03. März 2025 / Forschung

Call for abstracts: International Conference on "'Mecca' of Revolution: Algerian Foreign Policy and the Non-Aligned Movement"

The Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, University of Algiers 3 & The Center of African Studies of the University of Porto (CEAUP), Algiers, Algeria, 5–6 May 2025

The Algerian revolutionary war (1954-1962) left enduring legacies. Not only the hundreds of thousands of casualties, but also a strong belief in the fundamental principles and values of resistance and liberty and above all the right of peoples to self-determination. Along with other countries of what became known as the “Third World”, Algeria funded, trained and defended revolutionary movements all over the world.

When Algerian president Houari Boumediene tabled his proposal for a New International Economic Order (NIEO), the struggle was already focused on “economic development” rather than merely political formations. This meant demands for a radical change in the terms of trade and in the income distribution prevailing between the former colonizers and the liberated nations. At the same time slow growth in capital accumulation, accompanied by the pressure for new imperial arrangements, create new, serious challenges to another core NAM value, non-interference in a nation’s internal affairs.

Today the issues raised by Boumediene’s proposal have yet to be resolved. The emergence of the so-called BRICS platform as well as other South-South cooperation frameworks appears to have retained much of the Algiers legacy.

The aim of this international colloquium is to update accumulated knowledge and historically evaluate political developments which, since decolonisation, have coloured the experience of a large mass of the earth's population, propelling them along new routes.

This conference aims to bring scholars and researchers together to probe in the following tracks:

• Impact of the Algerian Revolution on the 20^th century revolutionary movements;
• Algerian Foreign Policy in the international political context;
• From the Asian Awakening to the Belt and Road Initiative;
• Pan-Arabism, Pan-Africanism and national revolutions;
• Traditional colonizing powers and the role of the new emerging powers;
• Political parties – the balance between socialism, nationalism and religion;
• The Mass Media Industries (including “new” and “social” media) and the revolutionary ideals;
• Literary representations and the championing of rebel heroes;
• Survivability of the revolutionary vision in today's world.

Submission deadline: 15 March 2025