Conference Announcement: 6th Global Conference: Ethics, Evil and the State
via PSRT-L:
6th Global ConferenceEthics, Evil and the State
Sunday 6th May-- Tuesday 8th May 2012Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:Ethics, evil and the state is an interdisciplinaryproject that seeks to interrogate issuessurrounding the relationship between the state,the concept of evil and alternative ways ofthinking about the state,
including challenging the very idea of itsexistence. The idea of the state is continuouslyopen to question and challenge: what alternativesmight be put into practice? What is therelationship of the idea of the state and that ofgovernment? Perhaps the idea of linking theconcept of evil with the state is problematic, yetthe capacity for power to corrupt and thepromotion of sovereign self-interest over that ofa community is frequently encountered in manyforms of government. Does it make sense to speakof the state as a force for evil? Are there betterways of conceiving of social organisation beyondstatist conceptions of politics, considering thepossibility of its abolition, or a move toregionalisation and localisation? Perspectives aresought from those engaged in any field relevant tothe study of political science communication,journalism, critical media, policy, history, legalstudies, philosophy, theology, cultural theory,media studies, sociology, peace studies, government,law/legal studies, justice, psychology and otherareas. Contributions are also encouraged that lookto alternative and experimental ideasconcerning the state, in the form of shortabstracts for presentations or proposals foraction-workshop sessions.
Papers, reports, work-in-progress and workshopsare invited on issues relating, but not restrictedto the following themes:
* Is the state a necessary construction? * Is the state necessarily evil? Is the state a power for good? * The legitimisation of authority. * The state and elitism. * The state and policing. * Is federalism the answer to the dissolution of the nation-state? * Anarchism as a viable solution. * Legitimate and illegitimate protest. * Rioting, looting and banking * The state and oppression * Alternative forms of government. * The 'Arab Spring' * Real communities. * The state and violence.
Papers will also be considered on any relatedtheme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted byFriday 4th November 2011. If an abstract isaccepted for the conference, a full draft papershould be submitted by Friday 9th March 2012.
300 word abstracts should be submittedsimultaneously to both Organising Chairs;abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTFformats with the following information and in thisorder:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d)title of abstract, e) body of abstract, f) up to10 keywords. E-mails should be entitled: EthicalLiving Abstract Submission.
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstainfrom using footnotes and any special formatting,characters or emphasis (such asbold, italics or underline). Please note that aBook of Abstracts is planned for the end of theyear. All accepted abstracts will be included inthis publication. We acknowledge receipt andanswer to all paper proposals submitted. Ifyou do not receive a reply from us in a week youshould assume we did not receive your proposal; itmight be lost in cyberspace! We suggest,then, to look for an alternative electronic routeor resend.
Organising ChairsNiall ScottInternational School for Communities Rights andInclusions,Philosophy SectionUniversity of Central LancashirePreston, United KingdomEmail: nwrscott@uclan.ac.uk
Rob FisherNetwork Founder and LeaderInter-Disciplinary.NetFreeland, Oxfordshire,United KingdomEmail: ees6@inter-disciplinary.net
The conference is part of the At the Interfaceprogramme of research projects. It aims to bringtogether people from different areas andinterests to share ideas and explore variousdiscussions which are innovative and exciting. Allpapers accepted for and presented at theconference will be eligible for publication in anISBN eBook. Selected papers may be developed forpublication in a themed hard copy volume(s).
For further details of the project, please visit:http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/evil/evil-law-the-state/
For further details of the conference, please visit:http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/evil/evil-law-the-state/call-for-papers/
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is anot-for-profit network and we are not in aposition to be able to assist with conferencetravel or subsistence.
