AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT: POSSIBILITIES AND CONSTRAINTS
11th Conference of Africanists
Moscow, 22-24 May, 2008

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SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS

The Academic Council on Problems of African Countries and the Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, are organizing in Moscow on May 22-24, 2008 the 11th Conference of Africanists titled "Africa’s Development: Possibilities and Constraints".
The Conference working languages are Russian and English.
The Organising Committee has considered all the panel proposals it had received. The descriptions of the accepted proposals please find below. The deadline for paper proposals (in the form of abstracts within 300 words in English or both English and Russian) is November 1, 2007. Paper proposals should be sent not to the Organizing Committee but directly to the respective panel convenor(s) who is (are) to inform the applicant about his (her) application's fortune by November 20, 2007. The information to be submitted alongside with the paper abstract includes full name, title, institutional affiliation, full mail and e-mail addresses, and fax #. In their turn, the panel convenors should send the selected abstracts to the Organizing Committee by December 5, 2007.

However, in the case you feel your paper does not fit any particular panel but corresponds to the Conference general problematique, you may submit your proposal to the Organising Committee by the same date (November 1, 2007) and it will be considered for scheduling for the Free Communication Panel (or additional specific panels that may be organized).

All the general inquiries should be sent to the Organising Committee, for the attention of Ms. Galina Saprokhina and Mrs. Elena Gurevich, preferably by e-mail ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ), or either by fax (+ 7 495 202 0786), or by ordinary mail (Centre for Information and International Relations, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 30/1 Spiridonovka St., 123001 Moscow, Russia). The telephone number is: + 7 495 290 2752.
The Conference participant’s registration fee in Russian roubles, equivalent to $150 ($75 in roubles for students) is to be paid in cash on the spot upon arrival. The registration fee includes the visa application support (Official Invitation), the Conference Book of Abstracts (as well as translation of the participant's abstracts into Russian), stationary items, reception, and coffee-breaks. The fee for an accompanying person, equivalent to $ 50 in roubles, includes the visa application support (Official Invitation) and reception.
The Organising Committee can assist in accommodation booking at the hotel of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Downtown Moscow. The prices for July 2007 are as follows: about $ 188 per night for a SGL room and $ 224 for a DBL room. Accommodation at the hotel “Uzkoye” of the Russian Academy of Sciences in a Moscow southern neighbourhood of is $ 115 per night (SGL room) and $ 148 (DBL room).
The independent reservation in any other Moscow hotel is strongly encouraged; furthermore it can turn out to be more reasonable. For further information you may consult the Internet sites: http://moscow-hotels.net and http://all-hotels.ru/moscow/
The Organising Committee will appreciate if you circulate this Announcement to those of your colleagues who might be interested in participating in the Conference.

PANELS ACCEPTED FOR THE CONFERENCE (In the alphabetical order of titles):

Africa and the World: Intercultural Communication, Interpersonal Relations and Governmental Politics
Convenors: Prof. Dmitri BONDARENKO
Head, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Centre for Civilisational and Regional Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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Dr. Veronica USACHEVA
Department of Cultural Anthropology, Centre for Civilisational and Regional Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
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Among the Panel's goals is to reveal the images of Africa and Africans in the non-Africans' consciousness on the one hand, and those of the non-African countries and peoples in the Africans' consciousness on the other, as well as the images' mutual influence. The Panel conveners’ basic premise is that the images of other cultures influence crucially the attitude to those cultures representatives. In particular, the images of Africa and Africans play a fundamental part in the shaping of public opinion toward immigrants. Owe to them the stereotype visions of people of other races are formed and reproduced, they influence directly the practice of the relations with them. The role of mediators and regulators in the relations between a country's racial majority and immigrant communities is to be played by the civil society and the state that pursue policy in the legal, economic, cultural, educational, information, and other spheres.
Although papers on any country will be considered non-discriminatively, those examining the postsocialist states are especially welcomed. The Eastern and Central European countries have not got such a long-lasting and contradictory experience of interaction with the Africans as the West; the experience that by present had resulted in firm establishment of Diaspora communities there. However, nowadays the process of the African diasporas formation is on there, though this process has not been pinpointed and studied sufficiently yet. Nevertheless, it does deserve special attention, as there are grounds for expecting the growth in the inflow of Africans to the postsocialist countries and eventual formation (socio-cultural and institutional) of their communities there. In the meantime, the «closed» nature of the socialist societies, the difficulties of the transitional period reforms predetermine the problems in communication between the Africans and Eastern and Central Europeans, the specific features of the situation with the forming diasporas in the respective states and of their probable position in the accepting societies.
Thus, the basic problems to be discussed in the panel include (but may not be limited to):
- The historical backgrounds for the formation of the images of Africa and Africans in the world (especially in Eastern and Central Europe) on the one hand, and of those of non-African countries and peoples in Africa on the other;
- The specific features and historical dynamics of these images in different African and world areas;
- The specific features of the African Diasporas formation processes, the Diasporas' socio-cultural integration in the postsocialist states compared to those of the West;
- ‘White’ and ‘black’ racism in the context of intercultural communication and interpersonal relations in contemporary world;
- The role of the civil society, government, and mass media in the other cultures images' shaping;
- The ways of, and possibilities for, providing tolerance in the relations between a country's population majority and the immigrants;
- The role the other cultures images and the phenomenon of African Diasporas has been playing in the different nations' foreign policy from the time of decolonization to present.

Africa in International Relations and Russian-African Cooperation
Convenors: Prof. Mikhail VISHNEVSKIY
Centre for Policy Evaluation, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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Prof. Dennis HICKEY
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, USA
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Dr. Evgeny KORENDYASOV
Head, Centre of Russian-African Cooperation, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
Prof. Vatanyar YAGIA
Chair, Department of World Politics, School of International Relations, St.-Petersburg State University
1/3, Smolnogo str., St.-Petersburg, 193060, Russia

Though in general the forthcoming Conference is scheduled to discuss the development problems of the African countries, it is urgent and important to consider their international aspects. It is clear that any state that pays interest to the African problems has its own vision of their solution and is ready to propose the Africans the possible options for their settlings and at the same time according to its might and international influence to compete with the projects advanced by other subjects of the international law.
It seems that this consideration of various proposals can help to identify the general trends that are critical to the policies of the world big countries toward problems of the African development (first of all we mean such states as the US, UK, China, France, Japan, Russia). As well, these studies look to be useful for the Russian foreign policy in the African region aimed first of all to restore and develop the earlier lost positions and interests on this rich with human and natural resources continent.

Africa’s Development: Possibilities and Constraints in Gender Context
Convenors: Prof. Natalia KRYLOVA, Dr. Natalia KSENOFONTOVA
Group of Gender Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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Within the forthcoming Conference’s framework the Gender Panel is aimed at discussing the following set of problems:
– the Moslem woman in social and political life (forms of participation and the historical and cultural obstacles on her way);
– the African family in the global context (economic, socio-cultural, political and civil-legal aspects);
– the race-mixed Afro-Russian family: the ways of integration and forms of discrimination in the accepting society. This topic will deal with the problems related to the family’s adaptation to the peculiarities of everyday life and employment possibilities of the accepting society (both Russian or African); kin networks; family types and their transformation; the phenomenon of xenophobia and discrimination practices in the accepting society, etc.;
– Gender aspects of poverty;
– Gender and power;
– Transformation of gender roles in the contemporary African society.
According to the tradition, the convenors intend to publish papers presented in the Panel.

Between Customs and Modernity: The Role of Traditional Institutions in African Development
Convenor: Prof. Roza ISMAGILOVA
Head, Centre for the Preparation of the Encyclopedia ‘Africa’, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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Ethnic pluralism in most African states promotes the maintenance of traditional cultures of different ethnic groups and preserves the traditional institutions. Apart from traditional authorities (kings, chiefs, headmen, etc.), clan and tribal organizations, still playing a great part in contemporary society, there are also such institutions (or their vestiges) as age groups, extended family, ethnic stratification, secret ritual-magic societies, domestic slavery, casts. Such typical phenomena as initiations, the humiliating attitude to some professions, ethnic hierarchy, ethnic prejudices, etc. are still actual too. While some of them play a positive role in socio-economic and ethno-cultural development, others, on the contrary, hinder it and need be gradually eliminated. For example, in the last decade, in some African countries the interest to the traditional methods and mechanism of managing conflicts including the grave ethnic ones has increased. The role of traditional authorities, customary law is growing.
The objective of this Panel is not only to characterize the role of the mentioned above institutions in contemporary African societies but also to analyze the tendencies and perspectives of their development in future.

‘Development Economics’ and Economic Development
Convenor: Dr. Evgeniya MOROZENSKAYA
Head, Centre for Transition Economy Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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Today the development studies are the main stream of fundamental research in political economy. The “Economic Development” means the wide spread of economic reforms, including the structural changes of an economy by means of industrialization, GDP and GDP per capita growth. For African countries, characterized by a great part of agriculture in their production and by low levels of social indicators, the structural changes based on direct investments to the real economy, are especially important. They lead to the national income growth followed by accumulation of savings, and, hence by financing the subsequent capital accumulation.
Theories of economic development, Development Economics, study the processes of the productive forces growth in the developing countries’ agricultural and industrial sectors. The attention of the researchers is concentrated not only on the main desirable goal of these processes – the stable economic growth – but also, mainly, on the methods of its realization. (For example, there are two alternative paths: firstly, to develop all economic sectors equally and, secondly, to make an accent on one or several leading industries, able to play the role of the locomotive for other industries). On the post-industrial stage of the Western countries development the problem of the appropriate technology for the developing countries becomes more and more acute. The discussion concentrates on the choice of the technology’s kind – immediate or, on the contrary, high technology, which calls for the modern knowledge and high professional managers.
Modern studies in the context of the Development Economics are interdisciplinary as usual: they include a complex analysis of all social aspects of the development problem. So, we can discuss the whole spectrum of different socio-economic problems, for example: economic and industrial policy; regional and sub-regional economic cooperation, economic integration among African countries; modern and traditional forms of economic development, and many others.

Emerging Actors and Dominated Subjects in Contemporary Africa
Convenors: Prof. Armando CUTOLO,
Dipartimento di Studi Storico-Sociali e Filosofici, Università degli Studi di Siena, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia di Arezzo, Viale Cittadini 33 - 52100 Arezzo; Italy
Fax 0039 0575 926312;
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Prof. Roberto FRANCAVILLA,
Dipartimento di Filologia e Critica della Letteratura, Università degli Studi di Siena, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia di Siena, Via Roma 47 - 53100 Siena; Italy
Fax: 0039 0577 232546;
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Recent studies on local forms of modernity in sub-Saharan Africa have stressed the importance of new processes of individualization. In their context, the pertinence of the category of the “individual” is reworked end remoulded following local condition of existence, in some cases contradicting e resisting the social demands and communitarian bonds of local moral economies.
The resulting dynamics often seems to mingle with the dialectical process between local and global agencies, i.e. between local (moral) economies and development ideologies.
In fact, in many postcolonial countries, the socio-economic programs of international agencies (like FAO or IMF) and the projects of the NGOs, aim to promote and encourage new forms of construction of an individual subjectivity. These policies stimulate the emergence of an individual “subject” depicted as in a process of emancipation and definition of an autonomous individuality, freeing himself from “traditional” dependency and social ties. The latter are often turned, by the developmental discourse, into resistance to modernization and in deterrents against propagation of new and inalienable rights.
In these processes, we can observe the centrality of public forms of discourses and knowledge that focus not only on the body and on its health, but also on a new subject, defined by those very (universal) rights that the international institutions and governments universally claim to defend. Such an emerging subject turns then also to be a new form of “subjugated subject”: indeed, he is constituently disciplined and controlled, through the action of the international agencies that should protect him, by a “pastoral power”, as defined by Michel Foucault, investing individuals as well as communities.
The panel might open a space to discuss researches focused on new forms of subjectivation-subjugation: narrations and experiences of subjectivities (women, civil associations, big men, migrants, intellectuals, artists) highlighting their dual existence as emergent subjects (urging new forms of participation and emancipation) and subjugated subjects (educated, disciplined, therefore “modernised”); narrations and experiences of research that focus on the forms of resistance and defensive strategies employed by these subjectivities in the struggle against new and old powers aiming at dominating them.
Thus, the questions we would like to pose, concentrate on:
- new forms of social production of subjectivity, in different (urban, rural) contexts.
- at what degree does the participation of the emerging actors to trans-national and trans-territorial networks influence the process of individualisation with respect to the local moral economies?
- how does the production of subjectivity fall under the African intellectuals’ discourses, representations and legitimation strategies?

Evolution of African Languages in the Context of National and Cultural Development
Convenors: Prof. Victor VINOGRADOV
Director, Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences
1/12, Bolshoy Kislovskiy pereulok, Moscow, 125009, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 290 0528
Dr. Antonina KOVAL, Prof. Victor PORKHOMOVSKY
Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences
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The Linguistics Section focuses on structures, evolution and functioning of the African languages in the context of national and cultural development of the African countries against the background of intensifying relations between different states on the continent, as well as between the African states and other countries in the world.
Different aspects and levels of African linguistics can be dealt with in the discussions. Contributions on phonetics, grammar, discourse analysis, language contacts, typology, comparative studies, language and culture, graphization and oral traditions are particularly welcome.

History of Africa: Peripetias of Development
Convenor: Prof. Artem LETNEV
Head, Centre for History, Ethnic and Cultural Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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The topics for discussion in the Panel are the following:
- colonizers and decolonizers (men, ideas, impact on Africa’s history);
- African nationalism and regionalism: a retrospect;
- once more on the current international debate about slave-trade and its world-wide consequences;
- the Cold War, its impact on postcolonial Africa’s development;
- half a century of independent existence viewed by the Africans;
- Founding Fathers of New Africa seen by their contemporaries and the post-independence generations;
- education and culture under the colonial rule and after: progress and problems;
- the Bandung Conference (1955), the Non-alignment movement, their influence on the political ideology and strategy of independent Africa;
- contribution of high-level African representatives to the international political and intellectual development (United Nations Agencies leaders, Nobel Prize winners);
- the Russian-African relations in the mirror of history (the 18th – 20th centuries);
Contributors are kindly invited to take into consideration these topics while preparing their papers. However, other ones connected with the panel’s concept will be appreciated.

Literatures, Literacy, Education in Africa
Convenor: Prof. Nikolay DOBRONRAVIN
Department of World Politics, School of International Relations, St.-Petersburg State University
1/3, Smolnogo str., St.-Petersburg, 193060, Russia
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This panel is to cover the issues related to traditional and modern education in Africa, the evolution of various types of literacy (‘hot’ and ‘cold’ literacy) and African literatures. Among the participants there will be experts in education, literature, ethnology, history, sociology and journalism. Most African countries have experienced a fast development of modern writing influenced by the spread of literacy and education within the general trend of Westernization/globalization. To understand this development better, a complex study of the related issues is necessary.

The Middle East and North Africa in the 21st Century: Regressive and Prospective Trends in Models and Types of Social and Economic Development
Convenor: Dr. Alexandre TKACHENKO
Head, Centre for North African and African Horn Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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The following issues are proposed for discussion at the Panel:
- the initiative of G8 (Sea Island, 2004) as the basis for overcoming the civilizational puzzles in the MENA countries development;
- the raw commodities complex in the MENA countries and its role in the economic growth in the 21st century: potentials and limits;
- the oil-and-gas complex in the MENA countries as the main source for financing social and economic programs (its potentials and limits);
- the ethno-religious factor as an obstacle for, or impetus to social development in the MENA countries;
- regional conflicts, their influence on the development of the Arab Maghreb states. Do the Middle Eastern and West Saharan conflicts block the economic and social development of the states in the BMENA region?

Peace and Security in Africa: Frameworks and Policies, Practices and Prospects
Convenors Dr. Cheryl HENDRICKS
The Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, South Africa
PO Box 1787, Brooklyn Square, TSHWANE (Pretoria), 0075, South Africa
Fax: +27 012 460 0998
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Prof. Vladimir SHUBIN
Deputy Director, Institute for African Studies, RAS
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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Over the last decade the African Union has developed a significant peace and security architecture, set in place the necessary policy frameworks and has actively engaged in peace making, peace-keeping and post-conflict reconstruction. There has been progress in resolving some of the most intractable conflicts on the continent, the African Standy Force has been launched and a Peace Facility Fund has been established and many African governments have set their countries on a path of peace and development. But, Somalia, Sudan, Western Sahara, Cote d' Ivoire, Chad , Burundi, the DRC and Zimbabwe remain embroiled in conflict while many other states are fragile. Resource wars, climate change, food insecurity, migration pose new challenges for peace and security in the region. Moreover, the continent is a long way from being an environment where human security prevails. This panel will assess the African Union and its building blocks, the regional economic communities, initiatives to create a broader human security on the continent. In particular, it will discuss progress and challenges in the implementation of the peace and security frameworks and policies, provide case studies on existing conflicts, REC's, and analyse the challenges of post-conflict transformation, for example, DDR and SSR initiatives.

Political Decisionism and Statecraft in Africa
Convenor: Mr Erich KOFMEL
Managing Director, Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS), www.scis-calibrate.org
SCIS, 39 Tenant Lain, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9PR, UK
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Maybe more so than in any other continent it is possible to still study what Carl Schmitt termed "political decisionism" in Africa. Attempts at democratization regularly fail because decisionist politicians, warlords, and traditional leaders (chiefs of ethnic groups, clans, etc.) will oppose (or slowly erode) fragile institutions of democracy. While political decisionism in Africa (and elsewhere) may often have led to violent conflict, the concept is not inherently evil and has much exploratory and explanatory potential. By definition, political decisionism stands in opposition to parliamentary procedures. If applied to Africa, it may help to understand the failure of parliamentary institutions in that continent. The very idea of parliamentarism (at least in its "universalist" interpretation) may be unsuited to Africa where interest groups most often are not divided according to party lines, but rather following ethnic and religious affiliations. Stemming from its association with the counterrevolution in Europe, political decisionism has a strong religious component and, again, this seems to fit a continent in which religion still plays a major role. Anti-religious, liberal-democratic, parliamentary Europe could be seen as the very opposite of mostly anti-liberal, pro-religious, and "decisionist" Africa.
This panel wishes to inquire into the nature and current and historical meanings and role of political decisionism in Africa and how political decisionism relates to concepts and practice of "statecraft" and "development". The term statecraft is not one commonly used in the discussion on Africa's development. It may however describe African politics better than terms like "(good) governance" and "political development" with their assumption of "good" government being by definition democratic and their subtext of parliamentarism and universal (western) values.
Questions to be raised in this panel will include whether political decisionism in Africa impinges on social and economic development? Can a model of "development" be found that takes political decisionism (and African public support for it) seriously? What is the role of countries with an arguably more decisionist approach to politics (such as Russia and China) in Africa's development? etc. There will also be space for papers on "political decisionism" and "statecraft" more generally, if they can be put in relation to Africa. Papers co-authored by experts on political decisionism and experts on Africa are encouraged.

Resisting Development and Refusing to Despair in Africa: Toward Afrocentric Maturation
Convenor: Prof. Molefi Kete ASANTE,
Temple University, 615-A Gladfelter Hall, 1115 W. Berks, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
Tel (215) 204 4322, Fax (215) 204 5953
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This panel suggests that the Western model of development for Africa is a false door to security and national maturity and consequently it is essential that African nations resist development as indicated by the most common theorists of the West and institute instead an idea of national maturation that will interrogate various aspects of African culture. We begin with the belief that the nexus between poverty and development has been interpreted from models applied to Western nations, but rarely has the idea of “development” looked at through the eyes of African cultures. Furthermore, the panelists will argue that development as a concept is an appendage of Westernity and therefore runs counter to some of the common values in African societies. On the other hand, it is significant for African nations to probe their own cultural resources as a way of maximizing economic and physical resources so that they will not be catapulted, without reflection, into the Western circle of endless development for poor nations.

The Sociocultural Frontier as a Factor of African, Russian and Global Transformations
Convenors: Prof. Igor SLEDZEVSKIY
Director, Centre for Civilisational and Regional Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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Dr. Aida MOSEYKO
Centre for Civilisational and Regional Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

The Panel activities are supposed to concentrate on the problems of transitory epochs (a cultural frontier situation), i.e. on public consciousness next to the state of frustration, on specific cultural phenomena accompanying historical advancement, on the co-existence of cultures and civilisations generating competitiveness and symbiotic relations. The notion of ''sociocultural frontier'' is accepted to provide a framework for rationalising relevant transitory situations, particularly a specific kind of mentality and culture that reflects chaos and order, chaos and culture-building, instability and variability search.
Problems of transition are topical with African societies as well as Russia and the world at large. Globalisation crosses borders, removes time and space limitations, offers specific – frontier-type – dimensions of cultural self-preservation and development.
During the work of the Panel the following topics are to be discussed:
- The world in the situation of global sociocultural transition;
- The sociocultural dynamics and problems of the transitional situation in African societies;
- The mental condition on the verge of frustration under cross-cultural conditions in Africa;
- Islam and Christianity in the context of the African cross-cultural situation;
- The contemporary neo-paganism and neo-archaics as a projection of the cultural-frontier phenomenon;
- The present-day multiculturalism as a new type of the cultural-frontier phenomenon;
- The situation of cultural frontier and transition as a specific feature of the Russian civilization;
- The alternative nature of contemporary history;
- The present state and perspectives of cross-cultural research.

Political Modernisation and Social Problems of Development
Convenor: Prof. Yuriy POTYOMKIN
Head, Centre for Sociological and Political Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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The state of the sociopolitical sphere is one of the paramount components in the development of any society. The last 15-20 years saw a rather serious and ambiguous progress in this area in many countries of Africa. Their political systems have been modified: multi-party system and the elections of the representative power authorities on the competitive basis have been established, the authoritarian power has been weakened. At the pan-African level these changes have been legitimatized in the African Union program documents focused on the further advancement in the liberal-democratic direction.
At the same time the above-mentioned shifts are to a great extent of a “paper work” origin. The abolishment of one-party regimes has changed the political systems at the surface but not the essential level. The overwhelming influence of the ruling parties, the organizational and doctrinaire weakness of the opposition, the patronage-client origin of the sociopolitical relations, the division of the real power mainly along the ethnic lines, the wide impact of corruption on all the scales of the administrative-political rank – all this hampers the optimization of governing system in all its instances. Consequently, it turns out very difficult to find a solution to such social problems as poverty, low quantitative and qualitative level of the school education, the enormous spread of the epidemic diseases, infrastructure underdevelopment, the vast flows of refugees, etc.
The task of the Panel is to analyze the correlation between the political and social problems in the course of development in contemporary Africa.

Southern Africa: Overcoming social-Political and Economic Disproportion
Convenors: Dr. Andrey PRITVOROV, Dr. Yuriy SCUBKO
Centre for Southern African Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
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Countries of the Southern African region (Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, Botswana and others) face serious challenges in spite of high economic “starting positions” of some of them, and in some cases need quite dramatic decisions to adjust their institutional mechanisms to modern world economic demands in order to encourage high and sustainable growth and be able individually and within the framework of the SADC to achieve their goals of combating mass poverty, social inequality, crime and disease.
In the case of South Africa we can see that after the peaceful transition from apartheid to non-racial democracy in 1994 the ANC-headed government inherited an industrially developed but socially polarized country with a two-sector economy and great income, educational, qualification and other gaps between the white and the black population. In spite of great government efforts towards implementation of such programs as Reconstruction and Development (RDP, from 1994) and Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR, since 1996) and success in maintaining general social peace and sustained development of democracy, the social goals were achieved only partially in the first post-apartheid decade. In recent years the situation is improving with high growth rates that equip the government with resources to provide serious improvements in the educational and medical spheres as well as promote the spreading of numerous social grants and benefits among the needy. Yet the basic social problems remain with the situation aggravated by high emigration rate of professionals in conditions of enforced (though peacefully) black empowerment, low payment and high security risks.
In other countries of the region the achievements seem to be more modest and problems to be more acute though solutions are being found and progress in development is quite evident.
The Portuguese speaking community, Angola and Mozambique, are in a sense remote from the generally pronounced developmental pace, as reconstruction and new exploration of mineral resources are shifting away the issues of poverty to mine-recovering and search for new markets for raw materials.
The situation in Zimbabwe is a particular and important topic for discussion. Since existing redistribution requirements were met in a blatantly radical way, the proposed solutions pose many questions over unresolved issues of agricultural and general economic and social development.
The scope of topics for discussion can certainly be wider and involve other related issues of regional cooperation and country development problems that could promote different evaluations of the current and perspective transformations in Southern Africa.

State–Society Relations and Post-conflict Reconstruction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Convenor: Dr. Theodore TREFON
Head, Section for Contemporary History, Africa Museum, Tervuren, Belgium.
Fax: 00 32 2 686 02 77
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The social, economic and political characteristics of the Democratic Republic of the Congo reflect the whole African continent. Its geostrategic position makes it a potentially a central player in the new international geo-economic context. The challenges of its reconstruction after decades of bad governance and a devastating war are enormous. Central in its historical legacy are the political and administrative institutions created before and after independence, and continuously transformed through its interaction with society. This interaction is different according to the characteristics of the different regions; a crucial role is played by the mining sector in its multiple transformations since independence, as developments in the mining sector seem to shape patterns of governance.
How to assess this legacy and how to transform it into a vector for development?
The panel wants to address these questions with contributions in the field of political and social science, economics and geology. It calls upon contributions in the field of state-society relations, anthropology of the public administration, political elite formation, role and evolution of the mining sector, colonial history.

Tropical African States: Overcoming Obstacles for the Socio-Economic and Political Development
Convenor: Prof. Yuriy VINOKUROV
Head, Centre for Tropical African Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (att. Vinokurov)

The studies of development problems in Tropical Africa within the limits of the subcontinent national borders are carried out on the basis of dialectical principles of all social processes in which history, economy, sociology, ethnology, internal and foreign policy, and personalia are inextricably related. The object of the panel is to address a wide variety of evolutionary processes taking place nowadays in the countries of Tropical Africa, which by their importance often go far beyond their geographical limits.

‘Round table’ Environment and Human Being: Symbiosis or Mutual Destruction?
Convenor: Prof. Vladilen GUSAROV
Centre for Sociological and Political Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
30/1, Spiridonovka str. Moscow, 123001, Russia.
Fax: (+7 495) 202 0786
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (att. Gusarov)

During the recent years the attention of the African, as well as of the international community to the problems of geography and ecology has been growing steadily. It can be explained by constant aggravation of the ecological and geoecological situation on the continent, that calls in question even the existence of many African peoples. The governments of a number of African countries cannot find a way out of the aggravating situation themselves and are setting their hopes on the international assistance. According to their notions, they need such assistance urgently in three geoecological spheres: firstly, in stopping the degradation of the natural environment in its different forms. Secondly, in overcoming the rapid exhaustion of water resources and in providing the growing population with pure drink water. Thirdly, in slowing down the paces of the HIV/AIDS spreading, the pandemic flu and avian influenza, and many other infectious diseases.
In the course of the discussion of the papers on different problems of African geography and ecology some successful examples of approaches to the solution of these problems and to generalization of the accumulated experience should be found.