[Discussion] CONF.- Empire and After: The Middle East & Central Asia, Oct. 2005, Scotland

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

From: Bernie Kaussler <bk15@st-andrews.ac.uk>

Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian 
Studies

CONF.- Empire and After: The Middle East & Central Asia, Oct. 2005, Scotland

Empire and After: The Middle East and Central Asia
Inaugural Conference
Institute of Middle East, Central Asian & Caucasus Studies (MECACS)
Schools of International Relations and History
University of St. Andrews

Friday and Saturday, 21-22 October 2005

Lower and Upper College Hall
United College, North Street, St Andrews
Fife, Scotland, KY16 9 AL

The Middle East and Central Asia have been profoundly affected by the
construction and demise of empires. Empires arising from within were
historically the genesis of high civilizations in the region and their 
decline
associated with periods of decay. In the early modern period empires 
imposed by
foreign civilizations from without profoundly reshaped the region. Imposing
structures and provoking both cultural synthesis and resistance, they proved
less welcome and enduring, and the end of empire ushered in systems of 
successor
states that suffered from liabilities originating in the imperial era. 
Is empire
over or is the US on the verge of reaching for a new informal kind of 
liberal
empire, of which hegemony in the Middle East is a test case and centrepiece?
Four panels will examine the following episodes of empire and its aftermath:


The Decline of Empire in the Mediaeval Islamic World

Chair: Professor Hugh Kennedy (St Andrews); Dr Eduardo Manzano (CSIC, 
Madrid);
Dr Chase Robison (Oriental Institute, University of Oxford); Dr Charles 
Melville
(Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge); Professor David 
Morgan
(University of Wisconsin at Madison, USA)


The Collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Formation of Successor States

Chair: Dr Ali Ansari (St Andrews); Dr Oliver Bast (University of 
Manchester); Dr
Steve Cox (University of York); Dr Ben Fortna (SOAS, University of 
London); Dr
Gareth Stansfield (University of Exeter)


The Collapse of the Soviet Union in Central Asia: Soviet Legacies as 
Imperial
Legacies?

Chair: Dr Sally Cummings (Director, MECACS, St Andrews); Professor 
Martha Brill
Olcott (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, USA); Professor 
Muriel Atkin
(George Washington University, USA); Dr Annette Bohr (University of 
Manchester);
Dr Shirin Akiner (SOAS, University of London)


Reach for Empire? The Iraq War and US Hegemony in the Middle East

Chair: Professor Raymond Hinnebusch and Dr David Cobham (St Andrews); 
Professor
Tim Niblock, (University of Exeter); Prof Michael Hudson (Georgetown 
University,
USA); Robert Mabro (University of Oxford)


For a more detailed programme and to book a place, please visit:
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/intrel

Please do not hesitate and contact Bernie Kaussler bk15@st-andrews.ac.uk
(Conference Administrator)