THE ANNUAL SEMINAR
Nations, States and the Transformation of Boundaries
August 16-September 17,
2021
&
August 22-September 23, 2022
Washington, D.C.
Thematic Description
We may say that there are two fundamental histories of
nationalism. One is the history of peoples struggling to be free
from the domination of a stronger neighbor, a colonial power to
achieve their self-governing and sovereign status as nations in
their own right. The other is the history of many instances in
which nationalism is expressed in terms of tribal and civil
conflicts, such as the two major European Civil Wars in
1914-1918 and 1939-1945. After World War II, ethnic conflicts
have been tragically present in the Balkans and in Cyprus,
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Israel and Palestine, Iran and
Iraq, India and Pakistan, Nigeria or Syria, just to mention a
few.
History also registers events such as the Peace of Westphalia in
1648, the Vienna Congress of 1815, the creation of the Society
of Nations after World War I and the founding of the United
Nations immediately after World War II. The annals of the world
have witnessed the processes of the establishment of the
European Union, the creation of the Organization of African
Unity, the intergovernmental forum of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation, etc., some of the major international organizations
express their attempts to overcome the principle of unlimited
state sovereignty. Limited sovereignty is indeed in the order of
the day, even when the idea of the world government might
be dismissed as either utopian or undesirable. Peoples and
nations are called to embrace systems of governance that go
beyond unlimited sovereignty. A peaceful world demands states
that are not just well-governed but also constitutionally
recognize the limits of their strict autonomy; as well as states
that are willing to engage in peaceful cooperation with others.
Since the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for
example, the world is well aware of the need to bring nations
into acceptance of policing structures and an effective
enforcement of justice among nations. Indeed, a major imperative
of our time remains the avoidance of a nuclear war, and
consequently the need to implement systems of governance capable
of containing the indiscriminate proliferation of arms of
mass-destruction.
The goal of the seminar is, thus, to promote a sustained
research on political realities, such as nations and state,
ethnicity and identity, nationalism and cosmopolitanism. In line
with some of Charles Taylor’s intuitions, the seminar will
pursue a better and more effective understanding of those
“imagined communities” that are at the origin of the modern
nation-states. Issues concerning power and political cohesion,
law of the state and the people, the meaning of borders and the
conditions for international cooperation will be at the center
of the proceedings. The seminar will also analyze what Taylor
describes as the “shift from hierarchical, mediated-access
societies to horizontal, direct-access societies,” but also
illuminate some of the mechanisms that determine the life of the
citizen within the modern state. In the pre-modern stage
citizens tended to operate as embedded in “translocal entities”
and in dependence of some higher power; while a citizen in the
modern state is to live integrated in a common space defined by
“action in secular time” (Taylor). The investigation will focus
on both the formation and consolidation of the nation-state and
how new forms of state-building and international governance
might transform the system of political order based on the idea
of sovereign nations into something more adequate to the
(ethical) demands of our global era.
The seminar thematic can be categorized as the
following: State and Nation: State and Constitution;
State and Civil Society; The Sovereignty of State and People;
State and the Rule of Law; State and Violence; The Democratic
State; Political Cultures and the Formation of Nations; The
Totalitarian State; Christianity and the State; Islam and the
State; Judaism and Zionism; State and Nation in German
Idealism. Nationalism:
Nationalism and Ethnicity; Nationalism and the power of
Ideologies; Nationalism and the Role of Religion; Nationalism(s)
and Democracy; Romantic Nationalism; Marxism and Nationalist
Questions. Laws and Justice:
International Public Law; Boundaries and Natural Law; Civil and
Political Justice; Just and un-just Wars; War and Peace;
National Conflict and Global Solidarity. Cultures:
Ethnos and Polis; Cultural Perspectives on Ethnicities and
Nations; Humanitarian Intervention; Races, Cultures and
State-Formation; Trans-National Political Formations;
Confucianism and Issues of Governance and the Role of
Boundaries.
Methodology
This annual seminar will proceed with the following
characteristics:
1. A maximum of 15 scholars from different countries around the
world will be selected to take part in the Seminar.
2. As
an interdisciplinary and intercultural initiative, the seminar
shall draw not only upon contemporary capabilities of various
realms of humanities and social sciences but also from the
richness of cultural traditions represented by seminar
participants.
3.
The duration of the Seminar will be 5 weeks (August 16 to
September 17, 2021) and participants will be asked to be present
for the entire five weeks in order to develop a well-integrated
community of research, as participants are encouraged to
practice mutual understanding in order to achieve lasting forms
of academic friendship and cooperation.
4. Seminar
participants will present their well-developed papers in the
last week of the seminar. Papers should focus in a rigorous and
innovative manner on the theme of the seminar. The final version
of the paper must reflect in an adequate manner the readings and
discussions to be held during the seminar in order to be
considered for publication.
Application for Participation
Due to the pandemic that started in early Spring 2020,
the 2020 annual seminar had to be postponed to 2021. However,
the current situation is still unclear. After a careful
deliberation and consideration, the seminar committees decided
that the 2021 seminar will be held online as the preparation of
the 2022 in-person seminar. Those, who would like to apply for
the 2021/2022 seminar with the required application material and
who will be accepted, will be qualified to come to Washington to
attend the 2022 in-person seminar.
The online sessions in 2021 will take place on Mondays
(August 16, 23, 30 and September 6, 13), 9.00am-12.00noon
(Washington DC Time). These 5 online sessions will focus on the
assigned reading material related to the seminar thematic. The
2022 in-person seminar will have the same structure as previous
years (readings, discussions and paper presentations).
April 30, 2021 will be the deadline for the
submission of the seminar application by email to cua-rvp@cua.edu.
Notification of acceptance (or rejection) will be announced
May 15, 2021. Upon confirmation of
participation, a preliminary set of readings will be made
available for preparation.
The seminar will
be conducted in English. The 2022 in-person seminar will be held
at the RVP/MCSCV Seminar Room: Gibbons Hall B-12, 620 Michigan
Avenue, North East, Washington, D.C., 20064. Email:
cua-rvp@cua.edu; Telephone: 202/319-6089.
Seminar participants will be responsible for their own
travel expenses, health insurance and any other expenses. The
RVP/MCSCV will provide simple room and board for the accepted
participants during the period of the seminar.
Those who are interested in participating in the RVP
international seminar should email the following materials (Word
and/or PDF format):
1. CV
describing the applicant’s education, professional positions and
activities;
2. List of applicant’s publications;
3. Statement of interest and motivation to participate in the
seminar; and
4. Abstract
(300-500 words) of the research paper that the applicant intends
to present during the seminar and subsequently submit to RVP for
publication (a basic bibliography must be included).
