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May 03, 2012
CFP Conference: Competition and Good Society - the Eastern Model
Extended Deadline: May 15, 2012
The Aleksanteri Conference is an annual, multidisciplinary, international conference organised by the Aleksanteri Institute, the Finnish Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies, affiliated with the University of Helsinki. Aleksanteri Conferences have attracted broad interest among researchers and policy-makers in a wide variety of disciplines, both in Finland and abroad, interested in the development of post-socialist countries. The 12th Aleksanteri Conference will take place October 24-26, 2012 at the University of Helsinki.
The link between competition and good society has seldom been extensively discussed on any international academic forum. Since the 1980s there has been vivid political discussion of and rivalry among the varieties of capitalist models. The ongoing Western economic crisis with political decision-makers’ discord, a growing sense of social insecurity and global demonstrations all point out how cutting-edge this topic is. Hence, we aim to discuss competition and competitiveness not primarily in the economic context but, more importantly, in reflection to societal life. We are interested in what kind of preconditions competition creates for welfare, social justice, equality and culture, in addition to how competition affects changes on the level of mentality and ideas – subjects that have been greatly neglected.
The purpose of the 12th Aleksanteri Conference is to generate academic research and discourse on this subject. The focus of the conference is on the Eastern angle. Its aim is to discuss how people in Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, and even further in the East in Central Asia and China understand the preconditions of a good society and what role competition plays in it as well as how competition is reflected in the semantic systems and the cultural structures of these countries. Especially the area that faced the enormous task of building a new social system after the collapse of socialism had to redefine its relation to market forces, competitiveness and social well-being. What are the experiences of this societal development after twenty years? Are the Eastern models divergent or convergent with the varieties of Western capitalism? What are the norms, limitations and practices of competition in the diverse Eastern models? How has the understanding of competition changed after the Second World War? Can we find continuities of ideas, practices or mentalities rooted in the communist past and Cold War period that still affect these issues?
We call for contributions from a wide range of disciplines in social sciences and humanities since the aim is a fruitful interdisciplinary discourse.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE AND DEADLINES
Proposals for panels (500 words): May 15th, 2012
Abstracts for individual papers (300 words): May 15th, 2012
Notification of acceptance: May 31st, 2012
Publication of the conference programme: June 30th, 2012
Conference: October 24-26th, 2012
For more information including submission forms, see http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/conference2012/.
Posted by bkohlerk at May 3, 2012 01:55 PM