CFP: Territory, Justice, and Rivers

Workshop on Themes on Territory, Justice, and Rivers

University College Cork, Ireland, June 4-5, 2015

ORGANISERS:

RAYMOND DAVIDSON (University College Cork)
CARA NINE (University College Cork)

We invite contributions for papers that focus on territorial rights and
river basins, international law and watercourses, justice over mobile/trans-
border resources, natural resource rights and international justice, and
other associated areas.  Papers are invited from political philosophers and
related areas, such as international law, geography, and environmental
policy.

Confirmed Participants:

ALEJANDRA MANCILLA (Philosophy, Oslo)
OWEN MCINTYRE (Law, UCC)
MARGARET MOORE (Political Studies, Queens, Ontario)
PAULINA OCHOA ESPEJO (Political Science, Haverford)
ALISTAIR RIEU-CLARKE (International Law, Dundee)
KATRINKA SOMDAHL-SANDS (Political Geography, Rowan)

Student Paper Prize:  The most outstanding abstract contribution from a
current student will receive a prize in the form of financial support for
travel to the workshop.  Support will cover reasonable cost of transport to
Cork and two nights’ accommodation.

Workshop topic description: Our most important natural resource, fresh
water found in rivers and lakes, is often the object of international
conflict because of scarcity, misuse, and confusion over legitimate
claims.  In spite of the value of river basins, philosophical
investigations of rights over rivers are thin.  It is assumed that rights
over rivers derive from rights over geostationary lands, despite the fact
that river resources are not geostationary.  No theory asks why it is
justified for a state to claim territorial rights over a trans-boundary
river, if states should jointly share rights over trans-boundary rivers, or
if rivers, as a unique object, might require a distinct understanding of
territorial rights.  This workshop proposes to study the philosophical
foundations of territorial rights over river resources, the proper
distribution of these rights, and the challenge of balancing multiple
claims to the same resource.

Submission information: Paper abstracts of no more than 400 words should be
sent to Ray Davidson [[email protected] ] by Friday, February 6, 2015. If
you wish your submission to be considered for the Student Prize, please
state so clearly and note your student status and affiliation. Acceptance
notifications will be sent to applicants by Friday, February 20, 2015. A
selection of the papers presented in the conference will be published in a
special issue on the conference theme in the Territory and Justice Symposia
series, online at http://eis.bris.ac.uk/~plcdib/territory.html.
(Publication in the TJ Symposia does not preclude publication elsewhere.)

For more information, please contact:  Raymond Davidson
Email: [email protected]