Conference organized by the Center for Eastern European Studies (CEES) at the University of Zurich in cooperation with the Department of World Politics and International Relation at the Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan
Venue and date: University of Zurich, March 10–11, 2022
Conference website: https://www.cees.uzh.ch/de/Veranstaltungen/Conferences.html
Description
The aim of this conference is to explore the EU’s role, interests, goals, and opportunities in the geopolitically complicated environment of its Eastern Neighborhood (comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine). Moreover, the conference looks into the foreign policy priorities of individual countries of the Eastern Neighborhood, and discuss challenges, problems as well as key areas of ongoing and potential collaboration with the EU. Additionally, the conference addresses great power politics in the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood region, in particular EU-Russian relations and its potential to develop a collaborative agenda in a shared neighborhood. The members of the conference will also analyze the Swiss experience in cooperating with the EU and discuss the potential applicability to the Eastern Neighborhood region. A separate panel is dedicated to the larger security and geopolitical implications resulting from the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh.
The paper proposals are invited to address the following issues:
1. EU foreign policy: The countries of the Eastern Neighborhood in Brussel’s agenda: This panel includes papers dealing with various aspect of EU policy towards the countries of the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood policy and Eastern Partnership Program.
2. Strategic security environment: The EU and great power competition: The panel encom-passes presentations addressing challenges resulting from great power competition in the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood, including but not limited to, the EU relations with China, and Turkey, as well studying the impact on transatlantic relations.
3. Russia and the EU: Building a collaborative future in the shared neighborhood: The panel addresses the current trends and problems EU-Russia relations, as well as the search for cooperative solutions in a shared neighborhood.
4. EU in the foreign policy agenda of the Eastern Neighborhood countries: The panel addresses the foreign policy priorities of individual countries of the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries and discuss key areas of ongoing and potential collaboration with the EU, as well as challenges and problems in these areas.
5. Mapping the EU’s role in protracted conflicts: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh: The panel en-compasses papers on the current stage and future perspectives around the Nagorno-Karabakh. Papers address the EU involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and the role of the EU in other conflict areas in the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood.
6. The EU-Swiss model of cooperation and its applicability in the Eastern Neighborhood: The panel introduces papers discussing the Swiss model of cooperation with the EU, and analyzing its potential applicability to EU–Eastern Neighborhood relations.
We invite papers from various disciplines that examine aspects of these challenges in an innovate way. While we welcome submissions on a broad range of possible topics and from all disciplinary approaches, we welcome proposals that make a contribution to the specific topics as outlined above. We appreciate proposals from senior as well as younger researchers from all over the world, but especially encourage PhD students and Postdocs from the countries of the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood to apply.
Proposals
We expect paper proposals to be about 600-800 words long, and to include a detailed discussion of how the paper fulfills the outlined requirements and whether and how it builds upon previous work by the author. Please submit your application in English and as a single PDF-file via Email (including an outline of your proposed paper, a CV and list of publications) by January 15, 2022 to: cees@hist.uzh.ch
For further enquiries, please contact:
Dr. Dunja Krempin
Coordinator, Center for Eastern European Studies (CEES)
Email: cees@hist.uzh.ch