhabi and Salafi’s movements in Southeast Asia and how it will affect ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)

Instructions

Abstract of your paper/panel proposal(s) should be 150-200 words. A panel proposal must have a chair, discussant, and 4 to 5 paper presenters.

Proposals must be submitted via the online submission system at https://www.conftool.pro/paneuropean2013/index.php?page=login

After submitting your proposal, please send a copy of it including an autobiographical statement to info@nassef-m-adiong.com.

For more information on the conference, please go to http://www.8thpaneuropean.org/ or email europeanisa@gmail.com.

The closing date for paper and panel proposals is midnight CET on Sunday (24 February 2013).

Best Ph.D. Student Paper 2012

Competition now open.

The European International Studies Association (EISA) invites nominations for a competition to judge the Best Ph.D. Student Paper 2012.  The main criteria for judging the papers will be outstanding scholarship and originality. Papers may have been presented at a workshop or conference or published during 2012. The award will be announced at the upcoming EISA Pan-European Conference in Warsaw, Poland (18-21 September). 

Nominations and a copy of the paper should be sent to the selection committee chair, Professor Karin Fierke (kf30@st-andrews.ac.uk). 

The deadline for nominations is 1 May 2013.

This call for this particular section was also announced in the following websites (click each entry to view it):
- Asfar: The Middle Eastern Journal
- British International Studies Association

- Canadian Association of University Teachers of German
- Conference Alerts (Academic Conferences Worldwide)
- Humanities and Social Sciences Online (H-Net)
- India's Sri Satguru Publication & Divine Books
- International Political Science Association
- IPSA RC 43 - Religion and Politics
- Middle East Studies Association
- The Religious Studies Project
- Transcultural Islam Research Network

Twitted by:
- Stanford University's The Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies <@abbasiprogram>
- Asst. Prof. Dr. Filip Ejdus of the University of Belgrade <@FilipEjdus>