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17 International Conference Lodz East Asia Meeting

Conference

"Regional order in (post)-pandemic Asia"

The Lodz East Asia Meeting (LEAM) is an international scientific conference, which brings together a wide range of exceptional specialists - scholars, researchers, theoreticians and practitioners of politics, economy and culture of Asian countries. Since 2012 we have hosted over 450 researchers from almost 40 countries, enabling them to engage in intense scientific discussions and build a worthwhile epistemic community.

However, the last two years have put us all - as citizens, active creators of socio-political and economic life, and scientists - to face many new challenges. The Department of Asian Studies and the Center for Asian Affairs want to invite you to talk about these experiences and recently conducted research projects during the Lodz East Asia Meeting.

17th edition of the conference, entitled "Regional order in (post)-pandemic Asia", will be an opportunity for the exchange of knowledge and a chance to conduct multi-threaded discussions, which have always been a valuable point of the LEAM conference. We hope that we will be able to meet in June - even if not face-to-face, then at least in the hybrid formula.

Taking into account the very dynamically changing situation in the international arena and numerous challenges related to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we want to talk about the political, economic and social situation of Asian countries at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century. The starting point will be to consider how the regional order in Asia is developing and the influence of the epidemic on the ongoing transformations. Furthermore, we want to consider to what extent this "new normal", in which we live as nations and states, affects international politics.

The lecture inaugurating the conference will be given by Prof. Bart Dessein, who is Full Professor at the Department of Languages and Cultures of Ghent University. He is the head of the research group "East Asian Culture in Perspective: Identity, Historical Consciousness, Modernity". His research concerns, i.e., modern and contemporary history of China, Chinese political philosophy, and New Confucianism.

The keynote speaker’s presentation will be the starting point for discussions conducted as part of plenary panels, special sessions and individual sessions.

 

Plenary panels

The political and economic changes in the eastern hemisphere will become the topic of the debate entitled "Post-pandemic Sino-American reconfiguration in East Asia". Its participants will be excellent scholars – Prof. Robert G. Sutter (Elliott School of International Relations), Prof. Zhiqun Zhu (Bucknell University) and Prof. Dominik Mierzejewski (University of Lodz). The panel will be moderated by Grzegorz Stec (MERICS).

Bearing in mind that not only nation-states do shape contemporary world politics, during the second plenary session entitled "Paradiplomacy in and with Asia" the importance of cities and regions as significant, though sub-state, actors on the global stage will be discussed. The debate will be attended by Roderick Kefferpütz (MERICS), Dr Anna Rudakowska (Tamkang University) and researchers from the University of Lodz - Prof. Tomasz Kamiński and Dr Joanna Ciesielska-Klikowska.

 

Special sessions

In addition to the sessions mentioned above, we offer partaking in special sessions.

During the "Ambassadors panel", the diplomats dealing with the politics of Asian countries will talk about their experiences as policymakers and give their perspective on the development of the situation in the Asian region. The debate will be moderated by Lily Ong.

Remembering the great interest in last year's "Meet the author" sessions, we also plan these sessions during this year's edition. Throughout the conference there will be a possibility to hear and talk about recently published books prepared by excellent scholars:

Prof. Glenn Diesen (University of South-Eastern Norway), Europe as the Western Peninsula of Greater Eurasia: Geoeconomic Regions in a Multipolar World, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 2021

Prof. Beata Bochorodycz (Adam Mickiewicz University), Fukushima and civil society. Japanese denuclear movement from the socio-political perspective, Routledge 2022

Prof. Andrei P. Tsygankov (San Francisco State University), Routledge Handbook of Russian Foreign Policy, Routledge 2020

Prof. Bogdan Góralczyk (University of Warsaw ), Nowy długi marsz. Chiny ery Xi Jinpinga, Dialog 2021

 

Proposed plenary sessions

Since scientific discussions of researchers of all generations are of great value, therefore we invite you to participate in individual sessions. We encourage researchers to submit papers for specific sessions, yet we also accept organized panels (moderator + invited panelists). Paper and session discussion proposals could address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Political changes in the Asian region
  • Implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for the politics, economy and societies of Asian countries
  • American and European policy towards Asian countries
  • Chinese policy toward Asia
  • Importance of Japan in contemporary international relations
  • Significance of ASEAN on the global stage
  • Changes in the foreign and domestic policy of Asian countries
  • International discussions on security in Asia
  • Migration trends and challenges in Asia
  • State and non-state actors in Asia

 

Abstract Submission

Abstract submission (max. 300 words): 8 April 2022

Notification of accepted abstracts: 21 April 2022

Full paper submission: 30 September 2022

After a positive review process, the articles will be published in an edited volume of Contemporary Asian Studies Series, Publishing House of the University of Lodz (open access).

Conference program: 31 May 2022

Conference dates: 27-28 June 2022 (Monday-Tuesday)

Conference venue: Faculty of International and Political Studies, University of Lodz (Poland) and online

Language: English

27 - 28 Jun 2022 Lodz, Poland