The ACRPS is proud to announce the commencement of its Winter School, titled "Communitarianism, Sectarianism and the State". The Winter School is a research program held from 4-14 January 2020, considered the first of its kind in the Arab World.

The Winter School will bring together 26 academics from 19 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas to write research papers on communitarianism, sectarianism and the state, with topics ranging from history of sectarianism in India and religious and confessional conflicts in Nigeria and Ireland to different dimensions of sectarianism in the Arab World.

The objective of the Winter School is to provide an in-depth and critical reading of studies written by academic experts on sectarianism. Participants will have the chance to present and receive feedback on their own submissions in sessions held specifically for the purpose.

Topics include: sectarian or regional conflict using contemporary examples from the Arab world (such as Iraq, Yemen, etc); political violence; the history of sectarianism and sectarian thought; post-conflict studies on communitarianism, particularly from a comparative perspective (i.e. outside the Arab world); divided societies and prospects for democracy.

The ten days of the Winter School will include lectures by experts from the ACRPS and elsewhere on these issues. Issues to be covered by lectures include: Alternatives to overcome primitive or instrumental approaches to sectarianism; sectarianism in Ireland; the disappearing Arab state; sectarianisation and the new political map of the Middle East.

The Winter School will also organise discussion tables on various subjects such as the definition of sectarianism and communitarianism across different regions, sectarianism and the state, and international relations and sectarianism. 

Please find the agenda attached here.