Call for Papers - Sochi 2014: (Geo) political, economic and social dynamics

Conference venue: Brussels, ULB
Period: February 20-21, 2014
Deadline for submitting abstracts: October 14, 2013
Deadline for submitting full papers: January 10, 2014

The Olympic Winter Games 2014 will take place in Sochi, southern Russia. They are high-intensity geopolitical events and they present a highly stimulating case study to analyze different ongoing trajectories in the Caucasus and Russia. Beyond the event itself, there are that deserve scrutiny and consideration.

All major international events engender a series of security issues, wherever they take place; in the case of the 2014 Olympic Games, they take a particular dimension. Sochi is located a few kilometers from Abkhazia - which Russia recognized as independent after the 2008 Russo-Georgian war - and a few dozen kilometers from the protracted "street wars" that characterise some of the Republics of the North Caucasus in the wake of the two Chechen wars. The situation in Sochi is particularly tense: the threat made in the summer of 2013 by the warlord D. Umarov, prompting combatants in the North Caucasus to hinder the staging of the games, contributes to the increase of security concerns. At the same time, it reinforces the discursive construction of Sochi as a security issue. The security measures implemented in this area are considerable, given that the success of the Games is crucial for Russia in terms of its image on the international arena. Questions arise around the developments that the uprisings in the North Caucasus are undergoing; whether political agendas are decipherable; and how the Olympic Games fit in these dynamics. It seems also necessary to explore what are the strategies of the different actors regarding Sochi, how the Olympic Games upset the existing balance in the region, and how Georgian-Russian, Russian-Abkhaz, and Georgian-Abkhaz relations are changing as a consequence of the staging of this major event.

Another relevant approach to understand the different political and social phenomena in the region, and their relations with economic spheres, is through an economic perspective. Managing investments and infrastructure of this scale is generally a challenge, especially in a context where the increase of the overall budget of the Games has been associated with allegations of corruption and/or mismanagement, which the Russian authorities themselves denounced. This introduces the need for an analysis of the economic dynamics revolving around the Games, as well as for an investigation into the evolution of business practices and regional labor markets. Synergies with development projects of tourist resorts in the North Caucasus may become apparent, as well as repercussions on the local economy as a consequence of new migratory patterns and increasing workforce mobility brought about by the Games.

We can also call the attention on to an additional set of issues, including environmental movements, historical claims - staged mainly by Circassian organizations - as well as societal claims - the issue of sexual minorities has surfaced during the summer of 2013 - and social demands, which result from expulsions and problems of relocation. These elements show a Russian society in evolution from yet another angle. The question of how rights are used by civil society, and what are the repercussions and the results, connects Sochi to a wider framework of protest movements, whether elsewhere in Russia, in the Caucasus, or outside the former-Soviet Union. It is interesting to explore the relationship between the international visibility of the Games and their leading to new types of international solidarity, the repercussions that some movements may have abroad, as well as the links with the latest controversies on the international agenda. The visibility of national and ethnic mobilizations is, for example, less stark than that granted to the endeavors of sexual minorities. In fact, athletes themselves, as individuals and groups originating from beyond the local context, bring the focus on some issues, rather than others. This is just one of the occurrences when Russia is confronted with globalization, leading at times to unexpected consequences.

Finally a conference on the Olympic Games in Sochi is an opportunity to focus on the role of sports in various patriotic discursive constructions (Russian, Caucasian, in the wake of a Soviet legacy and the usage of sport as a political instrument through the production of successful athletes) and, through a micro-sociological approach, on the way sport embodies representations and traditions. Sports practices, which include socialization in sports teams and specificities of disciplines throughout the Caucasus, can be seen as indicative of sensitive social and political processes at work.

The conference aims to explore recent developments in the South and North Caucasus through a variety of disciplinary approaches in the social sciences – sociology, politics, public policy, geopolitics, economics and other fields – that can inform a complex and comprehensive understanding of the region.
We will welcome proposals on the following topics:

Papers should cover one or several of the themes or fields of research above. Priority will be given to papers focusing on concrete cases, original work stemming from fieldwork and observation of dynamics on the ground.

Proposals for communications should be sent before 14 October 2013 at the following address: Sochiulb@gmail.com . They may be written in English, French, or Russian. Please, send an abstract (about 500 words), specifying for which panel you would like to be considered, and a short CV (5 lines) including your latest publications. Answers will be sent by the organisation committee by 1 November 2013.

The deadline for submission of the accepted papers is 10 January 2014. The word limit is 5000 words.