CONF./CFP- Caucasus and Central Asia: 20 Years..., Almaty, Aug. 25-27, 2011

Posted by: Isabelle Ohayon <isabelle.ohayon@cercec.cnrs.fr>

Call For Papers

The Caucasus and Central Asia, twenty years after independences:
Questioning the notion of "South countries"

International conference, Almaty, August 25-27, 2011

Twenty years ago, after the collapse of the USSR, the countries of
Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan) and the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) became
independent. The Central Asian republics, created between 1924 and
1936, could then - unexpectedly - enjoy a sovereignty previously
unknown to them, whereas in the Caucasian states, the strong national
movements that had developed during perestroika were deeply rooted in
the past. During the 20th century, these Soviet socialist republics
had been integrated into the unified production and trade system set
up on the scale of the USSR and the principles of socialist planning.
In this framework, they could take advantage of the resources and
development policy of the Soviet state. Thus, despite any lacks or
shortcomings they might have, the Caucasian and Central Asian
republics belonged to the developed world in the bi-polar geopolitical
division. The Caucasus and Central Asia served as models, if not
showcases, for some Third World countries, all the more so as the USSR
provided assistance to developing countries struggling against imperialism.

Since the collapse of the USSR and the East-West division, the
North-South opposition seems to have become one of the major reading
grids of the international scene. Whereas during the Cold war,
geopolitical analyses rested on the ideological and strategic
confrontation between capitalist and socialist worlds, the North-South
grid, for the most part, pointed to inequalities in development.
Appearing in the 1970s, the notion of "South" in fact replaced the
term "third world countries" or "developing countries, as opposed to
the "North", the developed and industrialised countries. Then came the
expression "South countries", referring to the diversity of this
heterogeneous ensemble made up of both emerging and least advanced
countries. In these new divisions of today's globalised and
regionalised world, where do we situate the independent states of
Central Asia and the Caucasus?

Research on contemporary trends in Central Asia and the Caucasus
contains few attempts at examining the analysis grids elaborated to
study the South countries - despite the fact that after the crisis at
the turn of the 1990s and the magnitude of its economic, political and
social impact, the newly independent Central Asian and Caucasian
states were included, by international institutions as well as
non-governmental organisations, in the "South countries". As a result,
during the 1990s, international assistance destined for the Central
Asian republics and, to a lesser extent, the Caucasian republics,
tended to slip from "transition" to "development" aid. In this
respect, according to some analysts, Central Asia and the Caucasus
followed a very original post-soviet trajectory, having entered into
the globalised world by means of what could be called "third
worldisation". Thus they argue that the border between the "North" and
the "South countries", formerly located on the border of the USSR, was
from then on situated on the southern border of Russia. Since it
opposes a former metropolis and its former colonies, an approach in
terms of "South countries" falls into a post-colonial pattern; as
such, it leads us to examine the USSR's imperial dimension and to
mobilise the theoretical approaches (theory of dependency, post
colonial studies, etc) to which we owe the notion of "South countries".

The current trajectories of Central Asia and the Caucasus also suggest
that development issues be examined in the context of globalisation.
In particular, these issues require an analysis of the transition
paradigm developed during the 1990s by international organisations,
aimed at replacing the socialist model with a political system
organised on a democratic basis, an economy based on liberal
capitalist principles and a Euro-Atlantic geopolitical positioning.
Economic and social dynamics have tended to invalidate this
teleological notion, which conditioned development and oriented the
insertion of Central Asian and Caucasian republics into the mechanisms
of globalisation. However, it is essential to question transition
policies in order to evaluate the slippage towards the "South" which
has taken place since their independence.

The present period can be likened to a moment of diversification and
individualisation of societies, economies and territories, on the
basis of the Newly Independent States. In this respect, an examination
of contemporary transformations in all their complexity not only means
keeping a close watch on the diversity of political, economic and
social actors, but also trying to identify the fault lines which tend
to segment Central Asian and Caucasian territories and societies.

The aim of the conference "The Caucasus and Central Asia, twenty years
after independences: an examination of the notion of 'South
Countries'" - is to question the relevance of heuristic tools based on
territories situated in the "South" but also, the very notion itself
of "South countries", so as to gain insight into the southern
peripheries of post-soviet space. Its purpose is to bring together
researchers in all social science disciplines (sociology, history,
political science, geography, anthropology, demography and economics).
This diversity should favour a confrontation of approaches and further
insight into the complexity of the itineraries followed by the
countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus in the past twenty years.

Themes

The formation of states: post-colonial problems?

 - The formation of Republican territories: the history of borders,
  border policy and implementation, autonomous territories, political
  structuring of space;
 - The structuring of political domains: creation of regional and
  local Republican state apparatuses at the time of incorporation into
  the Soviet Union; the ethnicising and confessionalising of political issues;
 - The transformation of Soviet and post-Soviet elites, the emergence
  of new actors and new political resources (NGOs, etc.).

Inequality and poverty: societies thrust into third world status?

 - Pauperisation and social differentiations; social and spatial
  segregation-aggregation; city-rural inequalities;
 - Work migrations: socio-economic and political causes for mobility
  (poverty, conflicts, etc); implementation of public policies; life
  itineraries and strategies of migrants; social, demographic and
  economic consequences of migration in the country of origin and the
  host country;
 - Questions on the definition of South countries from the point of
  view of demographic transition (fertility, mortality, life expectancy).

International geopolitical insertion: are the South countries being dominated?

 - Global and regional power plays, in particular Russia, the former
  metropolis;
 - The positioning of international organisations;
 - The role of cross border enterprises;
 - The international ambitions of certain Central Asian and Caucasian states;
 - Regional alliances.

Economic globalisation: are the South countries being exploited?

 - Re-orientation of economic and commercial exchanges;
 - Government action in the economic sector and the role of national
  and international entrepreneurs: the appropriation and exploitation of
  Central Asian and Caucasian resources;
 - Fashioning of a resource based economy and link with development;
 - The informal sector and "globalisation from the bottom up".

Organisation:

The conference "The Caucasus and Central Asia, twenty years after
independences: questioning the notion of 'South Countries'" will be
held in Almaty on August 25th, 26th, and 27th, 2011.

Proposals for communications should be sent before January 15th, 2011
at the following address: colloque.sudsov@gmail.com. They may be
written in French, English, or Russian. Please, send an abstract
(about 2000 signs), and a short CV. Answers will be sent by the
organisation committee before February 28th 2011.

Working languages will be English and Russian.

Organising Institutions:

Centre d'étude des mondes russe, caucasien et centre-européen (CERCEC)
  (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) /Ecole des Hautes
  Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)), Paris,
Institute for oriental studies, National Academy of Sciences of the
  Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty),
ANR (French National Research Agency), Program "Sudsov", Paris,
IFEAC (French Institute for Central Asian Studies), Tashkent,
Centre franco-russe de recherche en sciences humaines et sociales, Moscow.

Organisation committee:

Sophie Hohman, CNRS-CERCEC/ INED (National Institute for Demographic
  Studies), Paris,
Anne Le Huérou, CNRS-CERCEC, Paris,
Isabelle Ohayon, CNRS-CERCEC, Paris,
Amandine Regamey, Paris I University/CERCEC, Paris,
Nazigul Shajmardanova, Institute for Oriental Studies, Almaty,
Silvia Serrano, Université d'Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, CERCEC, Paris,
Julien Thorez, CNRS- Center "Mondes iranien et indien", Paris.

International scientific committee:

Sergey Abashin, Institute of ethnology and anthropology, Russian
  Academy of Sciences, Moscow,
Alexandre Iskanderyan, Caucasus Institute, Erevan,
Mohamed-Reza Djalili, Graduate Institute of International and
  Development Studies, Geneva,
Sanat Kushkumbaev, Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies, Almaty,
Vladimir Mukomel, Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow,
Claire Mouradian, CNRS-CERCEC, Paris,
Ghia Nodia, Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and
  Development/Ilya University, Tbilissi,
Saodat Olimova, Sharq Center, Duchanbe,
Jean Radvanyi, Centre franco-russe de recherche en sciences humaines
  et sociales, Moscow.