LEAM is an international scientific conference that annually gathers a broad group of outstanding specialists - scientists, researchers, theorists and practitioners of politics, economy and culture of Asian countries. Over the years, we have hosted over 440 scientists from nearly 40 countries, enabling them to participate in intense scientific discussions and build a valuable epistemic community.
The 17th edition of the conference, entitled "Regional order in (post) -pandemic Asia" will be an opportunity to exchange knowledge and conduct multi-threaded discussions, which have always been a valuable point of the LEAM conference. Considering the dynamically changing situation in the international arena and numerous challenges related to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we want to talk about the political, economic and social situation of Asian countries at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century. The starting point will be to reflect on the development of the regional order in Asia and the impact of the epidemic on the changes taking place. Moreover, we want to consider to what extent this "new normality" in which we live as nations and states influences international politics. An important topic in the discussion will also be the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its consequences for the international order, including Asian countries.
The inaugural lecture will be given by prof. Bart Dessein, who is a full professor at the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at the University of Ghent. He is the chairman of the research group East Asian Culture in Perspective: Identity, Historical Consciousness, Modernity. His research concerns, among other things, modern and contemporary Chinese history, Chinese political philosophy, and New Confucianism.
The keynote speaker's speech will be the starting point for discussions during plenary panels, special sessions and thematic sessions. Political and economic changes in the Eastern Hemisphere will be the subject of a plenary debate on "Post-pandemic Sino-American reconfiguration in East Asia". Its participants will be outstanding scientists - prof. Robert G. Sutter (Elliott School of International Relations), prof. Zhu Zhiquan (Bucknell University) and prof. Dominik Mierzejewski (University of Łódź). The panel will be chaired by Grzegorz Stec (MERICS).
Bearing in mind that not only nation-states shape contemporary world politics, during the second plenary session entitled "Paradiplomacy in and with Asia", will discuss the importance of cities and regions as important, albeit sub-state, actors on the global stage. The debate will be attended by scientists from the University of Lodz, prof. Tomasz Kamiński and Dr. Joanna Ciesielska-Klikowska and Dr. Anna Rudakowska from Tamkang University in Taiwan.
Moreover, during the conference, there will be sessions of meetings with the authors of critical scientific books that have been published recently. The guests of LEAM will be prof. Glenn Diesen (University of South-Eastern Norway), prof. Beata Bochorodycz (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań), prof. Andrei P. Tsygankov (San Francisco State University) and prof. Bogdan Góralczyk (University of Warsaw).
In addition to plenary panels and special sessions, almost 50 scientists from around the world will present the results of their latest research as part of thematic panels, which concern, among others, the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on the politics, economy and societies of Asian countries; the war in Ukraine and its implications for the international order in Asia; the Indo-Pacific region in the politics of world powers; changes in India's foreign and domestic policy; as well as the importance of Japan in contemporary international relations.
A detailed conference program is available here.