Working title: Coming together and growing apart: A decade of transformation in the South Caucasus
The 6th Annual CRRC Conference
Place and date: June 26-27, Tbilisi, Georgia
Concept note:
The last decade has seen broad political, economic and social changes across the South Caucasus. In the last ten years, events including Armenia’s 2018 ‘Velvet Revolution’, the 2016 ‘Four-Day War’ in Nagorno-Karabakh, the region’s first ballot box-driven change in government in the 2012 Georgian parliamentary elections, the devaluation of the national currency in Azerbaijan, and volatility in relations between the European Union and Russia have reshaped the region. Such events have raised questions as to whether the three nations of the South Caucasus are growing increasingly apart, and if so, whether these changes reflect genuine divergence among societies or if they are simply an outcome of the interests of national elites?
The Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) seek proposals for the 6th Annual CRRC Conference, and welcomes proposals for (a) thematic panels and (b) methodological seminars. For our thematic panels, we invite panel and paper proposals investigating the deep sociopolitical, cultural, and economic changes occurring in the South Caucasus through a comparative, empirical lens. We welcome quality scholarly contributions from emerging and established academics exploring the following broad themes:
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- Conflicts, displacement, and reconciliation,
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- Culture, values, and identity;
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- Economic development, energy, and mobility;
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- Politics, power, and democracy;
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- Urban development and environmental issues;
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- Civil society and activism.
Furthermore, as CRRC is committed to promoting innovative research methods, we call on scholars to present proposals for our methodological seminars, and welcome contributions on the methodological aspects of collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data. We invite papers which explore methodological innovations and address challenges and novel approaches in data collection, analysis, visualization, and dissemination.
At this year’s conference, we will celebrate the release of the latest wave of the Caucasus Barometer, a bi-annual household survey administered by CRRC offices across the region. While we welcome contributions using original data, authors who plan to present scholarly work using Caucasus Barometer data are especially encouraged to apply. Apart from methodologically guided substantive contributions, authors are encouraged to submit proposals for methodological sessions.
Conference structure
The first day of the 6th CRRC Conference will be dedicated to parallel sessions exploring the conference’s substantive topics outlined above. On the second day, participants are invited to contribute to methodological seminars where contributors will present the methodological aspects of their work. The working language of the conference is English.
How to apply?
Initial proposals, including an abstract and a CV, can be submitted via this form. CRRC offices will notify successful participants via email and ask for the submission of an extended abstract and a PowerPoint presentation of their intended talk. Final notification of acceptance will be issued in mid-May. If you would like to propose a panel, please email a title and an abstract of the suggested panel to applications@crrccenters.org and david@crrccenters.org.
Important dates:
Submission of initial proposals (an abstract and a CV) – April 6, 2020
Notification of pre-acceptance – April 13, 2020
Submission of extended abstract and a presentation – May 4, 2020
Confirmation of final acceptance – May 15, 2020
Travel and accommodation support
CRRCs will support limited number of participants coming from Armenia, Azerbaijan and outside of the region for their travel, accommodation, and meals outside of the event. Please refer to the application form for more information. All participants at the event will be provided with meals.
About CRRC
The Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) is a network of research and research support centers in the capital cities of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Established in 2003, CRRC’s goal is to strengthen social science research and public policy analysis in the South Caucasus. Over the past seventeen years, CRRC offices have become a nexus of activity for the social science community in the South Caucasus by providing open access to data, scholarly literature, and professional training for social science researchers. For more information about CRRC and the upcoming conference, please visit the respective country websites at crrc.am, crrc.az and crrc.ge
About Caucasus Barometer
The Caucasus Barometer is a bi-annual nationwide household survey conducted by CRRC offices in the South Caucasus. Since 2004, CRRC has interviewed around 45,000 residents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia on socio-economic issues, values, beliefs, and political attitudes. Since 2015, Caucasus Barometer has been administered in Armenia and Georgia only. To find more about the survey and access the dataset, please visit caucasusbarometer.org