 |
 |
International Academic Conference
PEACE & STATE
BUILDING THE FUTURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST
October 31, 2018
Moscow, 2 Petrovskie Linii, Hotel Budapest, Golitsyn Hall
On October 31, 2018 the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences will host an international academic conference ‘Peace & State — Building the Future of the Middle East’ commemorating the 200th anniversary of its establishment. The event will be organized in partnership with the Center for Security and Development Studies at the School of World Politics of the Lomonosov Moscow State University.
The political transformation of the Middle East is entering a new stage. The period of deconstruction through conflict and existential crisis gives way to the era of reconstruction and a constructive quest for new identity and foundations.
Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Iraq, and other Arab countries face a common challenge — choosing a new model of development which will ensure the optimal balance between the requirements for modern statehood and the imperatives of political stability, between universal values and local cultural traditions, between aspirations of a strengthening civil society and interests of the elites. The Middle Eastern nations give extremely diverse answers to the unique challenges they have been facing lately. External actors — both regional and extra-regional — also play a significant role in these developments. All of them contribute to the non-linear processes of political transformation in one way or another — through direct military interventions, diplomatic initiatives or aid programs. External and domestic factors interact, revealing more and more trade-offs between state formation, state-building, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction.
The exploration of this problematique requires bringing together scholars of various academic backgrounds, both theorists and practitioners. The goal of this conference is to create a space for a candid dialogue and exchange opinions on these issues.
The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences is one of the world’s leading research centers specializing in studying the area that stretches from North Africa’s western coast to the islands of the Pacific Ocean over a period of time reaching from antiquity to the present day.
The Center for Security and Development Studies at the School of World Politics of the Lomonosov Moscow State University is a center of gravity for the Eurasian segment of the ever-expanding international community of scholars and practitioners eager to understand the whole spectrum of security-development linkages.
