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International Conference, University of Southern Denmark, 23-24 May 2014Venue: University of Southern Denmark, conference section: Auditorium O100Call for PapersAt the end of the First World War, the international Great Powers together with regional clients established on the Levantine territories of the previous Ottoman Empire a new political order. Although heavily disputed and challenged by different actors, in the end this new political landscape of modern national states largely has remained unchanged until today. However, the contemporary Syrian civil war raises the question as to whether the events of the so-called Arab spring will not only lead to processes of regime change, but possibly also to the transformation of the state system in the Levant and its political, social and ethnic foundations. The progressing dismantling of the Syrian state is knitted into regional conflicts such as the Kurdish question, the sectarian struggle in Iraq, the future of the Hashemite Kingdom in Jordan and the Israeli-Palestine conflict. In taking the war in Syria as its central point of reference, the conference will try to explore its potential for a more radical political transformation of the Levant.The conference is organized by the Center for Contemporary Middle East Studies at University of Southern Denmark. The conference will be organized in five panels, each with four papers. In each panel a leading, internationally known Middle East scholar is invited to give the first presentation. The other presentations will be given by scholars who responded to a "call for papers" and were selected by a conference committee appointed by the center.Scholars are invited to send abstracts of 500 words before 1 November 2013. The successful abstracts will be announced by 1 December 2013.The abstracts should be sent to: middle-east@sdu.dk – abstracts arriving later than 1 November will not be taken into consideration.Before 1 April 2014 the selected scholars should submit papers (5.000 words). It is the ambition to publish the papers in a peer reviewed book.For the selected panelists, travel expenses (an apex air-ticket, ground transportation) and accommodation in Odense will be covered by the conference.The panels are the following:Panel 1: Wither Syria: consolidation or fragmentation?Introductory presentation by Dr. Steven Heydemann, Senior Advisor for Middle East Initiatives at the United States Institute for Peace, Research Associate Professor at Georgetown University, Washington (confirmed)Panel 2: Sectarianism and the future of Syria, Lebanon and IraqIntroductory presentation by Dr. Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, Professor, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies University of Copenhagen (confirmed)Panel 3: Reconfigurating a region: the Levant in world politicsIntroductory presentation by Dr. Katerina Dalacoura, Senior Lecturer, Department of International Relations, The London School of Economics and Political Science (confirmed)Panel 4: Kurdistan Emerging?Introductory presentation by Dr. Hamit Bozarslan, Directeur, Centre d'études turques, ottomanes, balkaniques et centrasiatiques, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris (confirmed)Panel 5: Israel and a Palestinian state: Redrawing boundaries?Introductory presentation by Dr. Beverley Milton-Edwards, Professor, School of Politics, Queens University, Belfast (confirmed)If you would like to participate in the conference please send a 500 word abstract and your cv to middle-east@sdu.dkDeadline for proposals: 1 November 2013Please direct enquiries to the center at the address aboveThe conference has received funding from the Danish Institute in DamascusVoir sur le site