The present state in the construction of Eurasia is proving a challenge for analysts. Given the fast pace of this construction, from a Europe Asia Meeting (ASEM) since 1996 to a Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) since 2015 (a Eurasian Economic Community was formed in the 1990s) and now the more applied cross-continental Land New Silk Road since the same key period, 2013-2015 (Ukraine’s crisis and US/NATO announced withdrawal from Afghanistan), it seems that diplomatic decisions and interstate practical schemes exceed the capacity of observers to conceptualise quickly enough what is happening. Yet, all the while, Eurasia is experiencing a mix of centripetal evolutions at its peripheries, and a launch of its centrifugal potentials from the core of Eurasia : Russia and Central Asia.

General purpose

Such a challenge affects the present series of international conferences, leading them to evolve from a dual European and Asian ‘perspective in comparison’ to a Eurasian “prism”. Even if such a prism must be at the same time both utilised and defined, which creates tensions in “epistemological feasibility”. Thus, from a first edition devoted to the (now classic) issue of the institutionalisation of regions (published as a book Institutionalising Regions in French in France), to a second edition devoted to the policies of regional cooperation (published as a book Régions, Institutions, Politiques in English in France), to a third focusing on the competition among regions (published as a book Concurrences Interrégionales in French in Belgium), to a fourth probing into the limits of regions (published as a Journal issue in English in Mongolia), a fifth asking whether regions can really understand each other (published as several Journal issues in English and French in Mongolia and Romania), this series of international conferences opted naturally for a Eurasian focus, merging, as to formalism, the words Europe and Asia into one -Eurasia- and, as to methodology and epistemology, suggesting comparative approaches of the present re-emergence of a continent around a Chinese-Russian-European-Turkish paradigm (Cf. Dagenais, Eurasie et puissance de la Chine, 2020).

The sixth and seventh editions thus dealt respectively with Eurasian flows across borders (published as a 2018 book Cross-Border Exchanges in English in Belgium) and on changing Eurasian values (published as a 2020 book Evolving Regional Values and Identities in English in Belgium). It seems that the time is right for (re)-appraising a “continent se faisant”.

Conference Topics

For its 8th edition, in May 2022, under the ambitious topic of The Completion of Eurasia, probably better phrased with a “?” as The Completion of Eurasia in the Face of Pressing Challenges ?, the present conference explores a concentration of diverse - yet equally pressing - issues to be grouped into the following clusters and specific sessions, chaired by a blend of academics, practitioners and well-established analysts within the international community especially in its inter-continental meaningfulness : 

1- Organisational and diplomatic competition

Chair :

• Richard Balme, IEP-CEE, Paris
• Kuralay Baizakova, KazNU, Almaty

2- Logistical/infrastructural challenges, water management, etc

Chair :

• Vassort-Rousset, Cerdap2, Grenoble
• Nosgoi Altantsetseg, NUM, Mongolia

3- Grasping the concept of Eurasia in academia

Chair :

• Ikram Sehgal / Yves Manville, Islamabad
• Lucie France Dagenais, UQAM

4- Making sense of historic turns from 1991 to 2021

Chair :

- Sebastian Santander, Liège University

- Sébastien Peyrouse, Washington

Submission guidelines

Proposals to be sent before 15th December 2021- approved by 30th January 2021

Accepted papers in academic English must be sent before 30th March 2022 to : pierrechabal@yahoo.fr

A selection of the conference papers will be published by the Presses Universitaires de Bruxelles or by Peter Lang International Scientific Editions.

Working language : English

Papers must respect the following :

• TNR 12 / spacing 1,5 / skip a line between paragraphs / maximum 25.000 signs all inclusive
• no automatic numbering of sections, or paragraphs !
• automatic numbering of footnotes / (footnotes ! not endnotes ! / no end bibliography !)

Particular attention needed for documentary referencing as a criterion for accepting papers.

No extension will be granted. Organisers must send the edited book manuscript to the publisher by June to ensure publication in 2022. Only best papers will be published as a selection.

Scientific committee

• Chabal Pierre, MdC HDR, Université du Havre, France
• Baizakova Kuralay, Professeure, Université Nat. Kazakhe, Kazakhstan
• Alix Yann, Dr, SEFACIL, France
• Muratalieva Nargiza, Dr, Académie OSCE, Kirghizstan

Confirmed participants

44 participants from 19 countries

France (universities Le Havre, Poitiers / Sefacil Foundation)

• Philippe Gast Session 3. Eurasia: complementarity of historical visions, competition of geo-cultural projects or conflict of powers today ?
• Béatrice MajzaSession 2. Developing Eurasia : China’s cooperative contexts and infrastructures
• Yann Alix Session 2. Enhanced “silky’ transport-lanes in the renewed Eurasia
• Philippe Lagrange Session 2. The protection of migrants in Eurasian contexts
• Pierre Chabal Session 3. Who can pretend to make sense of a still-to-be-defined Eurasia ?

Kazakhstan (universities KazNU, KazNTU, Gumilëv)

• Kuralay Baizakova Session 1 Preventing threats of terrorism and religious extremism in Central Asia: the experience of European countries
• Fatima Kukeyeva Session 1 Foreign policies in transition : Kazakhstan’s relations with Eurasian partners
• Zhulduz Baizakova Session 4 Central Asian connectivity to Eurasia through the prism of the Afghan conundrum
• Klara MakashevaSession 3 The EAEU as practical Implementation of the neo-Eurasian concept in post-soviet space
• Kairat Bekov Session 2 The political effects of broadband satellite internet for Russia and China as Eurasian powers
• Asiya Kuzembayeva Session 3 Building Eurasia while fostering a ‘youth policy’ between the EU and Central Asia
• Gulnara BaikushikovaSession 2 Cooperating over water in Eurasia : joint initiatives of the EU and Central Asia
• Duman Zhekenov Session 3 A New Enlightenment for Central Asian countries : theoretical perspectives on Eurasia
• Saniya NurdavletovaSession 1 China’s “BRI Soft Power” towards Kazakhstan and other neighbours as a means to enhance regional security
• Aliya AkatayevaSession 1. Reciprocal challenges for the SCO and Eurasia in mutual globalisation

Russia (MGIMO and Higher School of Economics)

• Andrey Kazantsev Session 4 Central Asia and northern Afghanistan: interaction between economic and security spheres : consequences for Eurasia

Hungary (Comenius university)

• Aigul Kazhenova Session 4 Making sense of CA regional cooperation (CA Forum) in the new Eurasian realities (Afghanistan, EAEU …)

Italy (Bocconi university)

• Aida Serikova Session 2. The efficiency of international aid as a means of development of CA 

Turkey (CIRP, Istanbul)

• Esra LaGro Session 4 The consequences for Eurasia and Turkey of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan ; Session 3 Competing and converging interests of Russia and Turkey as regional powers: what next ?

Canada (UQAM)

• Lucie France Dagenais Session 3. Le remodelage de l’espace eurasiatique dans la mondialisation

PR China (universities of Fudan/Shanghai - Xiamen)

• Bin Ma (Shanghai) Session 2 The role of the Chinese local gvt in the BRI infrastructural connectivity as a key to the China Railway Express: what interviews with practitioners suggest
• Lu Xia (Xiamen) Session 1The impact of the structure of regional power and governance on the US post-cold war regional policies in Eurasia

Estonia (Tartu university / SciencesPo-LSE)

• Anniki Mikelsaar (tbc) Session 1 Strengthening the security of New Asia’s northwest: the case of Belarus?
• Heidi MaibergSession 2 Conceptual differences in understanding ‘de-radicalisation’: case studies from Europe and China
• Alevtina Solovyeva Session 3 Folk beliefs, historical memories and transnational stereotypes in depicting the cross-border unity of Mongolian communities in Eastern Eurasia (Mongolia, Russia, China)

Mongolia (National University, Ulaanbaatar)

1. Bayasakh Session 1. Northeast Asia’s construction in Eurasia and Mongolia’s structural contribution
2. Altantsetseg Session 2. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Mongolia and China : Ulaanbaatar’s Eurasian policy in relation to the Silk Road
3. Enkhtsetseg Session 3. The Idea of Eurasia : historic connections and consequences for Mongolia
4. Turtogtokh Session 2 Election participation during the 2020 pandemic lockdown: comparing local and national elections in Mongolia, South Korea and Germany 

Romania (university of Galati)

• Violeta PuscasuSession 3 Eurasia as a ‘multi-speed’ concept – a geographical approach 

Kyrgyzstan (university kyrgyz-russian / AUCA)

• Jildiz NicharapovaSession 1 How membership of a Eurasian organisation affects sub-regional actors : the case of Kyrgyzstan in the EAEU

How a Eurasian organisation constraints members into regional compliance : the case of the EAEU over Central Asian members (Kz, Kg)

• Nargiza MuratalievaSession 1. Central Asian perceptions of the Chinese factor in and over Eurasia
• Yekaterina Kassymova Session 1 Building Central Eurasia “softly” from the peripheries : Russia and China “in” Kyrgyzstan

Uzbekistan (Contemporary History Center of Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan / UWED)

• Mirzohid Rakhimov Session 1 Multilateral relations in CA: perspectives on the CA Consultative Forum
• Akram UmarovSession 4 The Regional security complex in CA after the 2021 Taliban return to power in Afghanistan 

United States (Washington university)

• Sébastien Peyrouse Session 1. Chinese Soft Power and Central Asia-PRC relations in the BRI

Poland (Warsaw university)

• Aleksandra Jarczewska Session 4 - Beyond Afghanistan - in search of a rationale for the US withdrawal and its implications for American policy in the Eurasia region.

- Beyond Afghanistan - United States policy toward the Euro-Asian region amidst intensifying rivalries

- In search of a rationale: the implication of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan for Washington’s policy in the Eurasian region amidst intensifying rivalries

Pakistan (Embassy / university)

• Yves Manville Session 4. The Caucasus and Eurasia: a continent in the making
• Ikram Sehgal Session 3. Towards a contemporary Eurasian identity ? 

Afghanistan

• Farkhunda NaderiSession 4. When Afghanistan ‘turns’ : short Vs long-term history 

India (PhD, Jawaharlal Nehru University)

• Dildora KhodjaevaSession 1.3. Cultural diplomacy : building bridges between Central and South Asia
• Sana Hashmi (tbc)  Session 2. Water issues in contemporary Eurasia 

Guinea

Boubacar Diallo Session 2 On regional military capacity : comparing Central Asia with West Africa

Organization

• Lexfeim research centre / Sefacil Foundation, France
• Department of IR, Al-Farabi Kazakh National Faculty, Kazakhstan

In collaboration with :

• Asia Centre, University of Tartu, Estonia / Uwed, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Practicalities

The venue of the conference is Le Havre University main campus, near the train-station, in the building of the Faculty of International Affairs. 25 rue Philippe Lebon, one tramway stop from the train-station but within easy walking range.

As common practice in all previous editions,

i/ conference participants shall cover the costs of their passage to France/Le Havre;

ii/ conference organisers will cover accommodation for three nights (Novotel), meals from the dinner on the 10th evening to the breakfast of the 13th morning, and local transport, as well as publication of a book.