CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

20 YEARS ON FROM THE END OF THE SOVIET UNION:

PROSPECTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN THE POST-SOVIET SPACE

Locarno Suite, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH

Programme

09.00 09.30   10.00   10.30 Chair: Papers: 11.45 12.00 Chair: Papers: 13.15 14.15 Chair: Papers: 15.30 15.45 Chair: Papers: 17.00 17.15

Arrival and Registration Welcome Rt Hon Lord David Howell, Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office  Mark Webber, Head of the School of Government and Society, University of Birmingham Brian Brivati, Director, John Smith Memorial Trust Keynote Address / The Birmingham Conflict and Security Studies Lecture Out of the freezer: time for new approaches to conflict settlement in the post-Soviet region Walter Kemp, Director, Europe and Central Asia, International Peace Institute Panel 1: Post-Soviet Conflicts 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union: where do we stand? Alan Parfitt, Eastern Research Group, FCO The South Caucasus: a new freeze? Nina Caspersen (University of Lancaster) Beyond the Chechen Independence Struggle: Evaluating the Regional Insurgency in the North Caucasus Cerwyn Moore (University of Birmingham) From Confidence Building to Conflict Settlement in Moldova? Claus Neukirch (OSCE Mission to Moldova) Coffee break Panel 2: Local and regional dynamics of conflict resolution Josephine Gauld, Head of South Caucasus Section, Eastern Europe & Central Asia Directorate, FCO The Paradox of Autonomy: Explaining the Linkage between Democratisation and War in the Post-Soviet States James Hughes (London School of Economics) The ‘Frozen Conflicts’ in the Eastern Partnership: Russia versus EU or prospect of cooperation? Bogdana Depo (EXACT Marie Curie Fellow) Why Secession is not a Viable Tool for Conflict-Resolution: The Case of Georgia Nino Kemoklidze (NUPI and University of Birmingham) Lunch Panel 3: Limits and prospects of international mediation: ways forward Peter Bateman, Her Majesty’s Ambassador-designate to the Republic of Azerbaijan Civil society and elites: (Mis)matching perspectives on conflict resolution in Nagorno Karabakh Licinia Simao (University of Coimbra) New Approaches to Mediation: Managing the Russian Factor Dennis Sammut (Links-London) The international community and Eurasia’s de facto states Nonna Gorilovskaya (University of Edinburgh) Coffee Panel 4: Opportunities for pan-European security cooperation and conflict resolution in Europe Laurie Bristow, Director, Eastern Europe & Central Asia Directorate, FCO The EU and conflict resolution in the post-Soviet space Sabine Fischer (EU Institute for Security Studies) Protracted conflicts in the context of evolving Russian-Western relations in Eurasia Oksana Antonenko (International Institute for Strategic Studies, London) Frozen conflicts, frozen Europe? Russian approaches to European security governance Derek Averre (University of Birmingham) & Oscar Pardo (University of Birmingham) Concluding remarks Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham Close

New Venue

The Conference will be now held at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Lucarno suite, London, thanks to the support of the John Smith Memorial Trust. Its 2010/11 Fellows and director, Prof. Brian Brivati, will be attending and participating in the conference.
CEELBAS, a partnership of UCL, Oxford University and Birmingham University, will be also supporting the conference

WORKSHOP ORGANISERS

Derek L. Averre
CREES, University of Birmingham

Oscar Pardo Sierra
POLSIS, University of Birmingham

Stefan Wolff
POLSIS, University of Birmingham

School of Government and Society Homepage

http://www.govsoc.bham.ac.uk/index.shtml

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

One of the consequences of the collapse and break-up of the Soviet Union was that numerous, predominantly ethno-national and territorial conflicts erupted in (and between) the successor states. Twenty years on, few, if any, of these conflicts have moved any closer to a sustainable solution. The purpose of the workshop is to organise a one-day event to take stock of the current state of affairs of these post-Soviet conflicts. It will analyse the current developments on post-conflict resolution in the former Soviet Republics 20 years on from the collapse of the USSR. The workshop will also focus on the opportunities for conflict settlement and the prospects for conflict resolution in the framework of EU-Russia engagement on a new European security architecture.

The aims of the workshop are the following:

1. To further knowledge and understanding of the current situation of the post-Soviet conflicts in terms of a) status of conflict-resolution b) EU capacity and involvement c) Prospects for conflict resolution, especially with a view to the role the EU.


2. To provide a theoretical and methodological perspective on how to analyse conflict resolution in the post-Soviet space within the current international order.


3. To enable further collaborative projects between participants and their institutions with the potential of attracting additional external funding for research and knowledge transfer activities.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Call for Papers

20 YEARS ON FROM THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION: PROSPECTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IN THE POST-SOVIET SPACE

4 July 2011

School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL, London

One of the consequences of the collapse and break-up of the Soviet Union was that numerous, predominantly ethno-national and territorial conflicts erupted in (and between) the successor states. Twenty years on, few, if any, of these conflicts have moved any closer to a sustainable solution.

Papers are invited that will take stock of the current state of affairs in relation to these post-Soviet conflicts, analyse current developments, and examine likely future progress (or continuing stalemate), as well as focus on the opportunities and prospects for actual conflict settlement in the framework of EU-Russia cooperation on a new European security architecture.

The organisers especially also welcome papers from advanced PhD students working in these areas, and can support their participation thanks to a grant from the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES). 

Further questions and abstracts of papers (no more than 250 words) should be submitted by email to Òscar Pardo, o.pardosierra@bham.ac.uk.

The workshop will also be open to non-paper givers.

The deadline for abstracts is April 25. Authors of accepted papers will be notified not later than May 16.

The workshop has been made possible by the generous support of

University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES)

Specialist Group Ethnopolitics in the Political Studies Association of the UK

European Research Institute, University of Birmingham

Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham

Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham

School of Government and Society, University of Birmingham

School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London