Moldova 2024
IPSA COLLOQUIUM MAY 28-31, 2024
Challenges of Plural Societies
Organised by the RC14 Politics & Ethnicity in Collaboration with
RC23-Elections, Citizens and Parties, RC28-Comparative Federalism and Multilevel Governance, RC 50- The Politics of Language and RC53-Indigenous Politics and the ECPR Standing Group "Identity"
Hosted by the Faculty of International Relations, Political and Administrative Sciences,
Moldova State University, Chișinău, Moldova
You will find up-to-date specific information under the following links:
registration @@ travel info @@ local info @@ programme @@ FAQ
This colloquium brings together a number of IPSA research committees to examine in conversation with one another the challenges faced by ethnically plural societies in the context of challenging regional environments and increasing polarisation associated with “culture wars” at the domestic and international levels.
We are delighted to have confirmd Prof Zsuzsa Csergo (Queen's University KIngston) as our keynote speaker.
The final deadline for the electronic submission of paper and panel proposals has been extended until February 10 2024. Notices of acceptance will be sent out the week of February 19 2024. Proposals should be submitted online at: https://form.jotform.com/tagarin/ipsa-colloq-moldova-2024
The colloquium will provide an opportunity to examine the role of different actors operating in the international environment (e.g., kin-states, regional international organisations, international non-governmental groups, economic and financial lobbies etc) on domestic political dynamics (e.g. electoral, policy evolution, interstate agreements, indigenous and minority rights, initiatives for peace and democratic stability etc), actors (e.g. political and societal elites, state institutions, bureaucracies, civil service, etc) and expectations about accommodation of identities around which societies tend to cleave (such as ethnicity, gender, class, rural/urban divides, etc).
We are hopeful that location of colloquium in Moldova will encourage participants to reflect on the decade-long experiences and causes for set-backs in postcommunist democratization in the context of domestic dissent and separatism, regional challenges, and global trends redrawing perceptions about the limits of self-determination, as well as accommodation of autochthonous & indigenous communities. We welcome contributions that focus on management of diversity before, during and after conflicts as an open-ended process, pushed by internal dynamics but reflective of multiple external factors, embedded in regional and/or global dynamics of social, economic, political and legal legacies of the past.
The Coloquium will be convened in Chișinău at the time when the country begins the negotiations about the EU accession, the step that would have seemed unlikely at the beginning of 2022. The hybrid threats affecting the local and regional political dynamics, heightened tensions in society during the past and upcoming presidential (autumn 2024) and parliamentary (2025) elections. Additionally, political prospects of the presently isolated, ethnic autonomous region of Gagauzia remain unresolved. Particularly, this complex and historic process of future-proofing political institutions to bridge the gap between the segments of Moldovan society divided by multiple cleavages: of (geo)political orientation, language, ethnicity, religion; poverty, ability and mobility. The conflict in Ukraine and the EU accession process have a potential to impact the future settlement process of the protracted conflict in the Transnistrian region of Moldova.
In particular, we welcome proposals that reflect upon the role international environment might play in sustainable consolidation of democratic institutions, principles and practices in Moldova and across the globe. Given the proximity of the country hosting the colloquium to the conflict in Ukraine, we also welcome proposals that develop case studies and offer comparison of challenges to democratic consolidation in any part of the world where regional tensions and violence might preclude more open-ended approach to designing and applying institutional and constitutional designs for ethnically, religiously, nationally and linguistically divided societies.
Following previous successful RC14-led events in Nicosia (2017), Sarajevo (2019), Kingston (2022) and Belfast (2023), the conference will be held in Chişinău, Moldova, giving ample opportunity for reflection on implications of the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine, the politics of refugee flows, secession and de facto and partially recognised states such as Transnistria, and the commitment of international peace and democracy builders to democratic consolidation of societies served by institutions of a sovereign and internationally recognised state. We welcome proposals that develop case studies or compare issues in ethnic politics – broadly defined – in this or other parts of the world addressing the following concerns,
· What is the future of structures of government that have previously been favoured in deeply divided societies, such as political and/or consociational power-sharing? Are such constitutional settlements up to the task of enabling states to tackle the multiple socio-economic and environmental crises the world faces?
· What impact does the global wave of populism and “culture wars” have on political relations in ethnically diverse states?
· How do international conflicts including the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas war impact on domestic inter-ethnic relations in those countries, in neighbouring states and challenge the perceptions of “interethnic conflict” elsewhere?
· What does the future of international recognition hold for de facto states? This is particularly following the Azerbaijani engagement in Nagorno-Karabakh; inclusion of Crimea into Russia, stalemate in negotiations of the future of shared polity in Cyprus.
· What is the role of the intersection between elections/parties and ethnic politics such as the effect of ethnicity on vote choice, the performance of ethnic minority candidates in elections, the scapegoating of ethnic minorities in election campaigns, the role of ethnicities in the messaging of populist parties, and the link between ethnicity and ever- increasing political polarisation?
We invite proposals for individual paper contributions and/or panels that engage empirically, conceptually and normatively with these issues. The Colloquium will have an in-person and an online component, presenters are invited to submit a paper for either streams. We welcome both full panel proposals as well as single paper proposals.
Our aim is to feature the best of contemporary research on post-conflict politics in all its forms, including new research by established academics as well as by early career scholars.
Proposals for papers should include contact details of the author(s), title and an abstract of no more than 200 words.
Panel proposals must include: A minimum of three papers and a maximum of four; Contact details for all paper-givers, the discussant and chair; The panel title and a short description of the panel (no more than 200 words); Individual paper titles and short abstracts (no more than 200 words each).