Exteded Deadline CfP

Conflict and Security in the Baltic Sea Region in Historical PerspectiveAs a result of the recent Russian attack on Ukraine, general awareness of the possibility of armed conflict and the importance of maintaining security has increased. This is especially true for countries such as Germany, which is experiencing a “turning point” in the public perception of these issues. Countries of East-Central Europe have generally given them high priority for a long time already.

Conflicts and security are inextricably intertwined with history. On the one hand, current politics of aggression or security often have historical justifications that in some cases go back centuries, and in other cases involve the immediate pre-history of current security arrangements. On the other hand, the history of conflict and security itself provides important insight into how international security arrangements work. Therefore, studying the conflicts of earlier centuries is also of great value.

The workshop aims to integrate these two aspects. It will be based on a broad definition of international relations: in addition to hard factors like military organizations, international treaties, or political and economic power, also soft factors are taken into account, like cultures, collective identities, personal networks and many more. The focus is on the regions and states of the Baltic Sea Region that historically had to find ways to secure their existence between the great powers in the East and the West. Doing so, the workshop wants to discuss current methodological concepts on conflict and security.

The Institute of Lithuanian History (Vilnius), the Herder-Institute (Marburg), and the Nordost-Institut (IKGN e. V., Lüneburg) invite in cooperation with the Collaborative Research Centre 138 “Dynamics of Security” (Marburg/Gießen) up to 15 young scholars working on their MA or PhD thesis from various disciplines to discuss their projects.

Any proposal on these and other themes relevant to the topic of the conference is highly welcome. Keynote speakers from the region and other European countries will provide an introduction to the topic. Individual papers should be max. 25 minutes long with 20 minutes for discussion. The working language will be English.

Travel costs (only within Europe) as well as accommodation will be paid by the organizers. Proposals of 300 words or less with a short biography of the presenter and their area of research should be submitted in a digital document by May 10, 2022 to: forum@herder-institut.de.

The deadline has been prolonged until 31 May 2022.