The conference «Civilizations and International Order: ‘One World’ or ‘Multipolarity’?»

According to the mainstream Western narrative, the post-Cold War liberal international order is being challenged on all sides. Outside the political and strategic West, we are seeing emergence of the new powers with political cultures and values that challenge Western perceptions on international norms and institutions, domestic politics, security and economic governance.

Russia and China’s turn towards official discourses of civilisation, and attendant claims about cultural uniqueness and value difference from the West, has been a striking feature of 21st Century international politics. With their elevated positions of international authority [AL1][Office2]these states[AL3] have the potential to contest and, perhaps even, to remake the contemporary order along civilizational lines.

This development invites a series of questions: Did a worldwide, liberal order ever really exist? Was this idea the product of a period of domination by Western civilization that now seems to be at an end? Is it time to talk about the emergence of a multi-civilization order in international politics?

This conference looks to address these questions. More specifically, it invites reflection on the goals, similarities and differences between the civilizational projects of China, Russia and the West. To that end, we welcome papers that address one or more of the following themes:

• The history of political ideas of civilisation in Russia, China and the West that explore the origins and trajectories of present-day discourses
• Contemporary discourses of ‘state civilisation’ and ‘the dialogue of civilisations’ in Russia, China and the West, and their international policy objectives
• The civilisational ‘vector’ or ‘turn’ in relationships between Russia and/or China and the West
• Norm contestation in the international politics, involving a comparative analysis of Western and non-Western states

The conference will be held on the 15th-16th of May.

Address: Moscow, 17 Malaya Ordinka St., room. 106.

The working language is English.

Please fill the registration form.

If you need a pass to the HSE or you want to receive the program of the conference, please write to: yshubin@hse.ru, Yury Shubin