“Middle Eastern Congress on Politics and Society”
Sakarya University, Institute for Social Sciences
October 9-11, 2012
Sakarya, Turkey
Institute for Social Sciences of Sakarya University is pleased to announce “Middle Eastern Congress on Politics and Society” which will be held between 9 and 11 October, 2012 in Sakarya, Turkey. The Middle East is under spotlight thanks to the Arab Awakening. The latter refers to a groundbreaking chain of events that require radical reworking not only in the Middle Eastern politics but also in the groves of academe, which have largely been caught off guard and oblivious of the new social dynamics of the region. This congress invites students of the region to reconsider and rework not only the highly topical events of the day but also several phenomena that include citizenry, political action, state building, democratic politics, social legitimacy of authority, social justice, social media, new political consciousness, national self-determination and the post 9/11 international politics of the Middle East. While Europe and the US needed several centuries to develop modern political governance and civil society, the challenge for the Middle Eastern peoples is to press on the means of democratic politics in a much lesser time frame and under perilous conditions. Sakarya University invites scholars, public figures and activists of all stripes to join the panels and colloquiums for advancing our understanding of the region. The language of the Congress will be English, Arabic and Turkish with simultaneous translation provided.
The opening speech of the congress will be given by the Foreign Minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu.The Keynote speech of the Congress will be delivered by Prof. Norman Finkelstein.Some of the other confirmed participants of the Congress include Prof. Mohammed Ayoob, Prof. Anoush Ehteshami, Prof. Udo Steinbach, Prof. Amr Hamzawy, Gideon Levy and Abdulbari Atwan.
Some of the major topics of the congress are the following:
· Arab awakening: Revolutions in the Middle East, social media, the role of women in the revolutions, international responses.
· Middle eastern politics: fall of the dictators, rise of new social movements, Islamic political parties, elections and problems of democracy-building
· Economy: Energy politics, financial crisis, economic development
· Islam and Society: the rise of new Islamic movements, social Islam and political Islam
· Turkey and the Middle East: New Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East
· The Israel/Palestinian Question: the rise of Jewish radicalism, Palestinian politics after the Arab awakening
· Iran in the regional context: politics of nuclear weapons, Iran in the Middle East, Iran and Israel
· International Politics of the Middle East: the rise and fall of the US projects and vision in the region, Arab Union, European Union and the Middle East
For further information about the conference: http://www.ortadogu.sakarya.edu.tr
