Conference Program

The "discovery" of the religious factor, and more broadly the cultural factor, as a determinant of contemporary international relations that took place over the last decades has resulted in the far-reaching re-evaluations in the area of IR. While it is not surprising that subsequent analyzes of the interconnections between religion and nationalism have emerged, with the simultaneous redefinition of the meaning of the latter, concepts such as "dignity", "pride" and "shame" may seem less obvious in reference to the area of politics and security of individual countries. Nevertheless, the importance of non-material premises, including those of a psychological nature, allows us to conclude that it is increasingly the ideational factor that makes it possible to understand the phenomenon of behavior of individual states and their relations with the international environment. Without a doubt, the region where such premises play an important role is the region of Central and Eastern Europe.

Post-secular thought as a new stage of research on religion in the humanities and social sciences is also beginning to be noticed in research on IR. Already in 1993, Samuel Huntongton introduced religion as an important variable in international relations, although he attributed it (especially to Islam) as a conflict-generating nature. Further research on religion in IR has changed this image - the peaceful face and merits of religion are also emphasized. In my paper, I will try to show this "ambivalence of the sacred" present in international relations as a practical basis for post-secular reflection in the broadly understood humanities and social sciences. The crisis of the liberal international order and the demand for advanced research on "global IR", to which non-Western traditions and cultures should more and more contribute, lead to the conclusion that the only viable path for contemporary IR will be to build their postsecular identity as a truly global research discipline.

The escalation of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, marked by a full-scale invasion on 24th February 2022, has sparked renewed attention to the discourse surrounding Huntington's theory. Notably, in his book, Huntington explicitly stated that Russian-Ukrainian relations would serve as a litmus test for his conceptual framework. Therefore, the questions arise: Is it acceptable to describe this war as a ‘clash of civilisations’? If so, between whom is this clash taking place – can one argue that it is a confrontation between the so-called ‘Western’ and ‘Orthodox’ civilisations? Within the ‘Orthodox’ one? Finally, how does the intensification of European integration efforts in a number of countries with an Orthodox majority, which began after the aggression, fit into this theory? After all, six out of nine current EU candidate countries are countries of Orthodox culture. This paper aims to scrutinise the criticism of Huntington's concept of ‘Orthodox civilisation’ in the context of Russia's ongoing war of annihilation against Ukraine. Concretely, the paper systematically examines (1) the problematic nature of Huntington's definition and understanding of what he calls ‘Orthodox civilisation’, (2) the perception of Huntington’s concepts in selected local Orthodox churches, and (3) a revision of this theory in the context of the ongoing war. The research relies predominantly on qualitative methods, discourse and content analysis of texts, official church documents, statements and interviews of religious leaders.

The subject of research to be presented civic participation as a function of identification with the Iraqi state. The scientific objective is to analyse the interdependence between the degree of civic participation, including but not limited to protest participation, and the internalisation of national identification (declarative and demonstrated) employing analyses of empirical material (interviews with supporters of the October Movement) through a prism of a broader discourse on Iraqis' national self-identification. This research proposal explores two dimensions of analyses: the theoretical framework critically employs the works of Joel Migdal, Charles Tilly, Charles Tripp, and Franz Fanon; secondly, on the ontological level, it aims to deconstruct western-centric dichotomies: strong state-weak state, segmental identity-national identity. Iraqi state and Iraqi society are in an "existential moment"– as according to Fanon, independence does not equal liberation – Iraqis are regaining their agency by demanding a substantive, not only formal, citizenship. Analogically, Migdal names the existence of a competent, capable civil service that "must identify their ultimate interests with those of the state as an autonomous organisation" as one of the conditions for a strong state. In the absence of such an elite, the state becomes an arena of accommodation, bargaining (Migdal), or contestation (Tripp), and co-opts ethnic religious identities in factual denial, instead of recognition of diversity.

Samuel Huntington in his analysis distinguished a separate African civilization, comprising sub-Saharan Africa, the northern part of the continent included in the zone of Muslim civilization. However, the geographical factor (Africa as a continent-island) makes it a certain unambiguously separate part of the modern world. Since at least the turn of the 20th century, Pan-Africanist ideas were formed on this basis, assuming the unity of all the continent's inhabitants. These ideas, during the period of decolonization, contributed to the creation of regional international institutions to promote cooperation among the continent's post-colonial states (the Organization of African Unity). Crisis phenomena in the political, economic and social spheres that occurred in the region during the Cold War period contributed to the emergence of new concepts in the implementation of Pan-African cooperation. Beginning in the 1990s, countries in the region have taken a number of steps to reform regional cooperation mechanisms to make them more effective, especially in their efforts to shape an international order based on the values of peace and security and to achieve development goals. At the turn of the century, the African Union was established, the process of economic integration is underway, and the African Peace and Security Architecture was built. But does the strengthening of regional institutions of cooperation lead to the emergence of a distinct identity for African states in international relations? This question is particularly pertinent in the context of the ever-present asymmetrical relations of many countries in the region with countries outside the continent.