Annual Newsletter of the Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University
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No.17, January 2010
First Year in Retrospective and the Beginning of a "New" Slavic Research Center
 Grant-in-aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas "Comparative Research on Major Regional Powers in Eurasia" I s Ongoing The First East Asian Conference for Slavic Eurasian Studies (February 5–6, 2009): How It Was Organized
 The Slavic Research Center Held the International Symposium, "The South Ossetian Conflict and Trans-border Politics in the Black Sea Rim" on March 5–6, 2009
The SRC SRC International Symposium
"The Elusive Balance: Regional Powers and the Search for Sustainable Development" Was Held on July 9–10, 2009
 Joint Forum Series in Washington D.C.
 International Symposium on "Environmental Conservation of the Sea of Okhotsk: Cooperation between Japan, China, and Russia"
 Foreign Visitors Fellowship Program
Our Current Staff
 Ongoing Cooperative Research Projects
 Visitors from Abroad
 Guest Lectures from Abroad
 Publications (2008-09)
 The Library
 Website Access Statistics
Essays by Foreign Fellows
Andrew Gentes
 Dariusz Kołodziejczyk
 Marina Mongush

The Slavic Research Center Held the International Symposium, "The South Ossetian Conflict and Trans-border Politics in the Black Sea Rim" on March 5–6, 2009

The Slavic Research Center holds large-scale international symposia twice a year, inviting about ten to fifteen foreign scholars. Usually, preparations start more than a year before the event. This time, during the period of preparation, the Second South Ossetian War took place in August 2008 and increased the symposium’s actuality. The original purpose of this symposium was to create a new scholarly community of specialists of this region. Hitherto, Slavicists (or post-Sovietologists) have been studying the northern Black Sea Rim, whilst its southern part is entrusted to Turkey or Near East specialists. This division of labor took shape during the Cold War and still continues to limit researchers’ perspectives. We find this division harmful to the further study of this region.

Winter_Sympo
A scene from luncheon

After the Second South Ossetian War, I, as the organizer, made much of the following interrelated principles. First, we should listen to local voices and the opinions of all parties of conflict without discrimination or prejudice. Second, we should overcome the understanding of the Black Sea Rim as a mere field of global competition. According to this understanding, local actors would appear only as puppets of the great powers. The composition of paper presenters eloquently demonstrates our position: five scholars each from Japan and Turkey, three from Russia (one of them an Ossetian), two each from Britain and Ukraine, and one each from Georgia and the United States.

Hokkaido University generously financed this symposium, which was held at the university’s new institute, named the Creative Research Initiative "Sosei."



Speakers of the Symposium

  • SAHARA Tetsuya (Meiji University, Japan) “In Search of a Broken Bond: Armenians, Greeks and Jews in the Black Sea Region”
  • MAYUZUMI Akitsu (Tokyo University, Japan) “The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century as the Origin of Modern International Relations in the Black Sea Region: A Beginning of Conflicts among the Three ‘Worlds’”
  • Mikhail Shkarovskii (Central State Archive of St. Petersburg, Russia/SRC) “Soviet Church Policy in Black Sea Countries in 1944–1953”
  • MUTSUSHIKA Shigeo (Shizuoka Prefectural University, Japan) “A Moldovan Conflict Resolution Model for Transnistria”
  • Henry Hale (George Washington University, USA) “Institutions, Identity, and Democratization: Ukraine in Comparative Perspective”
  • Luke March (Edinburgh University, UK) “The Consequences of the 2009 Parliamentary Elections for Moldova’s Domestic and International Politics: Another Chance at Europeanisation?”
  • Anatoliy Kruglashov (Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine) “Troublesome Neighborhood: Romania and Ukraine Disputes over Territories and Minorities Resolution in Regional and European Perspectives”
  • Şenol Korkut (The Turkish Directorate for Religious Affairs (DIB)) “The New Perspectives of the Turkish Directorate for Religious Affairs on the Black Sea Region”
  • Oktay F. Tanriserver (Middle East Technical University, Turkey) “Influence of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Black Sea Rims: Sources and Prospects”
  • Mustafa Aydin (Tobb University, Turkey)
  • Sawae Fumiko (Tohoku University, Japan) “A Stalemate in Conflicts relating to Laiklik and Islamic Movements in Turkey”
  • Ozan Arslan (Izmir University of Economics, Turkey) “Synergistic Nationalism: The Interactive History of Ottoman Turkish and Azeri National Identities”
  • William Hill (National War College, USA) Luncheon Speaker
  • Valentin Yakushik (Kyivo-Mohyla Academy University, Ukraine) “The Impact of the South Ossetian Conflict on Ukrainian Politics”
  • Rebecca A. Chamberlain (London School of Economics, UK) “Cementing Secession: Transnational Big Business, Politics, and State Formation on Moldova’s Frozen War Front”
  • SATO Keiji (SRC) “The Phenomenon of National Boundaries in Moldova – From the Viewpoint of Transborder Area Studies”
  • Sergei Markedonov (The Institute of Political and Military Analysis, Russia) “Defrosting Conflicts: Eurasian Security after the War in South Ossetia”
  • Gia Jorjoliani (Tbilisi University, Georgia) “War and Democracy: Challenges for Georgia’s New Statehood”
  • Kosta Dzugaev (South Ossetian University) “Республика Южная Осетия в ряду признанных государств”
  • Igor’ Dulaev (North Ossetian University) “Южная Осетия: возможность и вызовы”

    • MATSUZATO Kimitaka