Inter-disciplinary Conference on Human Rights

2019 Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Rights:

Key Moments of the 20^th Century and Their Legacy

Co-sponsored by

Anglo-American University and Norwich University

 Call for Papers

March 7-8, 2019

ORGANISERS

Anglo-American University, Prague, Czech Republic

Norwich University, Northfield Vermont, USA

VENUE

Anglo-American University, Letenská 5, Prague, Czech Republic

CONFERENCE WEB

https://www.aauni.edu/human-rights-conference-2019/

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

Conference organizers solicit inter-disciplinary papers and presentations from undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty. The theme of the conference, which all submissions are encouraged but do not have to address directly; will commemorate important dates in Central European human rights history.

In 1919, delegates at the Versailles Peace Conference drafted the Covenant of the League of Nations, the first parliament of nations in world history. In 1938, participants in the Munich Conference abandoned Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany, which in 1939 was violated by Nazi occupation and resulted in the most destructive war of 1939-1945. A decade later, a 1948 coup engineered by the Soviet KGB overthrew an elected government of Czechoslovakia and replaced it with a communist regime. The Prague Spring, an attempt to assert free speech and cultural expression, challenged communist rule of Czechoslovakia in 1968-1969 and foreshadowed a successful return to democracy twenty years later. In 1977 the European Communities representatives met in Helsinki with representatives of the Soviet block on a conference that opened the gate to respecting human rights in  Eastern Europe. A cascading chain of dissent led in 1989 to the peaceful democratic transition termed the Velvet Revolution, in the former Czechoslovakia. Emphasis on self-determination led soon to a division of the country into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.

We believe, that the complicated historical developments in Central European countries gives  strong reasons to turn the attention of academic community, and especially the young generation, to the seemingly distant (but  close) historical moments mentioned above. A better understanding of the recent past may help in interpreting current developments in politics and their consequences to the human rights movement. Thus, the goal of the conference is to apply the lessons from the past to recent developments in many countries.

This goal is important especially in the context of populism’s rise and the electoral success of parties that incline to authoritative and nationalistic policies. The rise of these policies and values is marked by the decline of public trust in democratic institutions. This is reflected not only on the rise of the populist radical-right parties but also in the salience of secessionist movements in established democracies. On the other side, the new democracies formed after 1989 have witnessed the slow and incremental erosion of democratic institutions as a result of the fear of terrorism, political violence, and linkage of politics with narrow economic interests. This erosion includes causes political apathy in the public, lack of political culture including misrepresentation and misleading information provided by politicians, a misuse of historical experience, ineffective coalition building, and the oppression of media and civil society. It seems the democratic momentum gained in the early stages of the post-Cold War has disappeared.  As a result of this emerging transnational wave of authoritarianism, of growing importance to derive lessons from the past to make sense of how and why this is happening across different contexts.

Conference will offer strong emphasis on feedback and discussion, moderated by expert chairpersons in various sessions.  The conference will aim at young scholars as well as student works - both in presentations and active discussions in special sessions.

The conference will also include experiential learning for students. One of the planned events will be a two-day Moot Court for students that will include competing teams from both organizing universities. The Moot Court will include external experts and will be open for conference attendants to become a part of audience.

Another feature of the conference will be Round Table on Roots of Human Rights. Although the competent authorities have been able to approve the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union there are ongoing discussions about the roots and the foundations of human rights. This Round Table should add to these discussions especially from historical, philosophical and religious points of view. Format of the contributions in this section are standard academic papers (proceedings to be submitted into Web of Science) or alternative formats (notes, papers in non-academic discourses) accepted.

The special guest speaker of the conference will be Mr. Stephen B. King (invited, not confirmed yet) U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic with extensive experience that include civil right investigations in FBI among many more.

Overall, we intend to host dozen of experts and speakers from CE Region and world community.

Academics confirmed so far:

Alexei Anisin (AAU), Carollann Braum (AAU), Rowland Brucken (NU), Eva Eckert (AAU), Zuzana Fellegi (AAU), George Hays II. (AAU), Thomas K. Johnson, Sarwar Kashmeri (NU), Charlie Lamento (AAU), Michael McGinnis (NU), Pelin Ayan Musil (AAU), Gabriele Meissner (AAU), Petr Jan Pajas (AAU), Milada Polišenská (AAU),  Thomas Schirrmacher, Richard Smith (AAU),  Michael Thunberg (NU)

CONFERENCE DISCIPLINES:

History, Law, International Relations, Journalism, Arts, Economics, Natural Sciences

PARTICIPATION

Academic papers submitted to the conference will go through a rigorous review process. After acceptance, contributions will be included in the conference proceedings. (However, authors can opt out from publication in proceedings). Conference proceedings with ISBN will be published on conference web. Online conference proceedings will be sent for evaluation to THOMSON REUTERS to be entered on the Conference Proceedings Citation Index. Accepted student works will be published in a parallel Conference proceedings with ISBN.

LANGUAGE - English

SUBMISSIONS - Abstracts and full papers in English should be sent to human.rights@aauni.edu  in MS WORD file format.  Detailed instructions for authors will be posted on the conference website.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

Abstract                                               October 31, 2018

Full papers                                              January 10, 2019

Revised papers                                       February 15, 2019

Final Revisions                                     April 31, 2019

Conference time                                    March 7-8, 2019

Proceedings published                        May 2019

DIRECTORS OF THE CONFERENCE

Rowland Brucken                                  Norwich University

Peter Bolcha                                           Anglo-American University, Prague

ACADEMIC CHAIRS:

Alex Anisin, Ph.D.                                Anglo-American University, Prague

Dr. Carollann Braum                           Anglo-American University, Prague

Prof. Rowland Brucken                       Norwich University

Prof. Michael McGinnis                      Norwich University                        

HOW TO PARTICIPATE?

1. Register via email human.rights@aauni.edu
2. Submit Abstract (150 words) ASAP (latest deadline October 31, 2018)
3. Submit full paper (18.000-36.000 characters incl. spaces) by January 10, 2019 (see more instructions for authors on the web)
4. Comments on the paper will be communicated within 14 days after submission.
5. Submit revised version of full text by February 15, 2019
6. Notification of acceptance is issued within 7 days after submission.
7. Pay conference fee by February 15, 2019 (see instructions below)
8. Attend conference March 7-8, 2019 and present your work.

Attendance certificate will be issued automatically and handed out at the end of the conference.

CONFERENCE FEE:

Full conference fee for presenting participants is 100 EUR (CZK 2.500). Discounted rate for presenting students is 30 EUR (CZK 750).

Fee includes:

• Review process
• Publication in conference proceedings (students in student version of proceedings)
• Thursday and Friday Lunch
• Coffee and refreshments during both days
• Prague Walking Tour
• Free entry to all sections and panels

Payment options

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM