CfP "The Shanghai Cooperation Organization –Actor Of Conflict Prevention in Central Asia?”
Summer Academy in Yekaterinburg/ Russia, June 13 – 18 2009
Together with the Ural State University in Yekaterinburg and the Lectureship Program of the Robert
Bosch Foundation, the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg is inviting young scientists from
Central Asia, Russia, China and Germany to apply for the 2009 summer academy “The Shanghai
Cooperation Organization - Actor of conflict prevention in Central Asia?”, lasting from June 13
through 18.
- Theme -
This years summit conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is taking place in
Yekaterinburg/ Russia by the mid of June. The SCO, comprising Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan as well as China and Russia, was founded in June 2001 with the objective of fighting
extremism, terrorism and separatism and to provide for security and stability in the region of Central
Asia. This conference offers an adequate platform to discuss and analyze the role of the SCO in
terms of conflict prevention and management.
We are inviting young scientists from Central Asia, Russia and China as well as from Germany to
participate in the Summer Academy “The Shanghai Cooperation Organization - Actor of Conflict
Prevention in Central Asia?”, taking place in Yekaterinburg from 13th till 18th June – coinciding with
the SCO summit meeting – to discuss the potentials and perspectives of the SCO particularly with
regard to the stabilization in Central Asia.
The assumption, that regional cooperation can help to deal with conflicts and to promote their
solution is represented particularly by the EU and forms the basis of the summer university. Being
often dismissed on the part of Western states, on the regional level the SCO still represents the only
institutionalized semi-functioning cooperation structure in Central Asia.
For this reason, we are defining the SCO as a regional actor: The Summer University will discuss the
SCO’s possibilities in terms of conflict prevention as well as its constraints for the management of
conflicts, likewise determined by the organization’s comprehension of security and its respective
concepts.
How can conflict resolution in Central Asia look like? Which aspects should regional cooperation
involve in order to reduce potentials of escalation – and to what extent does the SCO match these
demands? What are the possibilities of the organization in Central Asia, which constraints does the
SCO face? To what extent does the organization itself promote tensions in the region? And on which
conditions might the SCO emerge as an actor of conflict prevention in Central Asia?
The summer university’s program combines interdisciplinary approaches with interactive working
methods. Lectures and short presentations of the participants with the notion of knowledge transfer
as well as phases of workshops and discussions on certain issues are to be part of the summer
university’s repertoire.
We’d like to invite young scientist from the SCO member states as well as from Germany, who are
doing research either on Central Asia and its conflicts or on the SCO.
We welcome papers that broadly address the following issues:
• Models of conflict analyses, theories of conflict resolution
• Areas of conflict in Central Asia (ecological dimension, religious-cultural dimension, governance, terrorism etc.)
• Regional cooperation in Central Asia (internal and external actors)
• Architecture of Central Asia’s security
• SCO: development, objectives, security concepts and instruments
• Perspectives of Central Asian States, Russia and China on the SCO
• Western perspectives on the SCO
• EU’s policy towards Central Asia
A publication of the papers and results of the summer academy is planned.
Currently we are applying for funding in order to bear the participants expenses.
If you wish to take part at the Summer Academy and present a paper, please email a short proposal
and a short biographical note to ivonne.bollow@gmx.net by April 25th 2009. The proposal shall be
written in the Word-format
For further information contact ivonne.bollow@gmx.net .
Organizers
Ivonne Bollow, Lector of the Robert Bosch Foundation, Yekaterinburg (www.bosch-stiftung.de)
August Pradetto, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg (www.hsu-hh.de)
Maria Guzikova, Ural State University, Yekaterinburg (www.usu.ru)
Ivonne Bollow
Lecturer of the Robert Bosch Foundation
Faculty of International Relations
Ural State University
Prospekt Lenina 51
620083 Ekaterinburg
