International Workshop on “Island Independence Parties in an age of European integration and globalization”, 08-10 September

International Workshop on “Island Independence Parties in an age of European integration and globalization”

Co-Convenors: Dr Eve Hepburn (Edinburgh) and Prof. Godfrey Baldacchino (University of Prince Edward Island)

This workshop brings together the world’s leading island studies scholars and European island independence party activists and parliamentarians to discuss the prospects of independence for subnational island jurisdictions (SNIJs) in an age of supranational integration and globalization. Current events indicate that the aspirations of colonies to independence for securing freedom and self-determination is grinding to a halt; the rationale for independence, if at all, is increasingly driven by pragmatic and economic arguments. This project explores whether ‘independence’ is still a credible or attractive goal for island movements, or whether they are seeking new forms of autonomy, shared sovereignty and interdependence with a benevolent (state or supranational) patron in an age of deepening European integration and globalization.

Dates
The workshop will be held over 3 days: beginning at 12:30pm on Thursday 8 September and ending at 1pm on Saturday 10 September.

Venue
Days 1 & 2 of the workshop (8-9 September) will take place in Room
1.11 of the University of Edinburgh Library in George Square.
Day 3 (10 September) will be held in the Raeburn Room, Old College.

Booking
Participation in this workshop is free. However, places are limited, so if you wish to attend, please contact Lindsay Adams (Lindsay.adams@ed.ac.uk).

Sponsorship
This workshop has been generously funded by the Jean Monnet Centre for Excellence at the Europa Institute, University of Edinburgh, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, the Madison Trust and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Contributors

The workshop will feature contributions by: Eve Hepbur; Godfrey Baldacchino;  Alasdair Allan MSP; Jerome L McElry;  J. Barry Bartmann; Stephen Levine; Nathalie Mrgudovic; Peter Clegg; André Fazi; Bjarne Lindström; Britt Cartrite; Høgni Hoyda;  Franciscu Sedda; Michael Keating; David Milne.

A draft programme is available from Lindsay Adams (Lindsay.adams@ed.ac.uk).

 

 

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Kemoklidze …. new Working Paper in Nationalism Studies

The latest entry in our ongoing Working Papers in Nationalism Studies series is now available.

Nino Kemoklidze graduated with distinction from our MSc programme in November 2006 as we are very pleased to present her dissertation as WPiNS number 6:

Nationalism and War: Georgia in the 1990s

The causes and effects of nationalism in the violent conflicts within the former Soviet space have long been a topic of hot debate among scholars of social sciences. In ethnically heterogeneous places like the Balkans and the Caucasus, many tend to blame the outbreak of military confrontations on the intrinsic cultural differences between the different ethnic groups. In this dissertation, however, I argue against this notion and try to demonstrate that labelling these conflicts as ‘ethnic’ is mistaken altogether. The question of why inter- and intra-ethnic conflicts turned violent in Georgia in early 1990s is intrinsically linked to how ethnicity has been constructed, institutionalised, and politicised during Soviet rule. Based on observation of these events and on interviews conducted with the political and military elite of Georgia, as well as close examination of the available documentary material and other sources in Georgian, Russian, and English languages, I further outline three major factors that have played a decisive role in linking nationalism and war in the case of Georgia: institutions, elites, and the Russia factor.

 

You can access the paper here:

 

http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/69218/Kemoklidze_WPiNS_6.pdf

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