# # CALL FOR PAPERS # #
The 2006 MIDDLE EAST & CENTRAL ASIA POLITICS, ECONOMICS, and SOCIETY CONFERENCE
September 7 - 9
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
SALT LAKE CITY, USA
# # DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: # # MARCH 31, 2006 # #
The fourth annual multidisciplinary Middle East & Central Asia Politics, Economics, and Society Conference will be held during September 7-9, 2006. Since its inception in 2003, the conference has successfully brought together academics (professors
and advanced graduate students), analysts, policy makers, and NGO workers interested in the two regions of Middle East and Central Asia/Caucasus in order to network and share research interests.
This year, the organizers expect to accommodate as many as 150 research papers from around the world divided into nearly 40 panels. There will also be two plenary presentations, one of which will be delivered by Professor Dru C. Gladney of the University of Hawaii-Manoa and entitled: "China Faces Central Asia: A New Chapter in the Great Game?"
The three-day event will also include a presentation by an Ambassador to the US from one of the two regions. Other attractions include three complimentary meals, an evening of Middle Eastern and Central Asian music and art, a book fair, and the screening of recently released films and documentaries on the Middle East and Central Asia.
PANEL THEMES: The conference encompasses and encourages interdisciplinary social science approaches to analysis and problem-solving. Panel themes may fall within, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
# State/Society Relations
# Religion and Politics
# Islam and Islamism
# Civil and Inter-State Conflict Prevention and Resolution
# Human Rights and Minorities
# Post-9-11 International Affairs
# Terrorism and State Violence
# Authoritarianism and Democracy
# Challenges of Post-Communism
# Problems of Economic and Democratic Transitions
# Nuclear Non-Proliferation
# Natural Resources and Conflict
# Economic Development and Sustainability
# International Financial Institutions and Regional Policy
# Oil and Natural Gas Trade and Conflict
# Nation-building Projects in Iraq and Afghanistan
# Politics of External Actors (US, Russia, EU, China, etc.)
# Regional Organizations and Cooperation
# Post-Communist Velvet Revolutions
# Xinjiang and Uyghur Nationalism
# Kurdish Nationalism
# Azerbaijan-Armenia Dispute
# Chechnya and Russia
# US-Iran Relations
# Turkey-EU Relations
# Palestine-Israel Conflict
# Culture, Gender, and Ethnicity
# Impacts of Globalization
# Civil Society, NGOs and International Development
# UN Millennium Development Goals
# Media, Cinema, and Film
# Migration, Refugees, Displaced, and Diaspora
OPPORTUNITY TO PUBLISH: Selected papers from the conference will be submitted to three social science journals, including the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs and the Digest of Middle East Studies for publication in late 2006 and early 2007.
APPLICATION: If interested in proposing a pre-organized panel or presenting a paper in the 2006 MECA Conference, please submit:
# YOUR FULL NAME
# INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION
# E-MAIL, POSTAL ADDRESS, and TEL. NUMBERS (work, mobile, home)
# PAPER TITLE (and Panel theme and paper titles if applicable)
# 300-WORD-MAX PAPER ABSTRACT
# ONE-PAGE-MAX ACADEMIC RESUME
# Indicate willingness to serve as a session MODERATOR and/or DISCUSSANT
# Whether, if accepted, you will need a US visa to attend the conference.
Kindly save the above in NO MORE THAN 2 PAGES TOTAL in A WORD FILE and name your file as: Your last name in capital letters, a hyphen, followed by your first name
(e.g. if your name is 'Vadim Sharapov', your 2-page Word application should be named: SHARAPOV-Vadim.doc). As the Subject of your email type: 'MECA 2006 Proposal'. Applications should be sent no later than March 31, 2006 to:
Middle-East@utah.edu or Central-Asia@utah.edu
Note that the Conference Committee is unable to provide for participants' travel and lodging expenses. Participants are expected to seek funding from their own institutions. For overseas participants whose paper proposals have been approved, we will send official letters necessary for acquiring entry visas into the United States. All participants will be required to pay a conference participation fee of $65 (and a late fee of up to $100) with due dates to be given out in a later time.
Other important information including due dates and suggested lodging venues will be forthcoming. Updates will also be included in the conference website:
http://www.utah.edu/meca
BOOKS, EXHIBITS, ADVERTISING: If you are a publisher or organization and would like to reserve exhibition space at the conference or if you would like to purchase an advertisement for publication in the conference program booklet, please contact us at the email addresses above or the telephone number: +1-801-856-7031
[sursa e-nass]
