Eurasia and silk road in glocal perspective

Conference venue: Cambridge, UK
Period: 3 May 2016
Deadline for submitting abstracts: 4 April 2016

Cambridge Central Asia Forum and Centre for Development Studies of the University of Cambridge in conjunction with VerusScript Publishers are organising a workshop titled ‘Eurasia and Silk Road in Glocal Perspective’. This workshop will consider global and local aspects of Eurasian regional projects. We invite papers which consider the processes unfolding in greater Eurasian space in the view of the recently-launched projects of Eurasian Economic Union and Silk Road Economic Belt. Papers with sectoral or sub-regional focus that engage with below broader themes of Eurasian research are welcome.

The papers will consider how elites of Eurasian regional project envisage the role of Eurasia in a global perspective. In particular, the papers will consider local elites relate the concept of Eurasia to the artefacts of today’s globalized world. The papers will look into the question of what kind of relations the idea of Eurasia/Silk Road envisages for such concepts as modernity, nation, state, and international development; notions of diplomacy and soft power will feature here. We are particularly interested in discussing how the proposed Eurasian area will fit into the world economic and political system.

We invite papers which will consider if and how the countries of Eurasia act as one actor in their interaction with the structures of global governance. The papers will trace how policy-makers of these regions build relations with structures of global governance (WTO, World Bank, EBRD, IMF) and other regional blocs (EU, Latin America, ASEAN, BRICS). The papers will consider the question of what kind of relations between the different actors is possible as well as imaginable.

Eurasia is often depicted as an entity stretching and striving from the East to the West. The panel will consider an often ignored axis of North/South relationship given strong interests of various regional powers. The panel will address this issue by inviting papers which would outline views towards Eurasian countries by such countries as Turkey, Iran, India, Middle East and Gulf States.

Interested applicants are invited to submit 300-word abstract together with their short bio to the e-mail caf@devstudies.cam.ac.uk by 4 April 2016. The workshop will be held on 3 May 2016 in Cambridge. Selected papers will be invited for review for publication in the inaugural issues of Cambridge Journal of Eurasian Studies.