CALL FOR PAPERS

“States of the State in the Middle East and North Africa – Multiple Perspectives”

We hereby like to invite paper proposals for a panel on “States of the State in the Middle East and North Africa” at the Second World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES-2), Amman, Jordan, 11-16 June 2006.

Deadline for the submission of paper proposals: January 22, 2006

The general aim of the panel is to summarize, to structure and to refresh thinking about the state(s) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). How can the state in the MENA be adequately grasped and conceptualized? What are different disciplinary approaches to the analysis of state(s) in the region? To what extent is an universal perspective possible, including central quasi-Weberian categories of sovereignty, territoriality, rule-making and, last but not least, the state’s alleged claim on the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force? Or is, in contrary, a particular, historically and culturally specific approach to the study of the state(s) in the MENA indispensable?
How do MENA states, or parts of it, act – the state as a subject and agent – and which political, social, economic, cultural effects does this entail? How, in turn, is the state acted upon – the state as an object, arena, field or effect? And how are these processes imagined by both state and non-state actors on either local, regional or international levels?
What are patterns of MENA state’s fragmentation and decline as well as of its reproduction, integration and accommodation? And finally, what are the future prospects for the state(s) in the MENA region?

We intend to concentrate on five different, but not necessarily mutually exclusive and often overlapping dimensions in the analysis of the states of the state in the Middle East and North Africa:
1) state from a society-centered perspective
2) state from an economy-centered perspective
3) state from a within-state perspective
4) state from a trans-state, intra-regional and international
perspective
5) state from a normative and/or more abstract theoretical
perspective

Across these five dimensions, we are interested in both rationalist and constructivist accounts as well as positivist and interpretative methodologies.

We look for contributions from a broad range of disciplines – political science, sociology, Islamic Studies, but also anthropology, geography, history and International Studies. Of particular interest are contributions which link earlier made arguments about the MENA state(s) to new findings based on empirical research assessing current changes and continuities or which attempt the transferal of concepts and methods from different contexts to the study of the MENA state(s). We explicitly call upon those who like to deliver genuine local and regional perspectives on the state(s) in the region.

Paper proposals have to be submitted electronically to the panel conveners before January 22, 2006. A paper proposal must include a short abstract (350-400 words approximately) which demonstrates the relevance of the approach adopted regarding the content of this call for papers as well as information on the writers’ current position and institutional affiliation. We expect to receive written papers until May 28, 2006 in order to distribute them among participants and discussants beforehand. For general information on the conference, please visit the conference website: http://www.wocmes2.org/. For further information on the panel and submission of paper proposals contact the two panel conveners:

André Bank
Center for Conflict Studies
Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
bank@staff.uni-marburg.de

Thomas Richter
Graduate School of Social Sciences
University of Bremen, Germany
richter@gsss.uni-bremen.de