Birkbeck hosts this year’s International Association of Political Science Students World Congress
An international conference organised by the IAPSS is being hosted at Birkbeck this week.
An international conference organised by the International Association for Political Science Students (IAPSS) to discuss the most pressing political challenges facing the world is being hosted at Birkbeck this week.
With a theme of The Politics of Conflict and Co-operation, this year’s World Congress will enable political science students to examine topical issues as diverse as the repercussions of the Arab Spring on Middle Eastern politics, the ongoing conflict between Russian and Ukraine, relations between the EU and Turkey and energy politics.
Speakers at the event have been selected from among those closest to contemporary challenges in global politics, including His Excellence Falah Mustafa Bakir, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and Tarek Osman, a political economist and author of the international bestseller Egypt on the Brink, who will both be discussion the effects of Arab Spring four years after it swept the Middle East; His Excellency Michael Zantovsky, the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the UK, who will be talking on relations between Europe and Russia in light of the Ukrainian conflict; and Birkbeck’s own Professor Eric Kaufmann, who will be exploring contemporary identity-based conflicts including the rise of the far-right in Europe.
As well as hosting the conference, other staff from Birkbeck’s Department of Politics will be also both presenting and speaking on plenary panels at the event. Dr Barbara Zollner, Lecturer in Islamic Studies, will be discussing the rise of ISIS and the politicisation of Islam in the Middle East, while Professor Alejandro Colas will be in discussion on empire and the legacy of imperialism in a contemporary context.
Speaking in advance of the event, Dr Antoine Bousquet, Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Birkbeck’s Department of Politics said:
“In a tumultuous and increasingly interconnected world in which new dangers – but also opportunities – abound, it is particularly heartening to see today’s young political science students gather from around the globe in such numbers to discuss the pressing issues of conflict and cooperation.
“As a department committed to fostering and leading such contemporary debates, we are delighted to be hosting and supporting this year’s IAPSS congress.”
Odessa Primus, Chair of Organising Committee for the conference and a second year student in Birkbeck’s Department of Politics, added:
“The aim is to bring the world’s brightest minds in global politics, economics, political science academia and journalism together with the world’s next generation to inspire debate – and where better to host the World Congress than in London, at the heart of international politics, hosted by Birkbeck, a distinguished UK university with leading academics such as Barbara Zollner and Eric Kauffmann.”
In the recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), Birkbeck’s Department of Politics was ranked 12th in the UK and judged to be ‘world leading’; research in the assessment included that by Professor Eric Kauffmann into the effects of demography on religion and politics, particularly in the Middle East.