BISA 2025 virtual conference - Global political imaginations: towards a more inclusive world

Name: BISA 2025 virtual conference - Global political imaginations: towards a more inclusive world
Start: 2025-01-13T07:05:00+00:00
End: 2025-01-15T18:50:00+00:00
Location: No location set

13 Jan 2025, 07:05 → 15 Jan 2025, 18:50 Europe/London

Description

Welcome to the event management area for our inaugural virtual conference -#VirtualBISA2025. Here you can register for your place at the conference.

Contact

virtualconferences@bisa.ac.uk

Monday 13 January
- 1
  Panel / Conflict, Justice, and Reconciliation
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More a Just World: Inequality and Exclusion
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  - Epistemic justice and the Avoidance of War - The International Order as Epistemic Framework
    
    Epistemic justice and the Avoidance of War - The International Order as Epistemic Framework
    
    Author: Ernesto Kettner (University of Münster)
  - Recipients, Activists, Experts: Discourses of Queer Inclusion and Ownership in Transitional Justice
    
    Recipients, Activists, Experts: Discourses of Queer Inclusion and Ownership in Transitional Justice
    
    Author: Caitlin Biddolph (University of New South Wales)
  - Reimagining Transitional Justice through Cinema: The Pregnant Tree and the Goblin (2019) and Camptown Women in Postcolonial South Korea
    
    Reimagining Transitional Justice through Cinema: The Pregnant Tree and the Goblin (2019) and Camptown Women in Postcolonial South Korea
    
    Author: Haneol Mun (Australian National University)
  - What do we do with the Voices of the Perpetrators? An Approach to the Narratives on the Colombian Armed Conflict
    
    Perpetrator narratives present complex challenges in transitional justice processes. They can vary from being intensely scrutinised to being marginalised or ignored altogether. Despite this, these narratives hold significant political sway and can further or hinder memory-building, truth-seeking, and peace-building efforts. This paper examines the role of perpetrator narratives in elucidating the deployment of violence during the Colombian armed conflict through an analysis of the existing literature on the conflict and a first approach to narratives of ex-combatants produced in transitional scenarios.
    
    The identification of four distinct narrative typologies seeks to enlighten the complexities inherent in these narratives and their implications as political tools.
    
    Justificatory Narratives: These narratives aim to rationalise armed struggle.
    
    Heroic Narratives: They seek to justify violence in the public sphere, perpetuating the armed conflict to resolve social tensions.
    
    Confessional Narratives: In which transitional justice and the principles of truth, justice, reparation, and non-repetition place victims at the centre and transform combatants into perpetrators
    
    Reparative Narratives: Arising from interactions between victims and perpetrators, these narratives aim to foster reconciliation and repair the harm caused, even if the reparation is not fulfilled in all cases.
    
    Navigating the complexities of perpetrators' narratives raises ethical and political dilemmas. By critically addressing these narratives, we aim to promote a more integrative and transformative approach to recognising the complexities of violence and the discourses we construct about it. Additionally, we can answer questions such as how narratives of violence shift over time and why.
    
    The paper presents initial outcomes from the doctoral project Beyond the Use of Violence: ex-combatants' Narratives on the Logic of Violence during the Colombian Armed Conflict. This project asks about ex-combatants' narratives on the justifications and rationalities of the use of violence in the Colombian case.
    
    Author: Irene Piedrahita (University of Glasgow)
- 2
  Panel / Global Structures of Precarity and Vulnerability
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More a Just World: Inequality and Exclusion
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Helen Turton (University of Sheffield)
  - The Haunted and the Hunted: Young, Male, Mobile - Are Young Men Protectable?
    
    Male deaths in the Mediterranean outnumbered female deaths by more than 2:1 in nine out of the last ten years for which data has been collected by the Missing Migrants Project. Yet, we do not need such drastic statistics to problematise the silences around the role that young men play in regimes of mobility management. Young men loom large in the imagination of mobility policy-makers and development practitioners when norms are formulated, without being intelligible as subjects to be protected.
    
    Much literature and practice in migration management understands gender as ‘womenandchildren’ (Enloe, 2014). Such constructions are critically analysed as monolithic, reductive and homogenous (Mohanty, 1988). Men are rendered equally undifferentiated as ‘subjects-who-perpetrate-violence’ (Mohanty, 1988:67). More recently ‘so-called “redundant” populations of underemployed racialized men’ (Cowan and Siciliano, 2011: 1516) were problematised.
    
    We will contribute to thinking about these political formations, how they interact with innovations in norm-making in quasi-legal pacts. These pacts speak of vulnerabilities and protection, the question is who exactly is protectable? We seek to complicate the idea of gender when it comes to norms of protection and engage the politico-administrative and legal structures that make masculinity. We draw on fieldwork undertaken in both East and West Africa.
    
    Authors: Christina Oelgemoller (Loughborough University) , Lucy Hovil
  - Moving Towards a Non-Productivist Society: Exploring the Insights of Gig Economy Workers Subjected to Structural Disablement
    
    This talk explores the critiques and vantage points of twenty-seven UK-based gig economy workers subjected to disablement oppression and exploitation, in relation to what it means to be a ‘productive member of society’. It also presents participants’ critiques of the principle of ‘productivity’, what they would replace this principle with, and what they would do if money were no object. The reflections shared by participants as co-visionaries in this project offer insight into how to struggle collectively towards the new horizons of a transformed society. The horizons are based, concretely, on alternative social relations prefigured against-and-beyond the capitalist wage system and its productivist and disabling dogma of work. Centring participants’ political aspirations in the way adopted in this project goes against the mainstream individual model of disability’s narrow search for the subjects of disablement’s pathologised ‘needs’ that ignores questions of their desires and collective struggles for flourishing. Rather than seek to reveal deeper meanings behind participants’ perspectives or selectively rescue the limited usefulness of work undertaken for a wage, this talk points to the contradictions that the participants have faced in their everyday lives and what they regard as the way out of such contradictions.
    
    Author: Ioana Cerasella Chis (University of Birmingham)
  - Negotiating Inclusion: Civil Society Advocacy and Evolution of the Roma Movement
    
    The obliviousness of the states towards the Roma has led to the intensification of the process of institutionalized racism. This has been responded to through a series of campaigns and advocacy by non-state organizations striving for policy changes to secure recognition of Roma rights. Normatively, Roma civil society can be considered as a site of resistance and emancipation against the domain of cultural hegemony, physical oppression and economic competition. However, the Roma movement is not an institutional movement and involves a plethora of organizations, actors and individuals.
    While non-state organizations play an important part, activists contend that a number of such organizations have been funded by European and American donors, necessitating adherence to the policies conditioned by the donors. Despite possessing technical skills like lobbying and communication, such organizations cannot be considered to potentially represent the Roma and are a departure from the core principles of the Roma Movement. The above situation is considered to have led the Roma being perceived as mere clients, significantly hindering the progress of the movement. The paper, in this context, attempts to identify the challenges and complexities of the Roma movement through an analyses of the role of civil society advocacy in negotiating inclusion.
    
    Author: Riddhi Sanyal (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
  - Decent Work for Undignified Wages? The Importance of Local Politics on Social Upgrading
    
    While multinational corporations tend to influence global value chains most through their governing power, the importance of sovereign states are also pointed out lately. The global garment industry is a big employer in labor-intensive industries and in countries and regions, where cheap labor is accessible. Furthermore, the examination of social upgrading is crucial. Countries on Europe’s Eastern periphery are subcontractors to mainly Western-European multinational fashion corporations. Meanwhile, sweatshop-like conditions can occur in the region and differences between minimum and decent living wages tend to be even bigger, than in Asia. The author states that policymaking on the nation-state level even have a bigger role in shaping social upgrading. The paper explores the importance of policymaking on the social upgrading opportunities of garment workers in Hungary through qualitative research methods, such as document analysis and research interviews. The findings show that high tax and associated costs, related to labor intensive sectors squeeze employers, who often employ workers without proper contracts. The ‘practice of norms’ allows employees receiving even less than the national minimum wage. The ‘flexible working hours’ legal regulation allows the transfer of overtime in peak seasons to months, where the firms suffer from the lack of orders.
    
    Author: Emese Dobos (HUN-REN CERS IWE)
- 3
  Panel / Inequality and Power in Indian Politics
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More a Just World: Inequality and Exclusion
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Kirti Singh (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
  - Digital Borders and Collective Memory: Social Media's Role in Shaping Historical Narratives in India
    
    Digital Borders and Collective Memory: Social Media's Role in Shaping Historical Narratives in India
    
    Author: Kirti Singh (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
  - How Powerful are the Courts? A Study of Judicial Autonomy in India (2014-2022)
    
    The power and the architecture of the Indian judiciary are largely indicative of the multiplicity of tasks assigned by the Constitution. The framers unanimously agreed upon making the judiciary not only the upholder of the rule of law but also the final interpreter of the Constitution. The motivation was to design a judicature that is independent and free from political influence. Nevertheless, disagreement with the political executive over constitutional interpretation became part of the judiciary’s constitutional journey. The contention reached its peak during the Emergency (1975-77) when the judiciary was subdued by the political executive. Although post Emergency judiciary emerged powerful by further strengthening the means to preserve its institutional independence, skirmishes with the executive continued. However, since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the government at the centre in 2014, the intensity of this contention has been deemed to have escalated. The judiciary is increasingly finding it difficult to exercise its jurisdiction in matters where the political executive is an active contender. Against this premise, this chapter assesses the conduct of the Indian higher judiciary in constitutionally pertinent matters between 2014-2022. The aim is to establish multiple points of conjunctions between the judiciary’s institutional erosion under the current ruling dispensation and its historical conduct.
    
    Keywords: The Supreme Court of India, high courts, political executive, the Constitution, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
    
    Author: Swarati Sabhapandit (Shiv Nadar University)
  - Of Rubble, Ruins and Razing: Choreographing the Destruction by Bulldozer Demolitions
    
    The article seeks to contribute to the burgeoning literature on the intersectionality between visuality and violence within the discipline of International Relations by highlighting the politics of bulldozer demolitions concomitant with the rise of authoritarianism in India. The bulldozer, which has traditionally been conceived as a harbinger of development and urban planning, feeds into the vocabulary of fear, crisis and danger as it insidiously represents unchecked sovereign power carrying out the spectacle of destruction targeting minority groups and subverting principles of justice in the contemporary Indian context. The article traces the aestheticization of violence carried out by the state through the inanimate machine and its ramifications with participatory crowds hysterically cheering at the demolitions. The spectacle of violence is crafted for visibility- to see the strong state in action against the purported enemies for its spectator-citizens which serves to legitimize state action. This performance emboldens the muscular masculinity of the state embodied in the leader that takes prompt action with complete disregard for due process and dialogue. The bulldozer simultaneously symbolizes revenge fantasy of the perceived injustices to assuage the majority anxieties by being an enforcer of law and order and operates as a source of entertainment for hysterically cheering crowds shaping affective responses to this novel form of punitive populism. The article establishes the bulldozer becoming synonymous with the iconography of right wing Hindu nationalism with a rise in demand for bulldozer tattoos and mentions in trending nationalist pop songs.
    
    Author: Ananya Sharma (Ashoka University)
  - Propagandist Film Making and the Myth Making Exercises of the Hindutva State
    
    The intimate connection between film production, history making and nation building is well established. This discursive struggle remains a particularly contested site especially when the contours of remembering, retelling and morphing of collective memory are considered. In the Indian case itself, this relationship between the mainstream Hindi film industry, morality, memory and propaganda has a rich history which is equal parts didactic and censorious and at times, critical, though never apolitical. However, since the advent of Modi on the political scene, the widening reach of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) IT cell and the proliferation of streaming services in India, a whole genre of blatantly propagandist cinema has taken root with enormous reach to proliferate polarising narratives of collective memory of episodes in Indian history. When considered that popular media in India is far from free and the expansive reach of fake news, these exercises in myth making and morphed retellings of history function as an addendum to the Hindutva project of rebuilding the Indian state according to its purported narratives.
    This paper analyses this morphing of memory, history and propaganda and the proliferation of Hindutva messaging in mainstream Hindi films. Intrinsically, the relevance of exploiting, modifying and constructing collective memory is at the heart of this analysis. There are many ways in which this relevance is visible present in film productions of recent times like the solidification of ongoing, recent struggles of power being consolidated into the public mindset for posterity with a clear bias towards the Hindutva state position as well as construction of state enemy like in the films Jehangir National University and Kerela Story; another is presenting a teleological, unitary narrative of contentious past Indian history with a simplifying narrative in line with the official Hindutva state position like Kashmir Files; finally, a third is the more categorical nature of propagandist films that consolidate all glory in the BJP like the films Toilet and Mission Mangal. It proposes three questions to delineate these processes: firstly, in what ways has film been used as a means of constructing history and how do these propagandist experiments eke legitimacy for their project; second, how is the Hindutva project building political agency via the medium of both the films being produced in support of its ideological and political project as well as the instrumentalisation and demonisation of agents of film making processes to solidify its project; thirdly, is there scope for protest in film as a site in India especially as a challenge to the production and solidification of collective memory making exercises by the Hindutva state.
    
    Author: Devika Misra (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
- 4
  Panel / Legitimising and Delegitimising Violence
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Stefanie Kappler (Durham University)
  - Attributing Resilience, Legitimating Domination: From Slaves to Refugees
    
    Refugees, we are told, should be thought of as resilient people with their own agencies and capacities for flourishing rather than (mere) victims in need of help. This discursive framing purports to uphold and celebrate refugees’ humanity. But such attributions of resilience can problematically serve to demand resilience from refugees, normalize their displacement, and legitimate the exclusionary policies of states. In this paper, I examine how powerful actors have long attributed resilience to vulnerable others so as to legitimate the exercise of control over them. The central example will be the logic of resilience found in historical claims that certain Africans are naturally more suited to slavery than white-bodied Europeans. I will then probe and consider the implications of how historical resilience-talk resonates with contemporary invocations of the resilience of refugees.
    
    Author: Luke Glanville (Australian National University)
  - Legitimation Practices in the United Nations Security Council
    
    UN Security Council decisions impact billions of people and yet its formal rules are minimal and tell us little about how decisions are made. Instead, informal, and often unwritten practices, form the basis of negotiations. This paper introduces and develops the concept of legitimation practices to analyse the UN Security Council’s decision-making. Legitimation practices shape the process and outcome of negotiations. ‘Internal’ legitimation practices, which relate to the legitimation of Security Council decisions such as prioritising unanimity, constrain and enable the text of resolutions. ‘External’ legitimation practices such as ‘doing something’, even if it cannot be implemented, relate to the legitimation of actors in the negotiations and shape whether decisions can be reached at all. This paper demonstrates the impact of legitimation practices within Security Council decision-making, focused on the case of Darfur. Security Council negotiations on Darfur are analysed to show how legitimation practices shape decision-making across a range of issue areas. Foregrounding legitimation practices sheds light on seemingly contradictory moments within Security Council decision-making, such as the United States enabling the referral of the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court, despite longstanding objections to the court and the capacity to veto the decision.
    
    Author: Jess Gifkins (University of Manchester)
  - “Legal, Humane, Aggressive”: Allegations, Acknowledgements, and Denials in Official Discourse Before Abu Ghraib
    
    In spring 2003, following the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, thought to be the “mastermind” behind Al Qaeda’s September 11th attacks, official discourse on the treatment of prisoners in the “war on terror” underwent a peculiar shift. Since late 2001, the question of whether the U.S. would, or should, use torture on suspected terrorists had been a consistent undercurrent of public debate. Yet while the official line was consistently one of denial, from spring 2003 we begin to see a rather curious intermixing of acknowledgements of torture-like practices, including sleep deprivation, light deprivation, and the temporary withholding of food, water, and medical attention, even as these practices were painted as “legal” and even “humane”, and certainly not “torture”. This paper thus analyzes the overlap and coexistence of two seemingly contradictory threads of discourse: one in which “harsh” and “aggressive” techniques are openly acknowledged, alongside another in which the U.S. insists that it is respectful of human rights and certainly would never engage in “torture”, aiming to explain how “denial” and “acknowledgement” may not be mutually exclusive, and may even co-construct one another.
    
    Author: Lisa Stampnitzky (University of Sheffield)
  - Questioning the Warist Orthodoxy: Pacifist Critical Reflections on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
    
    Pacifists are used to finding their arguments dismissed as naïve or even dangerous, especially once war has erupted. Yet this is precisely when pacifist arguments are arguably at their sharpest, and when questioning the ‘warist’ orthodoxy is most urgent. This paper demonstrates that by articulating three sets of pacifist critical reflections on the reactions to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Firstly, enough evidence has been mounting about the relative effectiveness of nonviolent (compared to violent) methods of civil resistance to ask how a coordinated national campaign of Ukrainian nonviolent resistance could have compared to the way the war has unfolded to date. Second, the defaulting to the military response that nonetheless prevailed rests on two ingrained assumptions that pacifists query: on the efficacy of violence as an instrument, and on the place of violence in ‘human nature’. Third, war also transforms agents of violence politically, economically, and culturally, thus further entrenching centralisation, militarism, ‘warism’, and their concomitant dangers. It is too late to apply such pacifist reflections to the conduct of the war in Ukraine until today, but it is not too late to do so for any ongoing tensions in the region, or for any defence planning the world over.
    
    Author: Alexandre Christoyannopoulos (Loughborough University)
  - Bombing Brigands and Rebels
    
    This paper investigates the rules which were used for justifying 'police bombing' practices in the Middle East in the 1920s and 1930s. Analysing British parliamentary debates and media coverage of police bombing at the time, I look into the ways in which justifications and critiques of the practice relied on ‘rules’ which were meant to separate the ‘guilty’ rebels from the innocent civilians. Looking more closely at these rules, for example the rule of giving prior warning of bombing campaigns to villages, shows the racialised and gendered assumptions about tribal areas and peoples under imperial control which these rules relied on. I build on postcolonial and critical IR and International Law literature to inquire into how – despite important differences – some of these racialised framings of 'rebels' still lingers in contemporary justifications of asymmetric war practices.
    
    Author: Elisabeth Schweiger (University of Stirling)
- 5
  Panel / Theorising World Order
  
  Sponsor: Theorising the Past, Present and Future of World Politics
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Mate Szalai (Ca Foscari University)
  - Platform or Sovereign: Reconceptualizing Institutions of Global Governance
    
    The fundamental structural question in global governance is whether the top-level institutions of global governance are discretionary platforms used by countries in pursuit of their national interests or emerging global sovereigns able to hold countries accountable to international obligations. This paper examines our current apex global intergovernmental institutions – UNSC, UNGA, ICJ, ICC, IMF/WB, UNFCCC and WTO, with a focus on decision-making, universality and autonomy. The analysis demonstrates that, in general, these institutions are indeed platforms for discretionary use by member states, reflecting (and reproducing) inequalities of power. However, there is one exception, the ICC, which is the one apex global institution which, among other powers, can itself without prior specific consent of the states initiate an action binding on all members. It is the only emerging sovereign in the global system. Not coincidentally, it is newest apex institution and the only one whose current membership does not include the majority of the permanent members of the UNSC as well as many other regional powers. Nevertheless, the trend towards emerging sovereigns – and considerations of their design and effectiveness – are worthy of recognition and careful further study.
    
    Author: Sami Farhad (Zhejiang University)
  - Anarchic World Order: Theorizing Future World Politics Through Historical Context
    
    The powerful multilateral actors and new economically advanced actors are militarily achieving their geopolitical aims. Be it China’s early takeover of Hong Kong, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or Israel’s military ambitions in Gaza. Diplomatic channels, peace-making efforts, and humanitarian assistance are failing as countries can get away with their military endeavor. The present multilateral institutions haven’t been able to resolve the conflicts as resolutions adopted at the United Nations have been of no resolve. It is argued that new actors namely representatives from the government, development partners, the private sector, civil society organizations, think tanks, and others need to be incorporated during policy formulation at the Institutional level to strengthen the present multilateral institutions for maintaining international peace. This shift from multilateralism to multipolarity is leading to a multitude of conflicts due to the use of military and hard power rather than diplomatic channels to achieve geopolitical aims and where multilateralism is becoming obsolete.
    
    Author: Pranjal Kuli (North-Eastern Hill University)
  - The Problem of Ontological Pluralism in the English School: Neoevolutionism as a Solution
    
    As Richard Little shows, the English School (ES) is based on ontological pluralism. According to Martin Wight, the international system is associated with realism, international society with Grotianism, and world society with revolutionism. Each of these traditions points to a different worldview that is incompatible with the other two. Some positivistically-oriented scholars (Martha Finnemore, Dale Copeland) have indicated that due to a lack of clarity, it is problematic to emphasize what the ES is trying to explain.
    
    In this paper, I want to present that ontological pluralism is coherent with the neoevolutionist philosophy of social sciences. If the fundamental mechanism is the interconnection between the three traditions (as Buzan shows), then the traditions represent the next steps in organizing international reality. Moreover, the scholarship within the ES supports this proposition. There are plenty of papers discussing how the international system can evolve into the international society, as well as how the world society can be an effect of the processes within the international society.
    
    Neoevolutionism fulfills the expectations of both positivistically- and hermeneutically-oriented scholars. The proposal not only provides an explanatory mechanism in the ES but also avoids determinism and naturalism.
    
    Author: Mateusz Ambrożek (Vistula University, Warsaw)
  - How Individuals Relate to International Society: Imaginations About the Other and How it Results in "Reality"
    
    International society is usually recognised as consisting of territorial sovereign states. The 'state' has been conceptualised as the guarantor of order and justice within its own territory and as a single actor externally. In reality, however, the state is an institution made up of individuals and groups, and is not a single "actor". Moreover, it is not uncommon for an individual to belong to more than one group or institution. In such a 'reality' that cannot be reduced to a simple 'international society - state - individual' vertical relationship, what is the theoretical relationship between the individual and international society? While previous studies in IR have discussed specific individuals, such as particular politicians and practitioners, how individuals in general relate to international society has not yet been theorised.
    This paper introduces the theoretical framework of "International Society" = International Society + International Society´. Put simply, "International Society" is a phenomenon, while International Society is 'something that has been regarded as an 'intersubjective reality', and International Society´ is 'cognition/imagination about the Other'. Individuals acquire International Society´ to take actions based on this cognition/imagination, which collectively forms International Society. This phenomenon is conceptualised as "International Society". By constructing this framework, this paper aims to theorise the relationship between the individual in general and international society, using 'cognition/imagination' as a key concept.
    
    Author: Ryoichi Watanabe (University of Tsukuba)
  - Explaining States’ Cooperation Through International Regimes with Other States while Preparing for Conflict
    
    Why do states commit so resiliently to cooperating in multilateral regimes with other states, even while mistrust deepens and these states may be preparing for war with each other? This puzzle is as urgent today, as international organisations struggle amid resurgent tensions among great powers, as it has been since international regulatory regimes first emerged. In a new book (in press, Oxford University Press), we present a novel neo-Durkheimian institutional explanation, showing shows that specific forms of social organisation in government can cultivate particular types of institutional buffering between aspects of external policy which can sustain commitment despite deepening conflict. To develop our explanation, using very large bodies of primary archival data, we examine Britain’s relations with the first global regulatory regime, before any norms of simultaneous cooperation and conflict could were institutionalised. This was the regime for international telegraphy, submarine telegraph cables and radiotelegraphy from the 1860s to the outbreak of war in 1914. The regime was created in a period of European wars, and cooperation, not least between Britain and Germany, which deepened cooperation in telegraphy even as war neared. Despite growing imperial conflicts and despite seriously contemplating leaving the International Telegraph Union in 1901-2, Britain became ever more closely involved with the three limbs of the regime, and even deepened cooperation with Germany as war neared. We show that this explanation fits the data better than either historical “struggle for control” or “capture” accounts or the key international relations and political science theories. Finally, we show that our analysis has implications for understanding trajectories of state formation.
    
    Authors: Perri 6 (Queen Mary University of London) , Eva Heims
- 6
  
  Conference event / Coffee and Networking Session
  
  Speaker: Dominic Hart (British International Studies Association)
- 7
  Panel / Gender and Conflict
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Irene Piedrahita (University of Glasgow)
  - ‘Like flesh and a nail’: Rethinking the Nexus of Familial Ties and Armed Conflict
    
    This article advances a feminist theorization of the critical nexus between family and armed conflict. It does so by examining the relationship between familial ties and women’s participation in fighting forces. We focus on two key questions: What are the familial ties that are constituted through conditions of war? And how do these ties shape women’s participation in armed groups, in various forms? Critical IR and feminist scholarship recognize that family sustains war symbolically and materially. Yet, what is missing is a theoretical conceptualization of the relationship between the diverse ties that constitute family in contexts of war and women’s participation in armed groups. Our novel framework – of militarized familial ties - conceptualizes familial ties as affective bonds that both emerge through and are transformed by war’s violence. This dynamic framing allows us, first, to systematically illustrate how familial ties shape key processes pursued by armed groups, including the recruitment and retention of fighters. And second, our framing offers crucial new insights into how the political subjectivities of women fighters intersect with familial ties. We offer a new typology of militarized familial ties to illustrate how pre-existing and emergent familial ties both condition, and are conditioned by, women’s participation in armed groups. We demonstrate the wider implications of our theoretical intervention by reflecting on long-term field research conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Nepal.
    
    Authors: Maria O'Reilly (Leeds Beckett University) , Hanna Ketola (Newcastle University)*
  - Jineolojî and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ): a Cartography on the Resistance of the Kurdish Women’s Movement to Femicide and Ecocide
    
    The Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) fighters became headlines in the Western media for creating a guerrilla made up exclusively of women in the Middle East who fought and defeated the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the Syrian War. In January 2018, the Afrin canton in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) became the target of Operation Olive Branch, launched by Turkey. Since then Afrin has been militarily occupied, and Kurdish women (including YPJ fighters) in the region have been increasingly targets of kidnappings, rapes, torture, executions, and mutilations. The environment is also attacked through ecocide, with the cutting of thousands of olive trees that are important to Afrin’s economy and a source of affective connection to the land for the Kurds. Therefore, the Turkish operation works through practices of violence aimed specifically at Kurdish women and their land. Jineolojî, the Science of Women and Life, a paradigm created by the Kurdish Women's Movement, interprets women and nature as colonized, seeking to disrupt this violently imposed inferiority by reclaiming women’s erased knowledge and connection to nature. In this paper, I will examine how Jineolojî is a source of resistance to femicide and ecocide while investigating how YPJ combat the gender violence present in Afrin’s occupation on the ground. The methods supporting this research are a cartography of the Kurdish Women’s Movement’s resistance and a bibliographical review on decolonial approaches, Critical Security Studies, and Gender Studies. Data from news and online interviews with Kurdish women are included.
    
    Keywords: Jineolojî; Kurdish Women’s Movement; Operation Olive Branch; Turkey; YPJ; Women’s Protection Units.
    
    Author: Leticia Gimenez (San Tiago Dantas)
  - Gender Representation in Military Recruitment: A Comparative Analysis of German and U.S. Social Media Videos
    
    Militaries worldwide face critical recruitment challenges that threaten national security and operational readiness. To address this, both the U.S. Military and the German Bundeswehr are focusing on the inclusion of women as a strategic solution. In today's digital age, the military, like many other organizations, leverages social media to attract new recruits, including women. This study examines how these militaries use YouTube Shorts to construct and communicate gender roles in their recruitment strategies. By analyzing 30 Shorts from each military's official YouTube channel, the research employs framing theory and constructivist-feminist theory to explore themes depicting women in the military. This approach provides a comparative analysis of the visual and narrative elements used to attract female recruits in two Western armies. Understanding these recruitment strategies is crucial for developing more inclusive approaches that resonate with the diverse identities and aspirations of potential female soldiers. By focusing on YouTube Shorts and the representation of women in military recruitment efforts, this research addresses a significant gap in the literature and offers practical recommendations for enhancing military recruitment strategies to better attract and retain women, thereby contributing to a more inclusive military environment.
    
    Author: Laura Homann (University of Massachusetts Lowell)
  - Reimagining ‘Negotiation’: Locating ‘Security’ in Afghan Women’s Narratives
    
    While diplomatic negotiations form a significant part of the mainstream discourse in IR, ‘negotiation’ may be reimagined from a gender lens. Though the WPS paradigm encompasses women’s roles as peacemakers, it remains strictly restricted to women with access to the diplomatic table – a largely unreachable domain. This article re-conceptualises ‘negotiation’ beyond the diplomatic table in an attempt to locate ‘security’ through Afghan women’s narratives. In this case, 'security' can rather be construed as the lack of it. The 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the remnant of which can be drawn from over two-decades-long War on Terror and the rise of the Taliban even before, can be categorised as an epic failure of diplomacy in which the country was left to its fate without much afterthought by the international community. The first section engages with diplomatic negotiations both conceptually and historically, as witnessed in Afghanistan. Based on interviews with 15 Afghan women, who are direct/indirect witnesses of the Taliban seizure in 2021, the second section builds upon two aspects of negotiation. First, the silencing of women negotiators belonging to the Afghan civil society. Taking a cue from Rae Langton's reimagination of the speech act, the paper argues that this is a calculated silencing of women in a WPS paradigm by imposing an illocutionary disablement of women's speech act— stemming from the systematic subordination of women. Second, strategising survival as part of women’s daily negotiation with life. As emanates from a thematic analysis of narratives, security in this sense is ‘personal’ as well as ‘international’.
    
    Author: Debangana Chatterjee (National Law School of India University)
- 8
  Panel / Global Health Politics
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Cooperative World: North, South, and Beyond
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  - Is There a New 'Right to International Solidarity' in post-COVID International Society?
    
    This contribution considers a new right proposed in post-COVID-19 international society, ‘right to international solidarity’, and the prospects for its adoption and practical implementation. A new right to international solidarity has emerged in UN discourse as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed and a draft declaration defines it as ‘the expression of a spirit of unity among individuals, peoples, States and international organizations, encompassing the union of interests, purposes and actions and the recognition of different needs and rights to achieve common goals’. (1) The proposed dimensions of this new right include ‘preventive solidarity’, ‘reactive solidarity’ and ‘international cooperation’. My contribution to the BISA conference will examine the proposed new right to international solidarity and the ensuing debate at the UN through documents deposited at the Digital UN Library, identify the sticking points around the proposed new right and consider the prospects for its effective implementation in a deeply divided world.
    
    (1) Draft Declaration on the Right to International Solidarity. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/DraftDeclarationRightInternationalSolidarity.pdf
    
    Author: Ipek Ruacan
  - Putting Solidarity Projects in Context: Analyzing Cohesion in Pandemic Policies in CELAC and SAARC
    
    There is no dearth of cases to be evaluated when comparisons of regionalisms in South Asia and Latin America are conceptualized. However, while the overarching flagship regional organisation of South Asia, namely the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has often suffered severe stalemates due to regional tensions, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations, has presented itself on the opposite spectrum of active, if at times ineffectual, declaratory regionalism. Where regional integration in Latin America is both policy and project (Tussie 2009), in South Asia, regional rivalries, international interference and fraught identity driven nationalisms have precluded discussions of cohesion, even in the face of conjoined histories. The presence of rival regional powers, starkly in the case of South Asia and more obliquely in Latin America has enabled interesting solidarity patterns to emerge in the regional formations. Yet, SAARC and CELAC both continue to exist, both are evoked in times of crisis and both continue to represent different versions of regional solidarities that are enunciated variously by these regional rivals where different trajectories of development and different political ideologies have acted as intervening variables.
    The context of the pandemic only served to exacerbate the need for neighbourly support systems in an increasingly introverted international system which had been marked by rising protectionism and hypernationalism. This paper attempts to understand how these regional solidarity projects fared by evaluating the pandemic regional policies of two regional powers in the regions, namely India and Brazil in the regional institutions of SAARC and CELAC. Both countries have made claims for not just regional leadership but also leadership at the international stage. Both, have had these claims contested by other regional powers in their respective regions. Both have been governed by increasingly nationalist regimes and both countries have suffered gravely under the pandemic. However, while the Modi-government in India has eked out its own internationalist path towards supporting multilateralism, the Bolsonaro government in its policy of negation of the pandemic, has increasingly introverted itself from the region. What are the ways in which the region was utilized by these countries to forge domestic policies of legitimacy? In what ways did their individual behavior stack against the existence of these two all-encompassing regional organisations? What are the hopes for regional solidarity post-pandemic in South Asia and Latin America?
    This paper aims to unearth nuances of pandemic behaviour of these two regional giants by firstly, evaluating the histories of regional solidarity in South Asia and Latin America. Secondly, it hopes to situate regional cooperation projects in both regions in context through an evaluation of SAARC and CELAC. Finally, it hopes to disentangle the vagaries of pandemic support and containment policies by these two regional giants with their regional partners.
    
    Author: Devika Misra (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
  - Protection for Whom and From What? A Care Ethics Approach to the Role of Protective Clothing in Pandemic Times
    
    Ideas of protection sit at the center of health care practice. Surprisingly, literatures on the health-security nexus evade thorough conceptualization of protection albeit implicitly discussing notions of protection through conceptions of security and safety. The health-security nexus, thus, not only constitute one key example of the absence of an in-depth engagement with protection in IR, but also constitute a critical site to intervene into this void.
    We argue that a feminist ethics of care can help us to conceptually trace and problematize how ideas of protection manifest and enables us to explore whose protection is taken seriously and how different needs for protection are (not) addressed.
    The article proceeds in three steps. Firstly, we outline the particular role of protection in health crises where bodies can be in need of protection and at the same time might be the cause for this very need and suggest protective clothing as an actual research material to address this complexity. Secondly, we introduce a feminist ethics of care perspective as a useful theoretical lens to critically approach and grasp the discursive and material negotiations of protection and, thirdly, exemplarily apply this lens to different manifestations of the protection suit across health crises.
    
    Authors: Katharina Krause , Katharina Wezel
  - Federalism in Times of COVID-19: An Analysis of the Paradiplomatic Actions of Brazilian Governors from 2019 to 2021
    
    This research analyzes the changes in Brazilian paradiplomacy during the Bolsonaro government, focusing on the engagement of states during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the governors of the Southeast and Northeast regions. The hypothesis is that this period initiated significant transformations in the relationship between the federal government and governors, consolidating a disruptive federalism. This federalism is characterized by intensified conflicts between subnational governments and the national government, both domestically and internationally, driven by the pandemic and the country's political and economic instability. Brazilian paradiplomacy thus takes on new directions, with governors forming domestic coalitions and straining relations with the national government. They act as domestic containment barriers and exercise active federative diplomacy internationally, often in direct conflict with the federal government. The research, covering the period from 2019 to 2021, investigates the international movements and actions of the governors, using primary and secondary data.
    
    Author: Debora Figueiredo M Prado (Federal University of Uberlandia)
  - Inequality and Exclusion : Addressing Global Health Disparities
    
    Global Health inequality remains a critical issue creating a mass divide between affluent and marginalized population. This etract investigates the multifaceted nature of the disparities on a global scale, focusing on how socio-economic, geographic and systematic factors contricbute unequal access to healthcare services. Through examining the studies from various regions, the paper identifies key determinants of health inequality,income disparaities, lack of infrastructure and discriminatory practies. The study highlights the contrast in health outcomes between high income countries and low and middle income countries, where preventable diseases, maternal and mortality and malnutrition persist at alarming rates. Furthermore, this paper will focus on how health affects rapidly in conflict region and how can it have a drastic effect, taking North and South Korea into attention. The paper explores the role of internatiion organizations, government and nongovernmental in addressing these disparities through initiatives like SDSs and universal health coverage programs. The finding underscore the need for comprehensive approach that integrates economic development and social policies to mitigate health inequalities while promoting equity in healthcare system. By promoting equity in healthcare access and addressing root cause for inequity and this paper argues for concerns in global efforts that every individual, regardless socio-economic status or geographic location has the right to achieve optimal health and well being as per UN convention of human rights.
    
    Author: Kividi Koralage
- 9
  
  / Meet the Editors
  
  Speakers: Andrew Mumford (University of Nottingham), Andy Hom (University of Edinburgh)
- 10
  Panel / The Future of Weapons, Technologies and Battlegrounds
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Nick Caddick (ARU)
  - Outer Space: An Emerging Battleground?
    
    Space is a ‘Global Common’ and its resources lie beyond the jurisdiction of any state and are regulated and governed by international law. Today, space is seen as an increasingly important enabler of economic and military power. The strategic significance of space has driven a few states to build arsenals of counterspace weapons to disrupt, degrade, or destroy space capabilities and the ability of others to utilise the space domain. The strategic dependence on space assets makes them an attractive target for adversaries, moving the warfighting domain to outer space. While there has been strong taboo on weaponisation of space, several nations have developed and demonstrated their ground-based Anti-Satellite (ASAT) capability that has become centre of attention. Furthermore, there are commercial technologies that can be put to military use such as high-resolution commercial imagery, satellite navigation/positioning equipment etc. The rapid expansion in space use and the difficulty of determining the true intent of some satellite systems, has led experts to conclude that the next steps in space explorations could be the eventual weaponisation of space. This study seeks to explore how these emerging technologies pose a threat to outer space security and if at all, space can become a new battleground.
    
    Author: Akanksha Kalyan (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
  - Towards Global Zero: Brazil’s Distinct Role in the Quest for a World Free from Nuclear Weapons
    
    Can Brazil play a leading role in the promotion of Global Zero? Nuclear disarmament is a multifaceted and evolving process that encompasses not only the reduction of nuclear arsenals but also the fostering of trust, the reinforcement of international norms, and the implementation of stringent control measures. Traditional IR approaches, which often focus on power and structure, tend to overlook the influence of Non-Nuclear Weapon States (NNWS) in advancing this endeavor, ignoring that Nuclear Weapon States (NWS) cannot shoulder this responsibility alone. In the increasingly interdependent and multipolar world of the 21st century, the quest for nuclear disarmament must be addressed as a shared global responsibility, in which NNWS play a crucial role. Among these, Brazil stands out given its status as a middle power and its political positioning, free from alliances that endorse the nuclear deterrence doctrine. This analysis highlights Brazil’s unique capabilities compared to other NNWS like Canada and Germany, providing valuable insights into how Global South states can enhance the perspectives of comprehensive solutions for international challenges, aiming at a more secure world.
    
    Author: Geórgia Albuquerque
  - Imagining the Future Sky: Drone Technology and Power Dynamics in Contemporary Turkey
    
    Turkey's rise as an "emerging drone power" fueled discussions among policymakers and the media alike. Drones shifted away from the military to the civilian domain and from international space to domestic space. This paper explores how civilian drone development and deployment, which digitize domestic airspace, contribute to the formation of political and social imaginaries surrounding drone technology in Turkey. This study examines the nexus and power dynamics between technology, state, and society by utilizing the concept of “sociotechnical imaginaries” developed by Jasanoff and Kim (2015). This research is based on over one year of fieldwork, including around 60 semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observation, and one focus group interview. The interview groups include drone users, drone industry groups, legislators, aviation lawyers, aviation engineers, researchers, senior police officers, and high-rank civil aviation public servants. Also, Turkey’s aspiration for drone technology vis-à-vis the West is illustrated by examining political narratives around drones from the late 1980s until now. Thus, it sheds light on socio-political imaginaries and practices around drone technology in relation to policy-making processes.
    
    Author: Zeynep Şartepe
- 11
  Panel / Theorising Global Power
  
  Sponsor: Theorising the Past, Present and Future of World Politics
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Jales Caur (University of Brasília)
  - Power Transition Theory and its Limitation in Analyzing China’s Rise as a Dominant Power
    
    The 20th century created the perfect ground for emerging powers to challenge existing ones, leading to significant shifts in the international power structure. AFK Organski’s Power Transition Theory (1958) studies these shifts and identifies China as a key challenger to the U.S. hegemony. However, as China approaches its hegemonic status, some Western-focused IR theories may require revision to accommodate the unique aspects of China’s rise. China’s commitment to international institutions, soft power policies, and economic cooperation contradicts the aggressive power shifts traditionally associated with rising power and power transitions. Statements that try to justify an aggressive perception of the Chinese policies to fit a theory end up limiting China’s rise as power and its process, history, and policy. An entire analysis as important as China’s rise as a power can be damaged by not revising a theory. The Power Transition Theory is pragmatic and rationalist, but it doesn’t erase its flexibility, and make it very useful. Through a brief literature review, this article explores whether the Power Transition Theory can solely explain China’s rise or if additional theoretical frameworks will be necessary in future research.
    
    Author: Jacy Magalhães (Universidade de Brasília)
  - When Agency Trumps Structure: Modern Problems and Historical Lessons from the UK to the US
    
    This paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the United States’ loss of systemic power leadership by testing the historical evidence for hegemonic stability theory treatment of the UK’s case (Krasner 1976). Drawing on local archival records, it shows how free traders in key positions of power across the political spectrum (Liberals, Conservatives and Labour) shaped protection not as a mere response to pressing macroeconomic challenges (balance of payments, currency float, unemployment), but also as an imperial and international trade liberalisation strategy. The new empirical evidence and a different level of analysis (individual agency) justify this novel interpretation of this case, which can be reframed as Britain’s lead forward from a failed attempt to reconstruct the pre-WWI international liberal economic order in the 1920s. In the aftermath of Brexit and foreshadowing the possibility of the second Trump election, this paper offers important policy lessons about reversing the slide to protectionism and restoring economic openness in times of hegemonic decline.
    
    Author: Oksana Levkovych (London School of Economics and Political Science)
  - Multicentric But Decentred: Order and Hegemony in the Land Below the Wind
    
    Abstract
    
    The land below winds was once governed by a multicentric international order. The trans-oceanic mercantile relations between merchants and diplomats from both regions continued throughout the extensive influential centres of networks, ports, commodities, and agencies that showed sovereignties’ characteristic of decentred hegemony. Numerous scholars argue that Indonesia’s Islandic geographies, its forest produces, and Buddhist/Hindu universal belief might naturally be the key factors that govern the maritime traffic mobility. But the multicentric international system was apparently more visible during the period of Muslim maritime encounters where their value of decentral race and belief system were further accommodated by the natural compass of the geographies. This situation had made the region ready for a multicentric international order in its economic and political exchanges as displayed through the relation between Islands in South India, Indonesia and Malaysia between the 15th to 19th centuries. Through consulting numerous primaries works such as European reports, and archival materials, this paper examines factors that trigger the rise of multicentric order during the Maritime age. It assesses the factors that motivate the centuries old cycle of contacts between the regions. It further identifies the waning process of the order. It is expected that the study will provide an additional narrative on the nature of characteristic and identities of international order in the land below the wind.
    
    Keywords: Multicentric order, land below the winds, decentral Muslims, hegemony, power politics
    
    Author: Nia Deliana (International Islamic University of Indonesia)
  - Trust In Who? You?: Arafat, Rabin and the 1993-1994 Oslo and Cairo Agreements
    
    The role of face-to-face interactions and interpersonal relations of different kinds, whether marked by trust, distrust, mistrust, or something between, has been widely recognised in the development of negotiations. Indeed, much importance is placed on the face-to-face interactions between leaders of states and non-state actors inside and outside the negotiating room. Yet the development of relations between individuals begins before they have even met. Thus any face-to-face interactions occur within the context of existing perceptions and judgements of the other. Drawing on various English-language discursive materials and elite interviews, this paper examines the dyadic relationship between Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin from the emergence of the Oslo Channel in December 1992 to the signing of the Cairo Agreement in May 1994. We examine how the nature and dynamic of the relationship between the two leaders shifted as they moved from indirect interactions through negotiators (i.e. through the 1992-1993 Oslo Channel and, to a lesser extent, the concurrent Washington negotiations) to direct face-to-face interactions (such as those in Cairo). The paper seeks to contribute to the existing literature on the Rabin-Arafat relationship by applying the theoretical framework of distrust, mistrust, ambivalence, and trust.
    
    Authors: David Wilcox , Nicholas Wheeler (University of Birmingham)* , Asaf Siniver (University of Birmingham)*
- 12
  
  Roundtable / Global IR: Reflections on the discipline
  
  Speakers: Carolina Moulin (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais), John Hobson (University of Sheffield), Navnita Chadha Behera (Delhi University), Pinar Bilgin (Bilkent University), Siba N’Zatioula Grovogui (Cornell University)
- 13
  Panel / Accountability, Inclusivity and Sustainable Futures
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Sustainable World: Environmental Degradation, Development and Responsibility
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: David Duriesmith (University of Sheffield)
  - Advancing Inclusivity in Global Mineral Trade: The Role of Sustainable Practices and Technological Innovations in Quantifying Minerals in the Global South
    
    Negotiation of mineral contracts in the global south, particularly African countries have been critiqued by scholars for several reasons including unbalanced terms of trade, forced negotiations or renegotiations, asymmetry of information on quantifying mineral deposits, pricing and supply chain. Despite these concerns contracts signed under inequitable terms are still binding. The unbalanced terms of such contracts prejudice most African countries that are host states to key minerals with higher prices such as gold, copper and Lithium. This paper asks: How can Africa’s mining industry be equitably included in world global trade? This paper departs from the conservative approach to inclusion where different stakeholders are invited in and of itself. Rather, it deploys a different tool (that is a technological breakthrough with the femtosecond laser ablation laser induced breakdown spectroscopy: fs-la-libs) of measuring minerals using Lithium as an exemplar. With this new technology, the quantity and quality of minerals such as Lithium can be accurately predicted. It also fulfills one crucial UN sustainable development global goal to ensure sustainable energy supply, green technology and environmental protection. This paper contends that leveraging this innovative technological advancement in mineral exploration will provide host African countries engaged in negotiations with precise and comprehensive value of their mineral resources, both quantitatively and qualitatively. This information can also be leveraged to aid in compliance with contractual obligations for sustainable mining in negotiating fair terms of mineral trade and supply chain. Apart from its importance in aiding symmetry of information to host countries in negotiating practices, it also ensures equitable inclusion in global mineral trade.
    
    Keyword: sustainable mining; Africa, terms of trade; quantifying minerals; femtosecond laser ablation laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy
    
    Author: Sandy Minkah Kyei (University of Portsmouth)
  - Governance and Dichotomies: Comparing Mineral Value Chains in India
    
    Ever since the industrial age, mineral extraction has been a fundamental feature of the global political economy. This paper examines the governance of mineral value chains, focusing on coal and bauxite mining in India. While considerable scholarly attention has been given to the state's role in mineral extraction, it remains underexplored in the broader context of global value chains (GVC) and economic governance. My research addresses this gap by analyzing the state's role at each stage of the mineral chain—from exploration and licensing to extraction, transportation, and further processing.
    Coal, primarily used for domestic power generation, is emblematic of “dirty fuel” within India's local commodity chains, while bauxite, processed into aluminum for global green energy solutions, epitomizes a "green" mineral integral to international value chains. While past studies have demonstrated the important of extraction at the beginning of commodity chains, my research seeks to emphasize how the end-uses may matter for the extractive beginnings of chains, shedding light on how states navigate the competing pressures of economic development alongside environmental concerns. I underscore the complexities and nuances in policy frameworks and regulatory environments that govern the establishment and management of mineral chains.
    By situating the role of the state within the broader discourse of GVCs and economic governance, this paper contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the intersection between political economy, global production, and the environment. The findings aim to advance dialogue on the intersection of economic governance and environmental sustainability in the international political economy, providing valuable insights for scholars and policymakers alike.
    
    Author: Vidushi Bahuguna
  - Super-Networks in International Politics: The Right to a Healthy Environment Coalition
    
    This paper introduces “super-networks” as new advocacy actors in International Politics. Super-networks establish a new advocacy layer above (“super”) already existing individual transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and can be described as partnerships of different TANs that operate across policy fields. Through TAN-TAN collaboration, super-networks advance a consolidated advocacy strategy, magnified by the unity, numbers and the diversity of organizations from various policy fields involved.
    The main objectives of this paper are to (1) develop a new theoretical framework to analyse super-networks, to (2) present rich empirical details analysing one particular super-network, i.e. the Right to a Healthy Environment (R2HE) Coalition that successfully advocated for the recognition of the new international human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the UN Human Rights Council (2021) and in the UN General Assembly (2022), and to (3) further discuss the relevance and value-added of the super-network concept in International Politics.
    Empirically, this paper is based on a content analysis of primary advocacy documents and expert interviews with key representatives of the R2HE Coalition but also experts of the UN Environment Programme and the UN Human Rights Council, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment.
    
    Author: Andrea Schapper (University of Stirling)
- 14
  Panel / Decolonising International Studies Teaching
  
  Sponsor: Reflexivity and Innovative Practice in Teaching and Pedagogy
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Lisa Stampnitzky (University of Sheffield)
  - Decolonising Higher Education: Professional Practice and HE Imaginaries
    
    This paper investigates how UK Politics departments are approaching decolonisation and the staff visions of a decolonised Higher Education sector. Decolonisation is often perceived as a 'buzzword' of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion efforts in the HE sector. However, the complexity of decolonisation, merits a wider discussion on how decolonisation should be pursued and organised. Using online interviews with academics with different levels of seniority, this research explores staff experiences and perceptions of current decolonisation efforts at the departmental and university level.
    
    The research has two main objectives. Firstly, it aims to understand how academics view ongoing decolonisation initiatives. Secondly, it seeks to identify common ground for building a vision of a decolonised Higher Education sector. During the second part of the interviews, participants are encouraged to discuss priorities, pathways, and desired outcomes. This paper focuses on the imaginaries around the production of knowledge, visions on how to move beyond Western-centric and Western-produced research; Diffusion of knowledge, imaginaries on how to move beyond the canon; and Teaching approaches, imaginations on how to avoid reproducing colonial relations within the classroom. This research hopes to contribute to a more inclusive and critical Politics curriculum and Higher Education environment.
    
    Author: Perla Polanco Leal (The University of Manchester)
  - Global Palestine and the Politics of Solidarity: Decolonial Pedagogy and Praxis
    
    The growing centrality of Palestine in global discourse signifies a paradigm shift wherein the Palestinian struggle is becoming recognized as emblematic of broader global forces of injustice, oppression, and exploitation that affect various marginalized and oppressed communities globally. Informed by the theories of decoloniality, anti-colonial education, and the pedagogy of solidarity, this paper examines the pedagogical efforts to design an IR module, "Global Palestine and the Politics of Solidarity," that situates Palestine as a site of a global struggle for justice and a focal point for international solidarity activism. Co-written with a third-year student, the paper explores a plethora of decolonizing modes, processes, and strategies to create a classroom that serves as a site of decolonial and anti-colonial learning, action-oriented engagement, and solidarity. These efforts include undoing colonial discursive spaces and the relevant conceptual and theoretical paradigms in the study of Palestine-Israel by foregrounding the marginalized voices and epistemologies of indigenous anti-colonial sources of knowledge, challenging traditional classroom structures and teaching oligarchies, undoing the coloniality of power through critical processes of self-reflexivity, and reimagining alternative political futures without global colonial, imperial, and racist structures.
    
    Authors: Amelia Caldecott , Aneta Brockhill (University of Exeter)
  - “Vou aprender a ler para ensinar meus camaradas”: Translating Texts on Race, Racism and IR as a Practice of Intellectual Emancipation in Universidade de Brasília, Brazil
    
    This paper seeks to discuss translation as an inclusive and emancipatory pedagogy in International Relations, especially on teaching race and racism. Such endeavor intends to face an imperial, white and Anglo-Saxon reasoning which is, broadly speaking, intrinsic to Western scientific dissemination. In that respect, English for Specific Purpose (ESP) has become a lingua franca to speak and (to have a chance) to be heard (Spivak, 1993). This criterion informs gatekeeping processes and gives meaning to different facets of inequalities from the global color line (Du Bois, 1903). Based on extension reports from a project named Laboratory of Afrocentric Studies in International Relations, LACRI/UnB (Brasília, Brazil), translation as cultural translocation has been working as a collective venue where personal meets international. With essential texts about race, racism and IR, translated to Brazilian Portuguese by students, black people begin to think of discipline’s main (theoretical and sociopolitical) problems, also by rethinking them through racial lenses, or even fostering conversation with black and Brazilian references, which are discursively dismissed as non-IR work. Thus, founded on the process of translating foreign-language-written-texts, we aim to demonstrate how students seize literature on race and racism in IR, and out of that, produce original analysis and understanding.
    
    Authors: Vinícius Venancio , Jhader Cerqueira do Carmo
  - Decolonizing Knowledge: Embracing Diverse Epistemologies Beyond Eurocentrism in International Relations
    
    This paper aims to explore how to embrace diverse methods of knowledge production without excluding those outside the Eurocentric scientific framework. The distinction between "scientific" and "non-scientific" knowledge stems from hierarchical and racist perspectives tied to the capitalist project, which encompasses civilizational discourse, colonialism, and the persistence of colonial ideas and practices. By employing the first person to highlight the importance of individual experiences within collective contexts, this paper focuses on my experience as a student, professor and educator in the International Relations' field. I will consider analytical categories such as Black woman in the Northeast of Brazil (nordestina), and being a middle-class woman from the Global South to understand how the intersectionality and decolonization of knowledge cross me and influence my academic practices. To develop this analysis, I will use the qualitative method and decolonial theoretical perspectives, as these consider the agency of non-European bodies in the academic environment. The paper asserts that multiple valid ways of producing knowledge exist, even if they do not conform to European paradigms. From regions and communities often overlooked in these spaces, we, as scholars from the Global South, examine our own practices and realities to develop perspectives rooted in our own context.
    
    Author: Camila Santos Andrade (UFPB/University of Johannesburg)
- 15
  Panel / Governance, Actors and Discourses on Borders and Mobility
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Connected Word: Borders, Mobility and Technology
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Amya Agarwal (Centre for Global Cooperation Research)
  - Recognising Refugees in Brazil: The Political Use of the `Severe and Generalised Violation of Human Rights` Recognition Criterion
    
    Severe and generalised violations of human rights (SGVHR) have been discussed in International Relations (IR) and International Law (IL). In Refugee Studies, it is present in the 1984 Cartagena Declaration’s refugee conception, which expanded the 1951 Geneva Convention’s asylum definition. SGVHR is recognized as an important contribution to the protection of forcibly displaced people in Latin America. While many Latin American countries applied Cartagena’s refugee concept in their own national asylum frameworks, the Cartagena Declaration did not explain what SGVHR specifically meant, what situations it comprises, nor how it should be applied. Our paper draws from the literature on SGVHR in IR and IL to analyse the Brazilian uses of SGVHR, and the definitional criteria applied to recognise refugees under the SGVHR grounds. Brazil was the first country in Latin America to incorporate SGVHR in its Asylum Law (9474/1997) and has widely used it, especially in the Venezuelan migration. We argue that Brazil’s employment of the SGVHR criterion has been used to meet the political interests of the country’s different governments. In order to assess this, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of the minutes from official meetings of the Brazilian National Committee of Refugees (CONARE), the institution responsible for recognising refugees in Brazil. These minutes are useful because CONARE members discuss asylum cases, public policies for refugees and specific country of origin situations allowing us to understand how SGVHR is applied in asylum decision-making. Our findings not only contribute to showing the political uses of the SGVHR concept but of refugee recognition itself and demonstrate that an expanded refugee definition, although broadening the grounds for international protection, does not prevent states from strategically protecting and selecting some refugees to the detriment of others.
    
    Author: Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli (University of Sheffield)
  - The Response for Venezuelans Platform (R4V): A New Development of a Regional Perspective on Migration Governance or Business as Usual? Notes on Norm Diffusion and Financial Donors
    
    The Response for Venezuelans Platform (R4V): A new development of a regional perspective on migration governance or business as usual? Notes on norm diffusion and financial donors
    
    Author: Matheus Felten Fröhlich (University of Vale do Taquari)
  - Bordering During Health Emergencies: Looking Beyond the State
    
    Bordering during health emergencies: Looking beyond the state
    
    Author: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
- 16
  Panel / Theorising Realism for the 21st Century
  
  Sponsor: Theorising the Past, Present and Future of World Politics
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Liam Stanley
  - Understanding the Impact of Sanctions on Iran’s Military power
    
    Economic sanctions have long been a critical tool in international relations to enforce states to alter their behaviors and mitigate the threats they pose to other states. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran has been subjected to numerous sanctions related to various conflicts, including its nuclear and missile programs. Despite these comprehensive sanctions, Iran has not significantly changed its policies, nor have the economic sanctions mitigated the conflicts with Iran in the Middle East. Instead, Iran has continued to increase its military influence and presence in the Middle East. This raises the question: how has Iran managed to enhance its military presence in the region and become a challenge for other states despite facing comprehensive economic sanctions? This study investigates the impact of sanctions on Iran’s military power, specifically its ballistic missiles and drones. The research will analyze how Iran’s military influence in the Middle East has been achieved under significant economic sanctions. To explore Iran’s strategic military response to facing sanctions, this study employs the theories of structural realism, particularly Mearsheimer, Waltz, and Buzan. By examining these theoretical frameworks, the study aims to explore Iran’s resilience and strategic alternatives in maintaining and increasing its military strength under economic sanctions.
    
    Author: Zeinab Nikookar (The Aga Khan University)
  - Imagining National Interest for a Plural World
    
    National interest is a core feature of the modern state, purporting to legitimize actions within the international. Yet, it is still a much-debated concept at the centre of IR scholarship. At a crucial time for the post-WWII order, I argue that reclaiming classical realism’s conception of interest can contribute to a more peaceful and plural international system. A novel constructivist reading of Hans Morgenthau interprets interest as a dual concept implying a normative standard and a contingent feature.
    Contrary to widely-accepted depictions of realist national interest, Morgenthau’s standard is not axiomatic from self-preservation or geopolitical features. Instead, it involves a choice to adopt an identity which involves certain epistemological and value frameworks, which are made explicit in the national interest. This view advocates for some objectivity, acknowledging a plural system, enabling intersubjective practices, and incorporating long-term considerations, setting limits to political accommodation.
    Post-Soviet Russia illustrates the complexities of this duality, as successive administrations have sought to redefine national interests with alternative identities. Having ultimately opted for direct conflict with the post-WWII order, Morgenthau’s standard indicates which political accommodations may contribute to a future stable order - and which should not be contemplated.
    
    Author: Leon Sosnowski (King’s College London)
  - Future-Proofing Realism - How Ontological Security can Expand Realism's Explanatory Scope
    
    Can Realism be generalised such that it maintains its legacy while becoming fit for the future? Realism's demonstrated prowess and explanatory power for the past are rarely questioned. But it is increasingly criticised for its Western-centrism. Realism is believed to be incapable of grasping a changing world and of generating a positive outlook. If Realism takes to heart the criticism of rationalist approaches voiced in Ontological Security Studies (OSS), it can adapt and remain relevant after the end of the post-Cold War order Anthony Blinken has sensed.
    
    OSS maintain that the structure within which states interact is not pre-given, but owes its existence to the actors' narration and|or enactment. However, OSS have not yet proposed a full-fledged alternative to IR's mainstream approaches. This is possibly due to OSS having not yet integrated the concept of power into their analytical frameworks. Here, a model of the international system is built inductively from OSS literature. It is based on the assumption that an agent's power is reflected in their impact on the generation of the international system. The proposed is not only suited for the analysis of alternative orders, but also compatible with close readings of ur-Realists Thucydides and Hobbes.
    
    Author: Ernesto Kettner (University of Münster)
  - A Mechanic World: the Impact of the Newtonian Philosophy on the Realist Theory of International Relations
    
    In light of the ongoing debates surrounding reason and empiricism and their congruence in the construction of International Relations (IR), this paper seeks to explain how the Newtonian philosophy has shaped IR through its principal theoretical framework: the Realism. Amongst the influence of Isaac Newton’s discoveries and contributions on various epistemological grounds, the impact on social sciences remains relatively unexplored. The idealisation of reality as a perfect machine, situated within an environment comprising entities behaving accordingly to predicted laws, not only developed the field of hard sciences, but also shaped how social sciences interacted with and understood their own surroundings Consequently, the hegemonic status of Realism within IR theories, which were conceived in the context of the scientificisation of IR, led to the Newtonian heritage being brought to the discipline. This prompted the emergence of other theories that were influenced by this way of thinking to a certain extent, either contributing to Realism or offering a critique of it. This influence has shaped the discipline's theoretical, analytical, and practical approaches within an environment characterised by diverse worldviews that challenge the assumptions made by the Newtonian mechanical approach.
    
    Keywords: International Relations Theory, Realism, Newtonianism
    
    Author: Jales Caur (University of Brasília)
Tuesday 14 January
- 17
  Panel / Global Climate Politics
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Sustainable World: Environmental Degradation, Development and Responsibility
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Rosaleen Duffy (University of Sheffield)
  - Vulnerable research: climate politics, reflexivity and decolonisation
    
    This paper is an engagement with ‘vulnerable research’ as a methodology for researching climate politics. It engages two literatures: on embracing vulnerability in research (Lisle 2016; Page 2017; Eriksen 2022), and decolonising research methods, particularly in the Pacific (McDonnell and Regenvanu 2022; Boer Cueva et al. 2023; Farbotko et al. 2023). I argue for taking a vulnerable approach to research, embracing vulnerability and humility as method in order to challenge the embedded binary of the Vulnerable Research Object / Invulnerable Researcher. This binary reproduces masculine, colonial assumptions about how climate can be known, but also fantasies of safety and unsafety (Weatherill 2023). For climate change, vulnerable research is a particularly important approach, as the hubristic need to be the person in the vulnerable places, doing the research, is itself vulnerabilising in its environmental harms. I therefore argue that vulnerable vulnerability research requires trust, delegation, and a decentring of the research expert. This would also enable a realignment of knowledge and expertise which is needed for decolonising climate research.
    
    Author: Charlotte Weatherill (Open University)
  - The Agropolis: Mapping a Blueprint for Climate-Resilient Agri-urban Development
    
    Agropolitan is a term created by John Friedmann (1979). An Agropolis – essentially an agricultural city - can be defined as a city in which agriculture is an intrinsic part of its autonomy and its development, influencing its urban design and providing the main source of food for its residents. Over the past decade the idea of the Agropolis has found new resonance in the context of concerns over food security, and the lack of preparedness for climate change or catastrophe. These concerns are inherently linked to increasing urbanisation, or rather, the specific nature of that urbanisation.
    Various blueprints for an Agropolis have been proffered, as typified by the case studies within Luc Mougeot’s Agropolis (2010). Similarly, a vast array of activities that can be called agri-urban have developed across the globe. (See Caroline Brand’s Designing Urban Food Policies, 2019). Such projects vary from underground micro-greens growing, to city farms, to vertical production on high-rise blocks. Consequently, each different type of project comes with its own rationale, aims, and ethos (see World Bank report, 2013).
    This paper attempts to analyse such initiatives and blueprints, tease out the strands in common, and come up with the beginnings of a common imagination for the Agropolis so that agri-urban activities can build towards climate-resilience. However, this is not only an exercise in imagining a new type of city. The United Nations is keen to support the creation of ‘resilience hubs’, which would work together in areas including food security. So, the Agropolis is a vision for international political cooperation as much as it is one for the operating of a city.
    Blueprints are, arguably, always political, and those of the Agropolis are no exception. They offer new ways of imagining cities as entities in and of themselves, but also as parts of global networks of resilience in the face of climate change and potential climate disaster. In providing alternative political imaginations, this paper openly challenges existing theories of development that rely on industrialisation, (conventional) urbanisation, and classic economic growth. In doing so it takes a ‘post-development’ stance, seeking to challenge ideas about what ‘developed’ looks like, as informed by Western ideals of modernization which are presented as the universal model for others to emulate.
    
    References
    • Brand, Caroline (2019) Designing Food Policies: Concepts and Approaches. New York: Cham Springer Nature
    • Friedmann, John (1979) ‘Basic needs, agropolitan development, and planning from below’, in World Development, vol. 7 (6), pp.607-613
    • Mougeot, Luc (2010) Agropolis: The Social, Political and Environmental Dimensions of Urban Agriculture. London: Routledge
    • World bank report (2013) ‘Urban Agriculture’, part of the Urban Development Series. Available online: World Bank Document
    
    Author: Alison Hulme (University of Northampton)
  - Political Economy of Climate Finance Under the Paris Agreement
    
    Climate finance is critical for developing countries to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Therefore, understanding the specific climate finance needs and priorities of developing countries is essential for international climate cooperation and justice. The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that countries submit under the Paris Agreement provide information on national climate targets and developing countries often include monetary estimates of climate finance needs. Although there is a large literature on the international political economy (IPE) of climate policy, less attention has been paid to the political economy of climate finance transparency in NDCs. In this paper, we propose a framework for measuring the transparency of developing countries' climate finance needs and develop the Climate Finance Needs Specificity (CLIFS) dataset by manually analyzing 244 initial and updated NDCs from 133 developing countries. We then combine insights from economics, political science, and climate finance literature to examine the underlying IPE forces shaping the evolution of climate finance transparency in the context of the Paris Agreement and broader international climate policy. In particular, we highlight the distinct roles of international actors (e.g., donor countries, multilateral institutions) and domestic actors (e.g., bureaucratic processes, federal competition). We estimate that climate finance needs range from USD427 billion to USD659 billion per year by 2030. We find that governance systems significantly influence the transparency of climate finance and that different actors interact in multiple ways to negotiate approaches to international climate finance.
    
    Author: Abdulrasheed Isah (ETH Zurich)
- 18
  Panel / Pop Culture, Social Media, and World Politics
  
  Sponsor: Theorising the Past, Present and Future of World Politics
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Seongwon Yoon (Hanyang University)
  - Memefication of Politics: The 'troll army' and Rise of Hindu Nationalism
    
    This article analyses memes as expressions of digital participatory cultures that are increasingly becoming the central sites of virulent and volatile political discourse within the context of rise of right-wing authoritarianism in India. It seeks to contribute to the burgeoning literature on linkages between visuality and violence by decentring and understanding memes from the non-western perspective. The article investigates the rise of the alt-right online ecosystem with self-styled civilisational warriors named ‘trads’ using memes for spreading polarizing narratives through widely circulated memes that coalesce into the larger discourse on the self and the other in the digital context and is reflective of ontological (in)security. Memes are carriers of socially mediated popular imaginary that insinuates threat to and feeds into the anxiety of a Hindu majority. The study of the alt-right memetic political discourse in India, helps in understanding the larger global language of online culture wars whilst simultaneously reimagining security and identity construction in the digital realm
    
    Author: Ananya Sharma (Ashoka University)
  - A Conceptual Framework to Classify the Extent of Co-existence Between Digital Authoritarianism and Digital Democracy within Political Regimes
    
    A Conceptual Framework to Classify the Extent of Co-existence Between Digital Authoritarianism and Digital Democracy within Political Regimes
    
    Author: Sahngmin Shin (University of St Andrews)
  - TikTok Tradwives: Femininity, Reproduction, and Social Media in the Settler-Colony
    
    In recent years, there has been a rise in #Tradwife content on social media platforms, a lifestyle where cis-women embrace patriarchal gender norms and identities such as the stay-at-home mother and homemaker. By encouraging women to return to what is conceptualised as ‘traditional’ lifestyles, these accounts argue that ciswomen will live more satisfactory and fully realised lives. We argue that the rejection of feminist ideas of modern womanhood needs to be understood in the context of the settler colony where these accounts occur. By understanding the settler colony as a creative structure that inherently needs maintenance, we can understand how contemporary acts function to reaffirm the racialised and gendered structures that provide the foundation for the settler colony. This paper examines TikTok as a haven for such discourse and analyses the underlying logics that govern this phenomenon. Specifically, we examine the intersection of traditional gender roles, reproductive futurism, and colonial nostalgia within the hashtag #Tradwife on the social media platform TikTok. Through qualitative content analysis (QCA), our research scrutinises how #Tradwife influencers in settler colonies like the USA and Australia (re)produce anxieties surrounding the temporality of masculine, heteronormative, colonialist values.
    
    Authors: Kate Scott (University of Sydney) , Lindsay Day (University of Sydney)
  - The Hegemony of Islamism and Anti-Secularism in Turkish TV Series
    
    The main purpose of this study is to show how Islamism has established a hegemony in the Turkish media sector and television series during the AKP rule through case studies. Erdoğan and the AKP placed the image of a traditional Turkish woman and a conservative family structure against the image of a Western and modern Turkish women from the Kemalist regime. After Erdoğan’s speeches, which criticized the Kemalist regime’s women and family policies, the AKP accelerated its policy, especially through the image of women and families.
    
    The biggest reflection of this role assigned to women by the AKP government can be seen in Turkish television series. In this context, Islamist families or Islamist figures are always portrayed more positively in television series and the Islamist lifestyle is encouraged. On the other hand, secular characters are caricaturized as negatively as possible and the disadvantages of secular life are emphasized. In order to explain this phenomenon, two recently popular TV series in Turkey, 'Kızılcık Şerbeti' (Cranberry Sherbet) and 'Kızıl Goncalar' (Red Rosebuds), will be analysed in detail in terms of women and family life portrait in these series. In this context, the analysis will try to prove how Islamism and anti-secularism have turned into a tool of hegemony.
    
    Author: Caglar Ezikoglu (University of Birmingham)
  - The Militarisation of Culture and Cultural Production: Susan Strange, Stuart Hall, and a Review of the Knowledge Structure
    
    Susan Strange's work in political economy has proved a lasting conceptualisation of the Global Political Economy that has aided researchers and students to better study various phenomena. Her writing in States and Markers develops the concept of structural power and allows academics to understand how states and transnational coorperations may utilise and shape power from production, security, financial, and knowledge structures within the global political economy. The knowledge-structure, however, remains undertheorised despite the efforts of academics like Paul Langley and Lynn Mytelka. There is disagreement around how we should conceptualise knowledge how significant knowledge is to global politics. After summarising the debates around Stranges work, this paper seeks to re-evaluate Stranges work through the writing of Stuart Hall who's writing on the function of ideology in the political economy and the role cultiure plays in ideological struggle. In doing so, the paper proposes a fifth structure for scholars to consider: an "ideological structure" that sits at the base of Strange's Four Structures and through culture interacts with the structures of production, finance, security, and knowledge. This reconceptualisation not only makes clear how knowledge and information function politically but it also allows us to begin to explore the significance of the cultural industry to wider political phenomena. To illustrate this argument, the paper presents a case study of popular films and TV shows produced in the wake of 9/11. By analysing production documents that relate to how these films films were writtem, financed, and produced the study reveals both how different state and non-state agents struggle over influence within the knowledge structure and how cultural narratives can be mobilized to reinforce or challenge dominant political ideologies, shape public opinion, and ultimately influence the trajectory of global events. The analysis hopefully demonstrates the utility of this reconceptualisation whilst highlighting the importance of considering the cultural industry's role in shaping the knowledge landscape and its impact on global political and economic power dynamics.
    
    Author: Conwright Jamal Simon (University of Sheffield)
- 19
  
  Roundtable / Imagining A More Inclusive Security Agenda
  
  Rita Dove is attributed with saying that “you have to imagine it possible before you can see it”. Imagining the possibility of a more inclusive security agenda is challenging within the restrictions of the current political landscape. As Rethinking Security has showed, the British 2024 election manifestos boasted an emphasis on security, from food security, energy and environmental security to border and international security, yet the plans sketched out in the manifestos are arguably neither imaginative nor inclusive. This roundtable brings together scholars, NGOs and civil society actors for a conversation on what an inclusive security agenda might actually look like, in terms of the processes of policy formulation as well as in terms of its contents. Building on a critique of existing policies, the point of this roundtable is to be imaginative, to transcend the mental restraints of what appears ‘feasible’. The roundtable discusses visions for what inclusive could mean in the context of British security policies, even while remaining reflective of the multiple challenges such a vision faces from entrenched power structures.
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Chair: Elisabeth Schweiger (University of Stirling)
  
  Participants: Harmonie Toros (University of Reading) , Laura Aumeer (Conciliation Resources) , Toni Haastrup (University of Manchester) , Aditi Gupta (Protection Approaches)
- 20
  Panel / Economic Cooperation, Supply Chains, and Security
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Sara Torabian
  - Bridging Innovation and Infrastructure, or Not: Chinese Investments in Israel's High-Tech Sector and Complementarity with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
    
    Over the past decade, Chinese investments in Israel's high-tech sector have surged, especially after the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) announcement. From 2014 to 2020, China invested approximately $4,065 billion in these sectors, a significant increase from roughly $85 million invested during the pre-BRI era between 2011 and 2013. This study examines the complementarity of these investments with the BRI's objectives regarding technology transfers, innovation capacity enhancement, and investment volume in start-ups beyond the traditional focus on infrastructure. The paper explores whether BRI creates a new business environment for Chinese firms in Israeli high-tech industries by opening different channels, like reducing bureaucracy or incentive mechanisms.
    
    Research questions include: Is there a complementarity between Chinese investments in Israel's high-tech sectors and the BRI? To what extent does the BRI influence the change in figures? How much do Chinese investments in Israel's high-tech industries align with the BRI's goals? How are technology transfers between Israel and China integrated into the BRI framework?
    
    Employing a data-driven document analysis method and qualitatively examining investment patterns and technology transfers, this study aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the BRI's scope and its implications for China-Israel relations in the high-tech industries. Thus, it seeks to offer insights into the challenges and opportunities of such investments.
    
    Author: Sinan Haskan
  - Taiwanese Semiconductors: A "Shield" for Taiwan and a Strategic Asset in the Sino-American Rivalry
    
    There is a technological war between China and The United States, with Taiwan as a key player in this dispute. The economic aspect emerges as an indispensable instrument for states to influence rivals and promote their interests through tariffs and sanctions. On that premise, these instruments can generate tensions and highlight the depth of interdependence in the international system. The complexity of global dynamics encompasses states, global institutions, and companies. Amidst the Sino-American rivalry, Taiwan emerges as an important element in the political and economic strategy between the two powers in question. Taiwan’s importance is highlighted in the semiconductor industry, and not only finds itself in the middle of this power struggle, in a tension-filled region but also undergoes a process of internal political and social changes.
    
    Authors: Pamella Simão , Jacy Magalhães (Universidade de Brasília)
  - The impact of Russian-Ukrainian War on the Black Sea Economic Cooperation: Adapting Economic Cooperation to Security Challenges
    
    Aiming to foster economic cooperation among member states leading them to ensure political stability and security, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) is important since warring states in the Black Sea region are its members. Recent example of it that Russia and Ukraine. The Russian-Ukrainian war indicates that BSEC fail to involved in regional crisis. One might claim that there is no reason for BSEC to involve in regional crisis since it is an economic organisation. However, when considering results of the war, it has critical consequences that all states of the region have been seriously affected. In terms of geopolitics the war impact economic cooperation within the BSEC. In terms of security, the war increases concerns for BSEC member states. Some of these countries are NATO members such as Greece, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria. They have been involved in efforts to strengthen security in the region. In terms of economy, the war has disrupted trade and economic ties between Russia and Ukraine and as well as Ukraine and other BSEC member states. Economic sanctions imposed by western countries, including BSEC members, against Russia have had economic consequences.
    This paper aims to analyse the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on BSEC’s functionality. The Russian-Ukrainian war underscored the importance of regional cooperation organisations like BSEC in addressing security and stability challenges. The war highlighted that purely economic cooperation could not be divorced from broader security concerns in the BSR. Combining comprehensive review of BSEC documents and case studies, it asks “how did the Russian-Ukrainian war impact the perception of regional cooperation within the BSEC?”. It is argued that accepted notions/aims on regional organisation are creating ‘security community’ or managing conflicts/crises in the region. However, these are failed in BSEC example because states in the region are less enthusiastic about working together. The Russian-Ukrainian war indicated that even though countries in the region have been seriously affected by the consequences of the war, they could not be able to act in common under the BSEC umbrella. States rather prefer to take single actions. BSEC, therefore, has played no role in managing these conflicts/crises and its progress has been marred because of them.
    
    Author: Pinar Akgül
  - The Vulnerability of the Geopolitical Union: Regulatory Mercantilism, Cybersecurity and the Security of Semiconductor Supply Chains
    
    The EU is reframing itself as the Geopolitical Union. Responding to perceived external threat vulnerabilities, the EU has placed security at the centre of its relations with the world. Semiconductors, minerals at the heart of the chips that make all modern technologies function, demonstrate the indivisibility of material and cybersecurity objectives. Cybersecurity and the protection of critical infrastructure is dependent on material security and the accumulation of these chips, identified as key strategic priorities of the EU. This article explores how the EU’s perception of its vulnerability to external threats to its semiconductor supply are serving to reinforce a digital sovereignty strategy. Blending cyber, material, and economic security goals, using regulation to reduce strategic dependencies, the EU’s policies can be conceptualised as an example of regulatory mercantilism. Through initiatives such as the Chips Act and proposed Critical Natural Resources Regulation, the EU seeks to boost domestic supply and production through a unified approach referred to as ‘Chips for Europe’, accumulate natural resources key for producing semiconductors, and export its own regulatory standards as world standards, using a discourse of security to do so. As such, the interdependence of cyber and material is now central to the Geopolitical Union’s security objectives.
    
    Authors: Ben Farrand (Newcastle University) , Helena Farrand Carrapico (Northumbria University)
  - Securitized Interdependence: The Rise of Geoeconomic Alliances in Global Supply Chains
    
    As geopolitics resurges, the importance of security considerations in international economic activities has grown. Countries are increasingly seeking to balance national security with the benefits of economic interdependence by forming geoeconomic alliances centered on supply chain security, thereby enhancing collective resilience. This paper examines this emerging trend through two case studies.
    
    First, the Chip4 alliance, comprising the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, functions as an OPEC-like entity for the semiconductor industry. This alliance represents a new form of transnational state-owned enterprise, where multinational corporate operations are collectively coordinated by governmental coalitions. Second, the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) involves the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and several European nations. This alliance was formed to ensure the secure and sustainable supply of critical minerals. While the Chip4 focuses on the high-tech semiconductor industry, and the MSP on critical mineral resources, both aim to reduce reliance on a single country, particularly China, thereby ensuring supply chain security amid geopolitical tensions. Both alliances face internal conflicts and differing national interests, raising questions about whether these supply chain policies can achieve their securitization goals.
    
    Both cases illustrate the transformative impact of increasingly complex geopolitics on the global economic landscape. This paper aims to shed light on the evolving nexus between geopolitics and economic interdependence, highlighting how securitized interdependence is reshaping global economic structures.
    
    Author: Zhou Liao (Samsung Global Research China)
- 21
  Panel / Power, Control and Piracy: Sea and Space
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  - Countering Conflict, insecurity & Vulnerability: The Role of the (Indian) Navy in the Red Sea
    
    The article will potentially deliberate on the role of the modern navies especially the Indian Navy in the Red Sea and explain how the Indian Navy has expanded the traditional role of the navy from the conventional military, diplomatic and constabulary to include the benign role. The article will reinforce how the navies have emerged as state entities who engage in power projection for a nation through new-age gun boat diplomacy. (Case: China in South China Sea)
    
    Author: Anuttama Banerji (National Maritime Foundation)
  - Outer Space: The Definition of a Space Pirate
    
    As humanity rapidly expands into Outer Space, this paper illustrates the pressing need for frameworks to facilitate the ‘handling of legal and juridical specificities of crimes’ in Outer Space and the embedding of responsible behaviours. Within this framework, the doctrine of piracy by international law must play its role. Of immediate concern is the abuse of navigation satellites. Since 2023, multiple civil flights have been misdirected after their navigation systems were spoofed causing pilots to suffer navigation blindness. This is a serious threat to public safety. Such conduct could constitute a piratical robbery of a vessel. However, the ‘pirates’ are situated on dry land. This paper analyses whether the definition of a pirate can extend to piracies committed remotely. It further considers whether Space-based Artificial Intelligence (SBAI) is capable of being a pirate. In the 2018 Boeing 737 MAX incident, an onboard Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a flight stabilizer, took control of Lion Air Flight 610 crashing it into the Java Sea and killing the 189 people on board. If done in Outer Space, this paper explores whether a finding of piracy relies upon independent agency or is, instead, attributable to the Human-in-the-Loop.
    
    Author: Fiona Naysmith (Open University)
  - There is no Space Court, Right?: Learning from Climate Change Litigation and the South China Sea Arbitration in Creating a more Inclusive Space Governance
    
    It has often been said that there is no space court, and that trying to litigate the fine points of space law is a dead end. In practice, what this means is that we space lawyers and practitioners have abandoned one of the more promising avenues of updating and creating new norms for regulating space activities. However, this is not the case, or at least it should not be the case. In climate change, individuals and small states have used international courts to bring up issues of voice, justice, inclusion, and to demand action from powerful states in mitigating climate change. Similarly in the South China Sea territorial dispute, smaller states like the Philippines, have used arbitration to counter the claims of China over the South China Sea, and to build a coalition of other small states around the arbitral award. Using these examples, the paper will explore how we can use international courts to develop and expand space law in interesting ways, making it more inclusive, and responsive.
    
    Author: Marjan Ajevski (Open University)
- 22
  Panel / Theoretical Innovations in International Relations
  
  Sponsor: Theorising the Past, Present and Future of World Politics
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: David Duriesmith (University of Sheffield)
  - The Discursive Tradition of Political Islam: Notes on Media Construction of an Islamist Ethos in Tunisia
    
    The idea of Islam as a discursive tradition has changed the debate around religion within Anthropological studies. However, this discussion in International Relations (IR) faces challenges of the Westphalian Protestant field’s upbringing and the silencing of Islam in analysis. One of the affected categories was the one of Political Islam. The general concept, created by Western academia, failed to avoid simplifying different actors and political phenomena, representing within the same abstraction political parties, such as the Ennahda Movement, and militant groups, such as al-Qaeda. Analyzing from Ennahda’s victory in the Tunisian election in 2011 until its ideological changes in 2016, the proposed paper seeks to understand how the media constructs an Islamist ethos, facing its interests and the reproduction of intersubjective knowledge. Through French Discourse Analysis, quantitative and qualitative research is developed around news pieces from France 24, Al Jazeera English, and Brazilian G1, focusing on central moments of Nahdawi political trajectory. Thus, the article aims to criticize the lack of conceptual accuracy in the media’s version of Political Islam, deeply embedded in discourses propelled by IR’s analysis, and to propose a definition derived from the notion of discursive tradition.
    
    Author: Leonardo Pagano Landucci
  - Causal Criteria in International Relations Research
    
    Developing causal knowledge is one of the central tasks of academic research in the discipline of International Relations (IR). Among other things, such knowledge underpins our capacity to explain, to predict, and to manipulate the world (and advance prescriptions for doing so). However, developing causal knowledge is hard. In IR, methodological writings often present a short ‘checklist’ of ‘causal criteria’ against which to judge whether a given causal claim is well supported. These include ‘criteria’ such as covariation of cause and effect, the temporal precedence of the cause in relation to the effect, and the elimination of competing explanations. However, there is considerable inconsistency in whether such criteria are proposed and, if they are, which criteria are included. Moreover, detailed rationales are rarely offered for why particular criteria (indeed, any criteria) should be applied. By contrast, in epidemiology there is a fairly well established set of causal criteria (most famously adumbrated by Bradford Hill) which are widely used to support public health decision-making and around which there is an extensive scholarly debate. The aim of this paper is hence to explore the contribution that a more detailed specification of (and rationale for) causal criteria might make to research in IR. We both examine the rationale for including particular causal criteria and illustrate their utility by reference to substantive examples of empirical research in IR using a variety of methods.
    
    Authors: Joseph O'Mahoney (University of Reading) , Adam Humphreys (University of Reading)
  - Towards an Inclusive Cosmos: Decolonial Critique of ‘Survival Imperative’ in Space Exploration
    
    Contemporary space exploration is increasingly driven by a ‘survival imperative’, with technocrats like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos advocating for outer-space colonization as a solution to Earth’s escalating crises—climate change, resource depletion, and global instability. Musk envisions a Martian colony as humanity's ‘second chance,’ while Bezos proposes using cosmic resources to sustain Earth. These narratives, however, prioritize elite interests, perpetuating inequalities and environmental exploitation.
    
    This paper employs a decolonial framework to critique these exclusionary practices. Drawing on scholars such as Sylvia Wynter’s decolonization of knowledge and the critique of Western humanism, Audra Mitchell’s ethics of planetary sustainability and Kathryn Yusoff’s geosocial formations and Anthropocene, this paper argues that space exploration narratives mirror colonialist rhetoric, suggesting salvation for a privileged few while sidelining the majority.
    
    By integrating diverse perspectives and prioritizing collective well-being, this paper advocates for a reimagined space exploration paradigm that fosters genuine international cooperation and environmental stewardship. It challenges the colonial legacies embedded in current space initiatives and promotes an equitable framework that benefits all humanity, not just the elite. This decolonial approach redefines space exploration as a site for inclusive dialogue and collaborative problem-solving, moving beyond elitist and colonialist ideologies.
    
    Author: Bhargavi PBA (University of Delhi)
  - Futures in Dispute: Sociotechnical Imaginaries in Latin America
    
    The question guiding our work is: how can sociotechnical imaginaries promote political positions of hegemonic resistance and contestation in Latin America? We understand the future not only as the domain of the will but also as the domain of power, from the understanding that it encompasses a variety of actors and visions of the future, that may represent points of conflict or dialogue. Imaginaries of the future are political since knowledge and politics of anticipation and preparation for the future are intimately connected; that is, thinking about the future disturbs and mobilizes action in the present. However, these imaginaries do not only refer to anticipations about how the future could be; they inscribe normative visions of actors about how the future should be. Therefore, such knowledge and visions modulate perceptions regarding desirable and achievable futures. By sustaining different epistemological foundations and marginalizing alternative visions as undesirable and unattainable, these visions can cause political clashes. Under this reading, imaginaries represent a means of politicizing the future. Given the crises produced by the cosmovision of technology as an exclusively productive force and capitalist mechanism, it is necessary to contemplate the existence of alternative technological futures under different cosmotechnical conceptions. In response to modernity's systematic destruction of futures, it is necessary to adopt “futurization” – envisioning multiple futures in the future – as an urgent strategy to resist the witchcraft of progress and the poverty of the monoculture of imaginaries.
    
    Author: Jonathan de Assis (Institute of Public Policy and International Relations)
- 23
  Panel / Transforming Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Gendered and Decolonial Perspectives
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Helen Turton (University of Sheffield)
  - More women in peacekeeping: Path to combating sexual abuse and exploitation?
    
    This paper will deal with the question of whether including more women in UN peacekeeping missions can be seen as an effective way to reduce the negative impact of peacekeeping operations, concerning the incidences of sexual abuse and exploitation committed by mission personnel against local women. It will explore the available data on the possible gains in mission efficiency that may come from this measure, drawing from reports from institutions such as the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. It will also delve into the nuanced implications of this measure for the women participating in PKOs, who might suffer an increased workload from being expected to “monitor” their male colleagues’ behavior. The paper will combine the quantitative analysis with an analysis of testimonials from women in PKOs. Interacting with the field of Critical Security Studies, the work aims to dialog with the discussion about the problems associated with the militarized nature of peacekeeping and how to reduce the recurrence of sexual abuse and exploitation against local women in missions.
    
    Author: Nicole Fankhauser
  - Unveiling Gender in UN Peacekeeping: An Analysis of the Brahimi Report (2000)
    
    This paper aims to understand how gender was used in the Brahimi Report (2000) on UN Peacekeeping Operations. The challenges posed by armed conflicts highlighted the efforts to stabilise regions and protect civilians, especially in the 1990s and 2000s. The role of the United Nations in these operations and the growing concern about the inclusion of women in security processes are, then, emphasised by Resolution 1325 (2000). Regarding research, scholars such as Howard (2007) and MacQueen (2996) have created theoretical models for evaluating operations. However, one of the main documents launched in this regard was the Brahimi Report. This study, therefore, seeks to answer the following questions: "Is it possible to state that gender was used as a parameter in the effectiveness of peace operations in the Brahimi Report? How was this concept addressed by the document?". The hypothesis is that, in the document, gender is not used as a measure of success and failure in peace operations. The concept is approached in an isolated and not integrated measure into the peace process. The study's methodology consists of a documental analysis and a literature review. It also uses the hypothetical-deductive method to interpret the effects produced by the concepts studied.
    
    Author: Raquel Losekann
  - What does WPS means for the Balkans? An analysis on the implementation of the WPS Agenda in post-conflict arrangements
    
    The implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda in the Balkans represents a critical framework for post-conflict reconstruction and sustainable development. Rooted in UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the WPS Agenda underscores the pivotal role of women in peace processes, the necessity of their protection from gender-based violence, and the integration of gender perspectives across all facets of security and governance. In the Balkans, nations such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Montenegro have formulated National Action Plans (NAPs) to materialize this agenda. These NAPs indicate a robust commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment; however, their practical implementation reveals several challenges. These include insufficient financial resources, inadequate monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, and the need to ensure that women's participation in peacebuilding is substantive rather than merely tokenistic. Enhanced international and regional cooperation is also vital to reinforce these efforts. Despite notable progress, addressing these gaps is imperative for the Balkans to fully harness the transformative potential of the WPS Agenda in fostering resilient and inclusive post-conflict societies. The article will focus on the analysis of the five NAPs in the region and address the progress – or not – that the Agenda WPS brought there.
    
    Author: Maria Eduarda Diniz (Universidade Federal do Paraná)
- 24
  Panel / Dialogues in Non-Western IR
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Cooperative World: North, South, and Beyond
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Amya Agarwal (Centre for Global Cooperation Research)
  - The Role of Whiteness in the Construction of the Other and the Self in International Relations
    
    The purpose of this article is to highlight the role of whiteness in the process of dividing the world into the Self and the Other, and its consequences for International Relations. To do so, the article is divided into four parts. The introduction presents discussions on colonialism and coloniality and how they have shaped Latin America and the construction of an ideal Other, based on the encounter between Europeans and Native Americans. The first session seeks to contribute to the discussion of the construction of the Other by bringing up a part of history that is sometimes ignored: the encounter between what we call here pre-Europe and the East. Following, the construction of the "Self" is addressed, based on the discussion proposed by Cida Bento (2022) on whiteness and its role in the hierarchization of the world. Finally, we will present the Final Considerations of this article, in which we propose rethinking both the processes that began with colonization and their consequences so that it is possible to retell history and, consequently, International Relations in a way that does not make use of the silences and suppressions of those who were conquered by the western white man.
    
    Author: Carolina Antunes Condé de Lima
  - Reclaiming Economic Sovereignty: The Anti-Colonial Roots of Indonesian Political Economic Thought
    
    Indonesia, the fourth-largest country in the world by population and a substantial economic force in Southeast Asia, remains significantly underrepresented in International Political Economy (IPE) scholarship. Despite its profound impact on global and regional markets, highlighted during the 2010s commodity boom, Indonesian contributions are minimally represented in IPE literature. From over 12,470 articles published since 2000, only 51 have been authored by Indonesian-based scholars, with just a single paper featured in a leading IPE journal. This oversight extends to the broader Southeast Asian region, where Western dominance and Eurocentric analyses are prevalent. This paper addresses the neglect of Indonesian economic thought, which is deeply embedded in the nation’s anti-colonial history and guided by principles of national prosperity, international solidarity, and multilateralism. These principles offer a critique of the zero-sum perspectives common in Western and East Asian economic frameworks. By drawing upon the ideas of seminal Indonesian thinkers such as Sukarno, Hatta, and Tan Malaka, this study sheds light on Indonesia's unique contributions to IPE. This research further highlights Indonesia’s strategic responses to international trade challenges through two pivotal case studies: its resistance to the European Union’s palm oil export ban and its proactive nickel import ban to foster national industrialization. These cases illustrate a form of anti-colonial economic nationalism that seeks to reconcile national economic goals with global interdependencies, challenging traditional narratives of economic nationalism. This reevaluation not only deepens the understanding of global economic dynamics but also advocates for a more inclusive IPE narrative that integrates and values diverse geopolitical perspectives from traditionally marginalized regions. The conclusion advocates for further research to expand and enhance the understanding of Indonesia’s critical role and contributions within the international economic order.
    
    Authors: Shofwan Al Banna Choiruzzad (Universitas Indonesia)* , Lena Rethel* , Poppy Winanti (Universitas Gajah Mada)* , Moch Faisal Karim (Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia)
  - From a Global to a Pluriversal IR? IR as Inter-Cosmological Relations
    
    The starting point of a ‘post-western IR’ (Shani 2008) should be an acknowledgment that we live in a world of many worlds, each with their own understanding of universality and particularity. These worlds are not separate but enmeshed, they intersect and influence one another, and collectively form a pluriverse (Escobar 2020) of different ‘cosmologies’ rather than a single globe. Cosmologies refer ‘primarily to the beliefs that people, societies, or religions have of the “ordered” nature of the cosmos: how they believe the world to be structured’ (Kurki 2020). They also have a normative dimension: they link theories of origins with a set of thick normative political and moral claims which offer the possibility of going beyond what is (Behr and Shani 2021).In a political rather than scientific sense (see Allan 2019, Kurki 2020), they challenge hegemonic iterations of geo-cultural difference in IR by interrogating the relationship between territory, culture and difference; the ‘religious’ and the ‘secular;’ and humans and the environment. IR, in short, should forget attempts to ‘globalise’ the discipline and focus instead on inter (and intra) cosmological relations in a pluriverse.
    
    Author: Giorgio Shani (International Christian University)
  - Finding Agency in Active-Non-Alignment: Latin American Regional Solidarities in the Aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine Crisis
    
    Preceding the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the incidence of the pandemic in the Latin American and Caribbean region, discussions on the faltering multilateral regime had also acquired a regional flavour. The rise of the right in the region “ marked disruption of the organisms and the regional agenda from the decade before” (Neves and Honororio, 2019). Not only had the transformative post-hegemonic and post-liberal regional agenda fallen flat, the tottering promises of leaders to their people had further diluted the promise of regional solidarity. Blighted by the ravages of the pandemic, Latin America appeared doomed to secondary status in the post-pandemic world order.
    
    However, the region has fought back this secondary status, especially in its disavowal of the agenda of the Global North if its response to the Russia-Ukraine crisis is analysed. Scholars like Fortin, Heine and Ominami (2023) have called this claiming of neutrality and thereby agency in the international system as an instance of active non-alignment. In a depleted economic, political and social scenario individually, the Latin American region has firmly anchored itself in the North-South divide, especially with the coming to power of Lula in Brazil.
    
    This paper offers a critical extrapolation of this concept of “active non-alignment” in the region’s responses to the Russia-Ukraine crisis. It does so by first, offering a conceptual and practical evaluation of non-alignment stances in Latin America both during the Cold War and this version 2.0. Second, it explores this discussion of agency not only in the North-South debate, but also how it may best take advantage of the current power imbued to the Global South at large. Finally, it reads both preliminary questions in exploring the possibility of the development of regional solidarity in the changed political, economic and social landscape of Latin America, with focus on the new Lula leadership.
    
    Author: Devika Misra (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
  - Reconnecting 'Nature' and 'Society' through Cosmologies: Towards a Pluriversal IR of Normative Dialogues across Universes
    
    International relations should be seen as a terrain of a pluriverse rather than a universe as we do not merely have different interpretations on the same world but inhabit multiple worlds. Our differing conceptions of the universal, in terms of ontology, epistemology, temporality, human destiny and so on, are known as cosmologies. Whereas the notion of cosmology implies a deep entanglement between (1) theory of nature and (2) theory of society, mainstream International Relations theories (IRTs) have severed this connection through their concomitant severance with (domestic) political theories and their underlying normative worldviews. That is to say whereas political theorists need to defend a particular conception of human-nature, IRTs (both mainstream and critical) continue to draw from political theories yet maintain a facade of value-neutrality despite speaking for all humanity. Reconnecting ‘nature’ and ‘society’ through cosmologies means retying the Gordian knot of theory, normativity, and a conception of nature, as reflecting a ‘particular’ view of the ‘universal’ that may be different across political communities. Such interlinkage displaces the false binary of secular/religious and modern/traditional, which see Western IRT on one side (secular, modern, human-centered) and non-Western traditions of knowledge on the other (religious, traditional, infused with nature), that forces dialogue on unequal and incommensurable terms, leading to deadlocks. A more democratic, pluriversal IR requires not only conversations on epistemological and ontological terms, but also cosmological negotiations about universal and pluriversal values.
    
    Author: Quang Dũng Phạm (IInternational Christian University)
- 25
  
  / Coffee and Networking Session
  
  Speaker: Dominic Hart (British International Studies Association)
- 26
  Panel / Power and Authority in the Global Economy
  
  Sponsor: Theorising the Past, Present and Future of World Politics
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Perla Polanco Leal (The University of Manchester)
  - From a Monolithic to a Flexible Creed: Fed's Reactions to the Great Depression and the Great Recession
    
    The American Central Bank played a fundamental role in overcoming the 2008 financial crisis. This contrasts with the context of the Great Depression, during which omission was the institution's main hallmark. However, in both contexts, the bank operated from a "liberal" theoretical framework. How can these differences be explained? This work seeks to identify a basic difference between classical liberalism and neoliberalism based on the analysis of the theoretical precepts that guided the Federal Reserve's actions in the face of the two crises. I argue that what allowed the Fed to conduct the so-called "unconventional monetary policies" was the characteristic of neoliberalism as a "flexible creed" regarding state intervention in the economy. The liberal creed, in turn, although it underwent changes over the decades, remained linked to the laissez-faire horizon – of which the gold standard was the main representative. In this sense, the abandonment of laissez-faire and the impossibility of assigning a clear limit to the extent to which state interventions can be beneficial gave neoliberalism greater plasticity and the ability to reinvent itself in the face of crises.
    
    Author: Maria Clara Togeiro (State University of Campinas)
  - The Power of Business in Crisis: Disclosing the paradoxical prosperity of business group in Ecuador
    
    How do business groups prosper in hostile governments? This question is critical for developing countries, especially in Latin America, where since the late 1990s business groups witnessed the arrival of leftist governments promoting market reforms aimed at reducing their economic and political power. However, in spite of the adverse context, business groups are thriving. Using the government of Rafael Correa (2007-2017) in Ecuador as a case study, this paper provides an explanation to this contrasting business success. Specifically, I observe how to respond to reforms challenging their market concentration in the financial sector, business groups crafted three bargaining strategies – cooperation, resistance, and moderate opposition – based on their structural and instrumental power. Cooperating conglomerates obtained compensations in the financial sector in exchange for supporting the government’s agenda, while antagonist businesses suffered retaliation. For Correa, allying with businesses gained him an economic advantage without affecting the support of his constituencies. Finally, I note that business tactics jeopardized the political organisation and opposition of the business community to Correa during his government. This paper builds theory on business power in contentious scenarios and seeks to answer how business groups help leftist governments to attain their policy goals and foster development in the nations.
    
    Author: Maria Sol Parrales (King's College London)
  - Capital "Flows/Mobility" as a Misleading Metaphor
    
    Among the scholars of international political economy, the concept of capital flows or capital mobility is widely accepted. It (a) describes a complex phenomenon of cross-border flows of money and finance and (b) plays a central role in the global economy. Neoliberal orthodoxy and the Washington Consensus promote it, arguing that unfettered capital flows benefit capital-starved countries. Yet, not least that a number of prominent mainstream economists acknowledged this phenomenon as one of the most controversial and least understood. These bits of controversy and obscurity have different origins. One of them has been due to traditional usage of various metaphors of motion, while explaining the phenomenon within the established analytical framework. It disciplines our imagination of money and capital as a standalone object, while leaving behind the essential nature of money and capital as a social relationship. To make sense of capital "flows" this paper follows the path of a more radical critique. One that was briefly outlined by Woodruff (2005) and Mosler (2010,2022,2023). Both of them, and seemingly independently of each other, reject the metaphor of motion. It is "deeply misleading" to the former and an "innocent fraud" to the latter. Instead, as a starting point they advocated for the analytical framework based on the balance sheets of transacting economic units such as households, firms, governments, etc. In other words, this is an analysis of the debt-credit relationships. The latter are social. These relationships are (a) the most essential of human relationships and (b) precise, not abstract. They are denominated in a money of account, which is key concept. Institutionalized usage by residents of a jurisdiction of the domestic and foreign moneys of account in denominating own financial positions (in assets and liabilities), while transacting with counterparties domestically and abroad, play key role in the dynamics of the said economy. They are dynamic, being created, re-assigned and then destroyed on a daily basis. There are two types of relationships: horizontal and vertical. Both are observable in domestic as well as in cross-border transactions. It is because of the vertical type of cross-border relationships, which are denominated in the foreign money of account, we observe what is still conventionally described as capital "inflow/surge" or "outflow/flight." This imprecise description suggests there have been points of departure and destination continuously for the object of money/capital. Instead, simultaneous reconfigurations of financial positions (balance sheets) of the economic units domestically and abroad does take place.
    
    Author: Oleksandr Valchyshen (UMKC)
  - The role of the Bank for International Settlements in the Global Financial Architecture: the socialisation of peripheral countries
    
    The article examines the role of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in the global
    financial architecture (GFA) for the integration of peripheral economies into global
    finance during the 1990s. Even though there has been increasing attention to and a surge
    in academic studies concerning the BIS, its relation to peripheral countries, as the BIS
    expanded its membership and incorporated several new members during the 1990s, has
    been overlooked. While this study seeks to unpack the increasing interaction of peripheral
    central bankers within the transnational networks of central bankers established through
    the BIS, it aims to fulfil two objectives: first, empirically understand the specific role
    played by the BIS for the articulation of peripheral economies into global finance and
    hence to highlight the special role of the BIS played in the GFA during the 1990s.
    Secondly, I aim to contribute theoretically to the study of global governance by
    employing a critical political economy approach, specifically transnational historical
    materialism. Based on a reading of Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, I propose a
    novel and critical approach to the socialisation function of global financial governance to
    cast light on its social purpose, which would help to understand the role of the BIS by
    focusing on the role of ideas and power relations. The research shows how the BIS has
    been crucial in propagating central banking ideas to the periphery, and the
    conceptualisation of socialisation from a Gramscian perspective corroborates how it has
    unfolded for the central banks of peripheral countries.
    
    Author: Pelin Akkaya Yerli
  - Falling Off the Map: Tracing Uncharted Financialization in Iran
    
    A large body of academic literature has been produced on financialization and its connections to neoliberalism, U.S. hegemony, and key metrics for identifying such relationships. However, despite these theoretical advancements, studies on financialization have primarily concentrated on developed economies in the West and, to a lesser extent, Latin America and (East) Asia. More recently, there has been a growing scholarly interest in examining this trend in the Middle East region and other developing economies (Haneih 2016, 2020; Bonizzi 2013; Qanas and Sawyer 2022). Despite this expansion, Iran is rarely included in these investigations. This is particularly significant given that Western economic sanctions have created a unique environment for the emergence of financialization in Iran, making it a distinctive case worthy of scholarly exploration.
    This paper provides an analytical assessment of financialization in Iran, the impact of sanctions on financialization, and how Iran’s unique financialization system affects workers. While existing literature on Iran's political economy has predominantly focused on neoliberalism, this study takes a broader approach to examine the process of financialization and its impact on the country's industrial development and social relations. Drawing on two industrial case studies of HEPCO (Heavy Equipment Production Company) and CMIC (Chadormelou Mining and Industrial Company), this paper investigates the consequences of financialization on the deindustrialization of the manufacturing sector and the rise of the extractive economy in Iran. Furthermore, it explores the unique attributes of the domestic market and their influence on labor relations. This study contributes to the growing body of scholarly work on financialization in developing economies by examining a unique implementation of financialization.
    
    Author: Ida Nikou (SUNY SBU)
- 27
  Panel / Sustainability, Development and Capital
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Sustainable World: Environmental Degradation, Development and Responsibility
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Helen Turton (University of Sheffield)
  - The Role of Gender Norms in Climate Change Resilience – Variegated Social Reproduction Solutions During Drought in Rural Zimbabwe
    
    Policy research and programme evaluations continuously demonstrate that climate change policies and sustainable development interventions struggle to sufficiently meet transformative gender mainstreaming goals. In part, this has been linked to policies favouring market-based technical solutions, with limited understanding of structural and social dimensions of climate change. Through the concept of social reproduction, this paper examines how gender norms impact the capacity of rural households in Zimbabwe to build resilience to climate change and other multiple ongoing crises. It argues that climate change policy needs to pay closer attention to how variegated intersecting structures and norms are co-constituted, and to address gender norms more deliberately. Based on interviews and focus group discussions with rural women, the study presents qualitative data on how climate change affects the labour of women and men differently and how study participants understand this difference in relation to social norms around the gender division of labour. The findings of this study are relevant to understanding social change as an important aspect of climate change interventions.
    
    Author: Susanne Kozak (Monash University)
  - Latent SDGs in EU Global Gateway Strategy
    
    Agenda 2030 confirms the global efforts to harmonize goals and mobilize resources for sustainable development. To what extent is the Global Gateway (GGW) strategy contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Launched in 2021 by the European Commission, the GGW strengthens partnerships with countries from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. With an announced investment of 300 billion€ to develop “sustainable and high quality” projects over 2021-2027, the GGW corresponds to a tipping point in the EU international cooperation agenda. Although the GGW does not explicitly mention the 17 SDGs, we targeted broad topics that are likely to demonstrate a notable contribution from the EU to the achievement of SDGs. An innovative analysis methodology combining Natural Language Processing, network analysis and statistics, highlights latent semantic paths between the GCW’s development objectives and the SDGs. These paths are represented as “chains of concepts” mostly used in scientific expertise. Our analytical prism focuses on six intertwined dimensions of global governance: climate change, biodiversity, “One Health”, cities, social vulnerability and sustainable development. Our key finding is double: 1) the convergence of goals from the GGW and the SDGs is strong, unsurprisingly; 2) this convergence is still rather underexplored in international studies literature. The analysis illustrates the potential of this approach to renew our view of governance strategies.
    
    Authors: Ana Flávia Barros-Platiau* , Rugmini Devi (University of Kerala) , Pierre Mazzega (University of Toulouse)
  - The Guarantor State: Theorizing state-capital relations in Indian infrastructure finance
    
    The centrality of infrastructure finance for development and green transitions in emerging economies is widely acknowledged. International Financial Institutions have led an approach premised on the privatization of infrastructure finance premised on shadow banking, public-private partnerships, and capital market creation. I examine one of the earliest instances of this phenomenon in the early 90s when the World Bank created a shadow banking infrastructure finance corporation in India. Existing literature conceptualizes this phenomenon through what scholars have called the ‘derisking state’ and the ‘Wall Street Consensus’. This paper demonstrates the limitations of these concepts in illuminating the privatization of infrastructure finance in India. It challenges the periodization of the ‘Wall Street Consensus’ by highlighting the use of the same financial institutions and instruments in the early 90s. I show how shadow banking undermines infrastructure development and causes what is perhaps India’s biggest financial fraud that poses systemic financial stability risks. I find that the concept of the derisking state is less useful for capturing the mechanisms of this case and instead advance the concept of the ‘guarantor state’ to describe the historically specific relationship between state and capital that underpins infrastructure finance in India. The guarantor state is characterized by a de-regulated banking sector in which term-lending for infrastructure is replaced by opaque shadow-banking mechanisms. The upshot of this is the large inflows of financial capital into India create opportunities for financial fraud. This paper draws on over thirty interviews and an analysis of primary documents.
    
    Author: Manasi Karthik
  - Uniting to Develop: Assessing Regional Integration Efforts to Foster Security in North-East Africa
    
    Freshwater scarcity, underdeveloped infrastructure, and economy, alongside severe climate conditions of equatorial and near-equatorial areas, have long cast a negative effect on both agri-food policies and development conditions of the African continent in general for the last 25 years at least. Countries of North-East Africa are no exception to this, as severe droughts have numerously caused humanitarian crises in this region, with Ethiopian and Sudan drought and hunger crises being the most acute in the latest decade. Access to freshwater was highlighted both as a crucial value and an international goal in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. With a view to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, this issue remains vital in the most drought-prone areas of the world, particularly in North-East Africa.
    This paper assesses joint regional initiatives of the North-East African countries that deal with promoting the MDG/SDG goals. It focuses on the efforts and projects of regional integration groups, such as The IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) Partner Forum and The Nile Forum (Nile Basin Group) to evaluate the policies that were applied jointly by the countries of North-East Africa region to achieve MDGs and their prospects of continuing any effective joint policy-making in this respect. As IGAD turns 35 this year, the paper overlooks the origins and the dynamics of this developing regional integration group in particular and evaluates both the failures and successes that were achieved to this date starting in 1996 (before this date, the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD) was in action since 1986). Focal attention in this paper is attached to fighting droughts and overcoming their consequences with the joint effort of all countries in the region. To provide a wider picture of prospects of regional cooperation in fighting poverty, hunger, severe droughts, inequalities of economic development of countries of this region, several bilateral agreements are also analyzed. Possible scenarios for fostering joint regional integration efforts with the help of the UN (especially UNECA) and the international community are suggested.
    
    Author: Natalia Piskunova (Moscow State University)
- 28
  Panel / The Global Politics of Britain
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Connected Word: Borders, Mobility and Technology
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli (University of Sheffield)
  - An Unexpected Success Story: Brexit Negotiations in the field of Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters
    
    Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters constitutes a key element of the UK-EU post-Brexit relationship, enabling both partners to maintain a good level of internal security provision for their citizens (Davies and Carrapico, forthcoming). This has been made possible through the negotiation of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which includes the most advanced level of internal security cooperation the EU has signed with a third country. Although the TCA does not replicate the same level of cooperation the UK used to benefit from as a EU Member State, the outcome of the negotiations was considerably more positive than initially expected (Mitsilegas and Guild, 2023). This outcome is surprising for a number of reasons: the overall politicisation of the UK-EU relationship, the resulting decline in trust between the UK and the EU, the lack of UK bargaining power, the EU27 aversion to ‘cherry picking’ and contagion, and the absence of security and defence from the TCA (Martill and Sus, 2021). Bearing this context in mind, the paper proposes to explore how the UK managed to secure a positive deal in this policy area. It does so by discussing how the following elements shaped its bargaining assumptions and power, as well as negotiation positions: 1) the perceived leadership role of the UK in Justice and Home Affairs (MacKenzie, 2024); 2) the role of historical Justice and Home Affairs’ opt opt-ins and opt-outs (Schimmelfennig et al. 2022); 3) the degree of EU integration characterising this policy field (Trauner and Ripoll Servent, 2017); and 4) the nature of the policy field. The article aims to contribute to a fast-growing academic literature focusing on UK foreign policy and its approach to Brexit negotiations (Glencross, 2022; Meislova and Glencross, 2023), through the insights of a policy field which has so far received limited attention (for exceptions, please see Kaunert et al., 2020; Pencheva, 2021; Wolff et al., 2022).
    
    Authors: Benjamin Martill (University of Edinburgh) , Monika Brusenbauch Meislová (Masaryk University) , Helena Farrand Carrapico (Northumbria University)
  - How is race implicated in the Grenfell Tower fire? Race and housing in post-empire austerity Britain.
    
    The Grenfell Fire Tower of 14 June 2017 was a reminder of the contemporary urban condition in Britain, characterised by extreme inequality of wealth and tenure. This paper takes issue with the mainstream narrative about the fire as an “incident” or a “technical failure” and seeks instead to situate it within the context of post-Empire Britain by putting race at the centre of analysis. My argument is that explaining how the Grenfell Tower fire occurred requires addressing the long-term politico-historical conditions that determined the distribution of precarity along racialised lines—exacerbated by shorter term neoliberal policies—and the mechanisms through which this racialisation is erased. Empire has been the prime instrument for the constitution of ideas of nationality and citizenship domestically, and race—defined as a mode of hierarchically ordering the world—lent itself perfectly to this project. As a constitutive element of the modern state, race needs to be the fundamental lens through which the political, social and economic condition of contemporary Britain need to be understood. This paper will analyse how race has shaped the post-war provision of welfare with regards to housing. The exclusion of newly settled colonial immigrants from social housing determined a spatial geography of precarity that was exacerbated by subsequent, allegedly colour-blind, neoliberal policies, particularly the right-to-buy, privatisation of housing provision and deregulation of building regulations. The erasure of race from public discourse is, I argue, what prevents the accurate understanding and tackling of contemporary housing inequality.
    
    Author: Maryam Nahhal (Johns Hopkins University)
  - The Making of Neoliberal Families: Social Conservatism and the Privatisation of Housing
    
    The housing crisis gripping the world has intensified, particularly in terms of rental scarcity, leading to a significant social issue where financially disadvantaged households are increasingly ensnared in a cycle of housing insecurity characterized by rent arrears and evictions. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated this situation, highlighting the household as a locus of both empirical injustice and a space in need of protection. Under the current Covid era, the politics of the household reveal stark contradictions stemming from the pervasive influence of neoliberal practices in everyday life. The escalating challenges faced by households and the deepening housing crisis linked to the financialisation of social reproduction are viewed as outcomes of the privatization of public housing provision under neoliberal frameworks. Neoliberalism, epitomised by asset-based welfare policies like Thatcher's 'Right to Buy' from 1979, is identified as the primary driver behind these shifts. However, a closer examination of the historical roots of neoliberal pressures reveals that ideologies promoting homeownership, such as 'Right to Buy,' have earlier origins dating back to Conservative policies in 1945. This historical context suggests that the theory of the household under neoliberalism needs to be reevaluated, particularly in relation to family responsibilities and values. The study aims to explore the implications of this oversight within social reproductive feminist theory, emphasising the need to analyse familial relations within the neoliberal context rather than solely focusing on market forces and privatisation. By investigating how normative 'family values' influenced housing policy changes in the 1980s, the research seeks to illuminate the role of conservative ideals in shaping responses to housing challenges during the British neoliberal transition.
    
    Author: Kate Cherry (University of Sussex)
  - Beyond Diversity and World Inclusion Politics: Shifting from Quantitative to Qualitative Representation in Global Politics
    
    Abstract:
    The politics of diversity and inclusion have led to meaningful outcomes. Today, there is a noticeable increase in the representation of individuals from minority populations in global politics and positions of power across various governments worldwide. This progress underscores the effectiveness of diversity initiatives in creating more inclusive political and governance structures. While commendable, this quantitative representation has seldom addressed historical inequalities, rarely disrupted conventional thinking, and yet to significantly enhance the political and institutional power needed to meaningfully improve the lives of minority groups. This paper utilizes data from key appointments and policies enacted by the UK Conservative government from 2022 to 2024 to explore the outcomes of their diversity and inclusion strategies in achieving both quantitative and qualitative representation for minority groups. This paper addresses the following questions: Who constitutes the included minority groups? What are the underlying reasons for their inclusion? What are the intended outcomes of such inclusion? How have the policies overseen by these representatives contributed to enhancing the institutional and political power of minority groups? By exploring the identities, locations, and positions of those included and analyzing the policies they championed through content and discursive analysis, the paper aims to determine whether, and how their inclusion achieves quantitative, qualitative, or both quantitative and qualitative representation.
    
    Keywords: Inclusion; Quantitative representation; Qualitative representation; Minority appointments; Global Politics; Inequalities
    
    Author: Aboabea Akuffo (University of Oxford)
- 29
  Panel / Transnational Actors and Global Governance
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More a Just World: Inequality and Exclusion
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Malte Riemann (Leiden University)
  - 'We Can Only Support, Grudgingly’ : US Foreign Policy, Cold War Politics, and the Negotiations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women at the United Nations
    
    We can only support, grudgingly’: US foreign policy, Cold War politics, and the negotiations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women at the United Nations
    
    Author: Natali Cinelli Moreira (University of Sao Paulo & King's College London)
  - Marginalized Elites and Narratives of (In)Justice in the WTO: Feminist-Informed Multi-Sited Ethnographic Insights
    
    Marginalized Elites and Narratives of (In)Justice in the WTO: Feminist-Informed Multi-Sited Ethnographic Insights
    
    Author: Lisa Samuel (Florida International University)
  - The Worth of Nations: The Historical Construction of Market Economies
    
    The Worth of Nations: The Historical Construction of Market Economies
    
    Author: Alice Chessé (McGill University)
  - Foreign Private Lobbying as A Multitasked Mission
    
    Foreign entities have contributed massively to lobbying governments in Washington and Brussels; yet such pressing issue has received limited discussion. Scholars have also not paid close attention to the motivation of and the subsequent policy impacts from non-state actors, such as multinational corporations (MNCs). Hence, why do MNCs actively engage in the costly foreign lobbying? How do they articulate their interests, and to what degree is that effective? I focus on the underexamined “lobbying meetings,” and argue that they serve as an efficient and effective political activity for foreign MNCs to realize private and public goals. These missions are three-fold: material returns, corporate risk mitigation, and geoeconomic exchange between home and host countries. First, rational MNCs trade the costly lobbying meetings for preferential treatments, such as tax benefits. Second, information flows bidirectionally during lobbying meetings, which MNCs leverage to mitigate regulatory risk. Finally, private lobbying contributes to the enhancement of geoeconomic relationships between MNCs’ home and host states. As such, firms can serve as state instruments. I use mixed methods to test these arguments, combining staggered Difference-in-Difference estimations with interviews with MNCs, lobbyists, and policy makers. I draw on data from the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the Transparency Register, corporate financial statements, earning call transcripts, official visits, and trade missions. Overall, this study sheds some light on how to buttress democracy from external influence. By joining the emerging scholarship of non-state actors’ global influence, this paper also highlights that foreign firms can be influential in affecting policy outcomes.
    
    Author: Yue Lin (University of California, Berkeley)
  - The IMF’s Climate Change Policy Trilemma: Unecological Assumptions and Technocratic Climate Governance
    
    This paper explores the social construction of climate policy at the hand of expert bodies enjoying epistemic power, specifically, analysing the fiscal dimensions and underlying economic ideas of the IMF’s ‘Climate Change Trilemma’ (IMF 2023). This focal point – on how expert economic bodies understand the ecological crisis of capitalism - is crucial to the politics of tackling climate change, with important and real socio-ecological consequences. Analysing how expert economic governance bodies broach climate change, its mitigation, and the associated economic costs and implications, reveals contestations within technocratic climate politics. We interrogate some of the assumptions fed into IMF climate change analysis, and why and how they matter. Evaluating the intellectual production of technocratic economic governance bodies enables us to delineate the evolving economic ideas on tackling climate change, and how these inform thinking about the costs of and transition towards ‘net zero’. The IMF’s mainstream macro-models, which are deeply linear in orientation and built on questionably conservative ‘discounting’ assumptions, are decidedly ill-equipped to make sense of ecological non-linearities such as climate ‘tipping points’. This, alongside powerful attachment to traditional notions of fiscal discipline, hinder the IMF’s ability to give life to its insight that governments cannot afford not to tackle climate change. Fund fiscal evaluation and policy recommendations remains excessively rooted in unecological thinking.
    
    Author: Ben Clift (University of Warwick)
Wednesday 15 January
- 30
  Panel / Caste, Religion, and Identity in Indian Politics
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More a Just World: Inequality and Exclusion
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Ujan Natik (University of Manchester)
  - Reading the Visible Invisibility of Caste in South Asian Electoral Politics- The Case of 2024 Indian Loksabha Elections
    
    The General Elections in the worlds largest democracy concluded in July 2024, with the incumbent government taking over for a third term, albeit through the return of coalition politics. While religious sentiments, social justice, representation and development were the most vocal issues during the election campaign, there was a sociological factor that transformed in to a visibly invisible element that took the centre-stage in 2024 Indian Elections- Caste. The caste based rhetoric in the electoral politics was not quite pronounced, however the invisible considerations of caste permeated all aspects of elections ranging from candidate selection, electoral mandates, voting behaviour and formation of political alliances. This paper proposes to analyse how the traditional social structure of the 'graded inequalities' of caste get transposed upon the modern systems of democracy. The research work entails a critical examination of the process and outcomes of the General Elections to the Loksabha in India to understand how the muted reality of caste permeate the shaping of political power in the South Asia, specifically in the case of India.
    
    Author: Ashna K Asok (University of Calicut)
  - Caste and Cyberspace: Towards an Anti-Casteist approach to Cyberspace
    
    Over the years, international security has witnessed cross disciplinary exploration with the inclusion issues such as social structures (such as race, ethnicity, gender), cyberspace and their interaction with each-other. Nonetheless, on reviewing international security, on can see (1) an overwhelming emphasis on statist cyberspace (2) The absence of caste (a mode of social stratification primarily present in South Asia but now a global reality) from mainstream as well as critical security discourse. This paper aims to apply anti-casteist approach to cyberspace to identify how Dalits, a marginalized community, battles casteism in cyberspace and how it impacts Dalits in cyberspace. This paper aims to make two contributions to international security. The first contribution is empirical which is drawn from casteism on twitter in cyberspace. The second contribution is theoretical, demonstrating how a anti-casteist approach in cyberspace can promote reconnecting international security across disciplines, theoretical debates and points.
    
    Author: Anubha Gupta (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
  - Transnational Ties: The Cultural and Political Influence of the Indian Diaspora on UK-India Relations
    
    This paper investigates the profound impact of the Indian diaspora on the cultural and political landscapes of the United Kingdom, highlighting their role in enhancing contemporary UK-India relations. Through an exploration of cultural contributions, it illustrates how the Indian community has enriched British society with diverse artistic expressions, culinary traditions, and vibrant festivals, promoting cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. Additionally, the paper delves into the political influence of the Indian diaspora, focusing on their increasing participation in British politics, advocacy for policies beneficial to both nations, and efforts in shaping a positive narrative around UK-India relations. This article asserts that theoretical perspectives such as realism, liberal institutionalism, constructivism, and post-colonialism are employed to analyze the influence of diasporas on international relations to define the cultural and political influence of the Indian diaspora and its impact on the foreign policy of the UK. Realism and liberal institutionalism provide insights into the strategic and cooperative dimensions of diaspora politics, while constructivism and post-colonialism explore the identity and historical contexts shaping diaspora interactions. By integrating these theoretical perspectives, the paper underscores the transformative role of the Indian diaspora in bridging the two nations, emphasizing their contributions as essential to the dynamic and evolving relationship between the UK and India.
    Key words: Indian diaspora, cultural influence, political engagement, UK-India relations, theoretical perspectives.
    
    Author: Madhurima Pramanik
  - Performativity of Islamic Veiling: Mapping Hijabophobia, and Locating the ‘Secular’ in Post-colonial India
    
    The sartorial choice of Islamic veiling is a repository of bodily practice. It manifests the performative identities of Muslim women— signified by the meanings surrounding ‘veiling’ the category of Muslim women is produced and reinforced reiteratively. While ‘veiling’ per se is not merely Islamic, due to the politicisation of Islamic veiling in India as a marker of the Islamic identity, it is perceived to be the ‘other’. Though the undercurrent of Islamophobic sentiments in post-colonial India is rooted in the country’s colonial baggage and partition history, the Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ascent to power in 2014 as the Hindutva ideological right wing has added fuel to the existing vilification of Islamic veiling. Firstly, how does the modernist post-colonial nation-building set the ‘secular’ precedent in strengthening the orientalist veiling discourse? Secondly, amidst the Indian hijab row, how do we locate the concept of ‘secular’ in the Indian discourse? Nationalised modernisation and secularisation— these two modernist prongs in post-colonial India discursively formed the Indian ‘secular’. Alongside, the paper mulls over 25 field-based responses of Muslim women from various parts of the country to identify the overt and covert forms of prevalent hijabophobia. Hijabophobia, an extension of Islamophobia, is based on the visible marker of veil-cladding Muslim women’s identity and exudes a violent political disposition against Muslimness. It works as a double-edged sword in shaping the lives of Muslim women and restricting their choices in constricted political environments. Re-framing the Indian ‘secular’ with feminist interjection, the paper argues that women’s lived experiences are shaped by the violence of a Hindu gaze (an Indian concoction of colonial and male gazes)— stemming not only from the country’s hypermasculine governmental disposition against the choices of minority women but also from women’s communal interaction with the numerical Hindu majority.
    
    Author: Debangana Chatterjee (National Law School of India University)
- 31
  Panel / China, Power, and Geopolitics
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  - Labour Migration as a Challenge to State-Centric Foreign Policy Discourse
    
    Increasing geopolitical tensions have led to a renewed emphasis on the centrality of the state and major powers in shaping foreign policy discourse. Nowhere is this emphasis more pronounced than in the case of the US and China rivalry over the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s recent relations with medium and small-power countries in Southeast Asia have been analysed almost entirely through the lens of great power politics and state-centrism. This paper challenges this domination by looking at the agency of non-state actors, mainly migrant workers, in influencing and shaping the discourse of foreign policy and international relations in Southeast Asia amidst global power competition. To what extent do the large and expanding migrant worker communities from Southeast Asia in Taiwan challenge the monopoly of the state in shaping foreign policy discourse? Drawing from interviews, participant observation, and desk research, this paper argues that the increasing geopolitical and military tension has seen the well-being and security of migrant workers demand the attention of foreign policymakers in carrying out the state’s political agenda. This research sheds light on the roles and the power of labour migration in setting the tone and transforming foreign policy discourse, highlighting the need to take an inclusive approach towards non-state actors in international studies.
    
    Author: Ratih Kabinawa (The University of Western Australia)
  - US Foreign Policy and Cross-Strait (In)stability: Insights from Complexity Theory
    
    Cross-Taiwan Strait (in)stability is a global and complex issue. The region’s entanglement with the world economy portends significant global consequences in the event of conflict. Additionally, it stands as the main flashpoint for a direct confrontation between the world’s two leading powers. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is thoroughly committed to a (re)unification with the Republic of China (ROC). The PRC’s ascension to global prominence, increasing foreign policy assertiveness, and modernised armed forces fuel concerns about an imminent invasion. The United States of America's (US) regional policy of strategic ambiguity has effectively deterred outright conflict for decades. The resulting status quo has promoted a multinational network of interdependencies. Nevertheless, the recent pivot in US foreign policy towards containing China's rise intensifies the risk of escalating tensions.
    This article examines the influence of US foreign policy on cross-Strait stability by mapping and characterising the international network of regional relations. Theoretically, the study delves into the intricate dynamics of the cross-Strait status quo, employing a Neoclassical Realism framework enhanced by the main concepts of Complexity Theory: non-linearity, feedback, emergence, and self-organisation. The findings provide insights into policy-making aimed at fostering stability in politically sensitive regions.
    
    Author: Tiago Luís Carvalho (Portuguese Air Force Academy Research Center and Orient Institute)
  - Power Politics and International Law in the Asymmetric-Balancing Interactions Between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea in the Twenty-First Century: Theories and Practices
    
    Territorial tensions between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea have deteriorated since the twenty-first century. The international arbitration (2013-2016) that Manila initiated against Beijing demonstrates that in a bilateral asymmetry determined by power disparities, the weaker have limited opportunities to balance the stronger. This research identified two factors backing Manila’s less submissive attitudes towards Beijing: the US engagement and its strengthened alliance with Manila, and the growing leverage of international law. It combines some aspects of Asian-driven Asymmetry and Western-centric Balance-of-Power theories and takes in political and legal perspectives to design an “asymmetric balancing” theoretical model for unravelling Sino-Filipino interactions. This new model contributes to explaining the complexity of state interactions guided by multiple rules: regional norms, external power’s impacts, and institutional constraints. It diversifies theoretical and disciplinary lenses, avoiding the partialities and insufficiencies of using a single theory or disciplinary approach. It also promotes critical thinking of existing structural theories and the significance of international law in international relations. It argues that US superpower penetration and international law have generated power-/legal-balancing effects, in line with anarchy, on Sino-Filipino relations, facilitating a hybrid asymmetric bilateral relationship presenting not only hierarchic but also some anarchic features.
    
    Author: Yue Liu (University of Edinburgh)
- 32
  Panel / International Politics Beyond Anthropocentrism
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Sustainable World: Environmental Degradation, Development and Responsibility
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: David Duriesmith (University of Sheffield)
  - How Nature Produces Sovereignty: More-Than-Human Entanglement and Beyond
    
    In what ways does nature produce expressions of sovereignty? More specifically, how do the material forces, processes and dynamics of the global climate system prompt reconfigurations of sovereignty within the context of anthropogenic climate change? Situated within the relational and processual ontologies of (new) materialism and posthumanism, this paper aims to contribute to the development of understandings of sovereignty that are not only beyond the state, but also beyond anthropocentrism. It attempts, firstly, to broaden understandings of who or what is capable of producing expressions of sovereignty beyond the human realm and, secondly, to complicate the notion of human sovereignty over nature. To do so, it offers a conceptual framework for rethinking the human-nature relationship beyond the object/subject binary. Crucially, that framework prioritises attention to the ways that nature exists in excess of humans, from the temporal and spatial to the cognitive and agentic. In so doing, this paper also speaks to debates in materialist inquiry, where there are growing efforts to look beyond the framework of more-than-human entanglement towards a concomitant recognition of the ‘inhuman’: those parts of nature whose existence, dynamics and affect are not reliant on nor inextricably related to humanity.
    
    Author: Ebony Young (University of Glasgow)
  - Carceral Waters: Greenwashing the Historical Violence of Hydropower in the United States
    
    In the midst of what is to be a ‘green industrial revolution’, this paper places the current impetus to invest in hydroelectric dams worldwide, and particularly in the US, as a ‘green technology’ under historical interrogation. As a primary case study of their problematic nature, this papers frames hydroelectric dams in the United States as examples of ‘settler ethnogeographies’, or lands where Indigenous ontological relations are not only erased but are shaped to reflect settler relations with land (Reibold 2022). The paper further locates that large dams and reservoirs in particular, which have come to be associated with settler colonial ingenuity, modernity, and manifest destiny in the US, have effectively waged a continuous slow, and often hidden violence against both disposable bodies (human and non-human) and lands. As many communities scramble to fight for the liberation and restoration of their rivers, and of cultural lifeways, the green energy paradigm has reframed historical violence as necessary means to a low-carbon end in a world that is increasingly impacted by climate-exacerbated natural disasters.
    
    Author: Bennett Collins (University of Aberdeen)
  - Animals in IR: Governing the Flyways through animal cultures
    
    In this paper we further develop understandings of the role of the non -human in IR by focusing on the political ecologies of animals in order to challenge and disrupt debates on global environmental change. To date, animals have largely been absent in IR scholarship, though there have been recent attempts to rectify this via analyses that argue for a multispecies approaches (see Pereira and Renner, 2023; Fishel, 2023; Mitchell, 2024; Leep, 2023; Youatt, 2020). In this paper, we build on and move forward these debates by focusing on the journeys taken by songbirds along transnational ‘flyways’. These journeys are now becoming increasingly difficult as a result of habitat destruction, climate change and bird crime. The protection of flyways and the animals that rely on them require international co-operation, and one of the key environmental frameworks is the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS, or Bonn Convention). We examine how CMS addresses how the cultures of migratory songbirds shape the dynamics of wildlife crime during their journeys along the flyways.
    
    Authors: Rosaleen Duffy (University of Sheffield) , Teresa Lappe-Osthege (Risk Policy Analysts)
  - Transforming Our World? Strengthening Animal Rights and Animal Welfare at the United Nations
    
    In this paper, we argue that animal rights and welfare are largely neglected at the United Nations (UN) and in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN Sustainability Agenda is not transformative because it lacks a serious (re-)consideration of the relationship between human beings, non-human animals and other components of nature. We propose four ways to strengthen animal rights and animal welfare at the UN: (1) we suggest creating a UN organisation working on animal protection, (2) we support earlier ideas to include an additional SDG on animal welfare in the UN Sustainability Agenda, (3) we propose to strengthen animals rights within the rights of nature framework using the UN as a forum to advance non-anthropocentric norms, (4) we recommend introducing procedural rights for animals in projects linked to SDG funding. Our research is based on an integrative literature review and a document analysis of UN documents, declarations and resolutions.
    
    Authors: Andrea Schapper (University of Stirling) , Cebuan Bliss (Radboud Universiteit)*
  - Transforming Security for Planetary Politics: Lessons from the Amazon
    
    This paper explores security in the Anthropocene, drawing inspiration from recent research in International Relations and related fields on planetary interconnectedness, relationality, multispecies justice, and sustainability transformations. Whilst the concept of security has been a subject of intense debate and has evolved significantly in recent decades, it has largely remained rooted in a human-centric, ‘modernist’ view of politics. This has been challenged by the complex socio-ecological issues of our time. Based on in-depth investigations into the Amazon region, we introduce the concepts of 'eco-socio-cultural corridor' and 'socio-bioeconomy'. The former pertains to an area where connectivity is nurtured or constructed among ecosystems and landscapes as well as among people. The latter represents a production model that prioritises bio- and human diversity and the welfare of more-than-human communities, centred on responsible forest and river use and restoration. Both are built on the idea that security is interconnected, encompassing a variety of entities, species, and forms of knowledge, thereby transcending the 'either/or' dichotomy and bridging the 'material' and 'symbolic' dimensions that coexist in forest environments. We argue that these concepts can help transform security discussions and practices for planetary politics, nurturing ties amidst diversity, weaving them across divides, while promoting care for all species and the habitability of the Earth.
    
    Authors: Inês Ferreira de Sousa (NOVA University of Lisbon) , Joana Castro Pereira (University of Porto) , João Terrenas (University Institute of Lisbon)*
- 33
  Panel / Constructing World Politics
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Liam Stanley
  - Towards a Narrative Alliance? Russia’s and China’s Visions of a Better World Order
    
    There has been a long theoretical debate about power shifts and the transformation of the post-Cold War liberal order (Acharya, Ikenberry, Haas, Kupchan, Buzan and others). Such transformation is characterised by the ongoing competition of various promoted ideas on how the world should look. Drawing on the concepts of discursive hegemony (Laclau, Mouffe, Wojczewski) and narrative alliances (Homolar & Turner, Roselle), I analyse strategic documents of Russia and China, as well as program speeches of their official leaders (from February 2014 to July 2024), to outline and compare visions of a better world order that these countries attempt to establish globally. These visions are considered elements of counter-hegemonic discursive struggle between competing narratives advancing specific interpretations of reality. The presentation aims to reveal at which aspects and to what extent China’s and Russia’s visions coincide and conflict and whether they can constitute a narrative alliance, i.e. a shared system of allegiance articulating a common understanding of a better world and obstacles to creating it.
    
    Author: Intigam Mamedov (Northumbria University)
  - ‘Islamic State’ in Chinese State News Media: Reporting Terrorism within a Communist Regime
    
    News media in different regions generate distinct portrayals of terrorism, influenced by their respective media systems and ideological positions. Given the extensive state control over China’s news media, encompassing both structure and ideological orientation, this research posits that the representation of the ‘Islamic State’ in Chinese media is distinctly different from Western depictions, reflective of the unique role of news in a communist context. Thus, this study specifically addresses the gap in understanding how the ‘Islamic State’ is depicted in the Chinese media landscape, governed by a communist regime.
    Three central questions guide this research: 1) How has the representation of the 'Islamic State' in Chinese state media evolved from 2014 to 2019? 2) What discursive strategies are employed by these media to shape the narrative around the 'Islamic State'? 3) To what extent do these portrayals align with China's national interests and policy goals, both domestically and internationally?
    The methodological framework hinges on an instrumental application of discourse analysis, scrutinizing the content disseminated by Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television (CCTV), the central-level media with exclusive rights to international news coverage. It combines corpus-based critical discourse analysis for textual content and visual discourse analysis for imagery, aiming to elucidate the social ideologies underlying these representations.
    This research aspires to shed light on the complex dynamics by which Chinese state media frames and disseminates the narrative of terrorism, thereby contributing empirically to the discourse on media representation within a communist context. Its significance extends to journalism, political science, and discourse studies.
    
    Author: Qiang Zhang (University of Sheffield)
  - The Different Face of Populism in Armenian Politics: Nikol Pashinyan
    
    Populist leaders have been gaining momentum in countries around the world in recent years, coming to power with great momentum and quickly losing support when their big promises fail to materialize. One of these leaders is Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who discussed a lot with the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh. There are some populist strategy areas in Pashinyan’s policies. His promises of economic reforms and anti-corruption measures resonated with the public but implementing these reforms without causing economic instability has proven challenging. This research argues that his communication style, which often appeals directly to the people and bypasses traditional political channels, is characteristic of populist leaders. This study discusses that his populist rhetoric, particularly regarding Armenia's conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, has exacerbated tensions and hindered diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict. All of these issues are explored with analysing Pashinyan’s political discourse in this study.
    
    Author: Caglar Ezikoglu (University of Birmingham)
  - Geocultural Imaginaries and Foreign Policy in Post-2018 Ethiopia
    
    In this paper, I describe and analyse the emergence of new geocultural imaginaries (Winter 2022) in government and policy discourse in Ethiopia, since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power in 2018. My main focus is how Ethiopia’s relationship to the Red Sea, and to the Middle East, have been redefined over the past six years. Based on a narrative analysis of newspaper archives and interviews conducted in Addis Ababa in 2024, I explore how – in this context – visions of the Ethiopian state and its place in the world are being (re)formulated, negotiated, and contested. I show that geocultural narratives play an important role in this process. However, while some of these narratives serve to imagine Ethiopia as part of larger shared communities and spaces, others are exclusive and have contributed to inter-state tensions, as well as a discursive environment in which the use of military force to ensure Ethiopia’s ‘national security’ is normalised. By exploring what the concept of geocultural narratives lets us see and understand in this specific context, I also hope to contribute to conversations between the fields of critical geopolitics and critical security studies in International Relations.
    
    Author: Katharina Newbery (Addis Ababa University)
  - Homeland (In)Security and the Racialisation of the Arab in America
    
    In this particular historical moment, understanding the origins and evolution of Islamophobia in the United States is imperative in the pursuit of global justice. The study of racial politics in the U.S. has historically ignored the role Islamophobia in the construction of racial categories. This became exponentially more apparent after 9/11 with the substantial increase in surveillance, unlawful detentions, hate crimes, and media rhetoric targeting Muslims and those perceived to be so. This paper seeks to understand the racialisation of a category of people that had hitherto been mostly absent from racial politics literature. I argue that predominantly Christian Arab immigrants enjoyed a relatively benign position within the US racial system in the first half of the twentieth century. While this position was not uncontested, the Christian Arab was granted legal status as white on the basis of a shared Christian heritage. It was not until the 1960s that the Arab, while still officially white in legal instruments such as the Census, lost the protections that such whiteness had granted them. This shift is linked to the U.S.’s increased involvement in the Middle East during the Cold War, which shaped its relationship with its own Arab population. I will show how the coincidence of a series of international conjunctures, from the establishment of the state of Israel, Johnson’s 1965’s Immigration Act, the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the Iranian Revolution, and the 1970 oil embargo drastically changed American perceptions about Arab Americans. While significant, 9/11 intensified and systematised existing patterns, but it by no means instigated them.
    
    Author: Maryam Nahhal (Johns Hopkins University)
- 34
  Panel / Perspectives on Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Cooperative World: North, South, and Beyond
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Amya Agarwal (Centre for Global Cooperation Research)
  - Populism, Leadership and Institutional Pathways: Analysing Claims of Changes in Indian and Brazilian Foreign Policy-Making in the Contemporary Era
    
    Most populist regimes establish power domestically by walking the tightrope between fashioning themselves as harbingers of change and commitment to preserving an “original” way of life. This propensity to change is uniquely tied to historical and mythic imaginations of nationhood, acutely manifested in discourses of recognition and status in the international sphere. This is particularly true of both India and Brazil, united in their search for greatness and status in the world affairs. Narendra Modi and Jair Bolsonaro however, have taken different paths in entrenching this change, potently affected by the incidence of the pandemic.
    Increasingly, there has been a conversation in both countries about how their leaders have “changed” the making of foreign policy in their countries. In both countries, continuity with change has defined post-Cold War foreign policy making, where in the Brazilian scenario the bulwark of Itamaraty has stayed the power of its presidentialism and the ideological bent of post-independent India and constitutive structures of the Ministry of External Affairs constrained veering policy making. How has populism, authoritarianism and the individual leadership of these two leaders interacted with this systemic stability? What are the lessons for understanding foreign policy making from analysing these contrasting but complementary cases? This paper hopes to unentangle the contradictions between stability of foreign policy strucutres and individual leadership visions.
    
    Author: Devika Misra (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
  - Crisis and Reconfiguration: The Impact of Sino-US Tensions on South America (2000-2020)
    
    Over the past two decades, China's rapid entry into the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region has significantly altered a geopolitical landscape traditionally dominated by the United States. This study examines the impact of Sino-US tensions on South America's political and economic dynamics from 2000 to 2020, focusing on two key periods: the rise of progressive governments with state-led policies and the subsequent shift to center-right governments prioritizing monetarist austerity.
    
    China's high demand for primary commodities created a "margin of autonomy" for South American economies, aligning with the region's abundant supply. However, the end of the commodity boom and the political shift to center-right governments reconfigured regional integration priorities and introduced new economic challenges.
    
    This study addresses three key research questions:
    
    1-) To what extent does China represent a threat to longstanding US hegemony in the Western Hemisphere?
    
    2-) How are Sino-US tensions shaping intra-regional and international politics in South America?
    
    3-) In what ways have various sub-regional blocs (Unasur, Mercosur, the Andean Community, and the Pacific Alliance) enabled South American countries to cope with rising Sino-US tensions and economic competition?
    
    By analyzing these questions, the research provides a comprehensive understanding of the geopolitical and economic shifts in South America amidst Sino-US tensions, contributing to discussions on fostering a more cooperative global order.
    
    Author: Filipe mendonça (Federal University of Uberlandia)
  - Whose feminisms? Producing German Feminist Foreign Policy at the intersection of civil society and diplomacy
    
    Since the adoption of a feminist foreign policy (FFP) in December 2021, the German Foreign Office (FFO) has worked on developing the policy, publishing a guideline document in March 2023. This process has opened up opportunities for civil society engagement in foreign policy production as FFP has traditionally been understood as inclusive of different actors. While this has tended to strengthen the intersection of civil society and diplomacy, the production of FFP is also steeped in racialised, classed, and gendered hierarchies of knowledge production (Achilleos-Sarll et al. 2023). This raises the questions of who and whose feminisms have been incorporated in the production of FFP (Morton et al. 2020), and to what extent FFP reproduces dominant ways of knowing and making foreign policy. Drawing on extensive participant observation in the FFO and the author’s own experience participating in the German FFP development process, this paper argues that the production of FFP maintained hierarchies of knowledge production by upholding exclusive notions of expertise, privileging thematic over experiential knowledge, and policing the boundaries of what is recognisable as feminism in the institutional discourse. Civil society input was institutionally captured (Eastwood 2006) and more radical understandings of feminism depoliticised.
    
    Author: Karoline Färber (King’s College London)
  - Analysis of Paradiplomatic Practices: A Study of Subnational Actors in Brazil
    
    This research aims to analyze the paradiplomatic practices of subnational entities in Brazil, focusing on the relationship between subnational and federal governments and its influence on paradiplomatic activities. The study will conduct two case studies: a) Brazilian paradiplomatic activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and b) subnational actors' engagement in environmental diplomacy.
    
    During the COVID-19 pandemic, subnational actors developed strategies that often conflicted with the federal government's denialist stance during the Bolsonaro administration (2019-2022). The Interstate Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Northeast actively sought equipment, vaccines, and strengthened international relations, particularly with China.
    
    The project will also examine subnational actors' engagement in environmental diplomacy. Entities such as the Northeast Consortium and the Legal Amazon Consortium played pivotal roles in defending the environmental agenda and combating climate change, often opposing the federal government's climate denialism. These efforts included restoring bilateral relations with other countries and participating in multilateral environmental conferences.
    
    The study aims to provide insights into the evolution of subnational diplomacy, highlighting how subnational governments engage in international cooperation to address global challenges. The findings will contribute to the broader field of paradiplomacy studies and inform policy recommendations for subnational governments.
    
    Author: Debora Figueiredo M Prado (Federal University of Uberlandia)
- 35
  Panel / Teaching International Studies Differently: Games, Visuals and Beyond
  
  Sponsor: Reflexivity and Innovative Practice in Teaching and Pedagogy
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli (University of Sheffield)
  - Extended Security Imaginations: Virtual Reality in International Relations
    
    Virtual Reality (VR), often dubbed the ultimate empathy machine, offers a practical foundation for nurturing greater imagination and empathy. Despite its increasing adoption in various social science fields like tourism and military studies, VR remains notably absent in international relations (IR), as well as in IR pedagogy. In the era of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), IR must develop appropriate methodologies and pedagogies for spatial computing, from modality to affordance. In that respect, VR provides a unique platform for immersive simulations of global scenarios, enabling policymakers, scholars, and ordinary citizens—the principal agents of vernacular security—to experience diverse geopolitical realities firsthand. This paper begins by taking stock of current IR-VR literature and potential linkages. It then examines how VR can enhance IR literacy, particularly security literacy, by focusing on nuclear issues in the Korean peninsula and East Asia. In doing so, the study aims to create a collaborative arena where practitioners, theorists, students, and laypeople can engage in more imaginative, innovative problem-identification and problem-solving processes in IR thinking. By bridging the gap between VR technology and IR, this research contributes to the development of more empathetic and interdisciplinary approaches to global challenges.
    
    Author: Seongwon Yoon (Hanyang University)
  - Reimagining Security Studies Education: A Non-Compartmentalized Pedagogical Approach
    
    Addressing the challenge of teaching security without reproducing dominant structures and forms of knowledge is critical for all attempts aimed at reimagining the discipline. Security analysts prefer to examine immediate necessities rather than longer-term possibilities, exceptions rather than norms, empirical rather than theoretical knowledge, practical applicability rather than guiding principles. These tendencies are often justified through rhetorical claims about ‘realism,’ despite the necessarily contentious character of what counts as real or realistic and overwhelming evidence of the mutually constitutive character of present moments and historical trajectories, norms and exceptions, empirical and theoretical knowledge as well as principles and practices. Yet as critical approaches to security try to insist, relations between these paired terms are always complicated, in ways that often suggest different possibilities for being and acting politically. Such attempts are often met with predictable accusations of a naïve retreat to abstract theorizing lacking real-world applicability. This paper develops a pedagogical contribution by designing, applying, and reflecting on a strategy that bridges the gap between thinking and practicing security. This paper challenges traditional security teaching methods by adopting what we call a non-compartmentalized pedagogy. It encourages the exploration of diverse theoretical perspectives and their practical implications, highlighting the inherently political nature of theorizing security. This approach aims to provide a more nuanced and inclusive understanding of security, moving beyond the 'add and stir' approach (Bilgin 2010) to genuinely integrate diverse traditions into the discipline.
    
    Authors: Norma Rossi (University of St. Andrews) , Malte Riemann (Leiden University)
  - Visual Writing - Advanced Visual Skills as Transferable Pedagogy
    
    Teaching visual skills as part of social science education in general, and visual politics teaching in particular, is becoming more widespread. In the UK, this trend is codified in QAA subject benchmarks (QAA 2023; QAA 2024) as well as in a general discourse that tasks academic disciplines with also providing clear transferrable technological skills.
    “Visual writing” is a pedagogically led approach for the integration of advanced visual skills as part of a critical framework. It aligns with political visual literacy (Galai 2023), which is an approach to visual politics that interrogates the visualities enfolded into visual practices, to intervene on discourses of sight and in particular, oppressive politics. This approach has framed the provision of a final year undergraduate module and several week-long workshops in UK institutions and this working-paper will share developing best practice.
    
    Author: Yoav Galai (Royal Holloway, University of London)
  - Teaching International Relations in Eurasian context: Experience of Introducing Gamification into Classes in Armenia, Tajikistan and Russia in 2018 – 2022
    
    Gamification is known to be a recognised method of managing business companies’ personnel performance and motivation. In modern Eurasian countries this practice is now gaining popularity in universities. Despite criticism from the advocates of traditional methods of education, the scale and variety of gamification methods and means introduced are slowly incorporated into the curriculum even as obligatory teaching practices.
    This paper presents the set of results of the experiment of introducing gamification practices to teaching International Politics and International Relations in Armenia, Tajikistan and Russia in 2018 - 2022. Gamification was applied as an additional method of teaching and evaluating (including mid-semester tests and course exams at the end of it) to both graduate and undergraduate students, studying such subjects as History of International Relations (2d year of BA studies), International Security (3d year of BA studies) and Peace Research (2d year of MA studies).
    In this paper, I introduce two blocs of methods and practices that were applied. First, I discuss how the semester exam in each of the three cases was divided into 3 stages with a choice for students to take a full- or partial exam using a “take-home exam” method that is still not widely recognized in Armenia, Tajikistan and Russia, and the results of this experiment. Second, the paper discusses the application of a role-play “Royal Diplomacy: Justice Revisited” with an open-ended decision and some game theory practice that were applied for graduate students. Also, I highlight the major problems with student motivation, group performance successes and failures, and some psychological-cultural issues that were revealed as obstacles or accelerators during this study experiment across three universities in these countries.
    
    Author: Natalia Piskunova (Moscow State University)
- 36
  Panel / Violence, Conflict, and Culture
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Nick Caddick (ARU)
  - Art, Peace and the Curation of Entangled Histories of Violence
    
    This paper challenges the “illusion of seclusion” of peace processes. It argues that we tend to view violence as locally contained, therefore ignoring its pluri-local origins and asking those at the receiving end of violence to compensate for the failures of powerful institutions to confront their own complicity. Drawing on examples from South Africa, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland, the paper demonstrates the extent to which such narratives of isolation have been challenged by diverse art projects. It shows how politically engaged artists have developed ways of engaging with the legacies of violence to cast light on their pluri-local dimensions and therefore play an important (albeit subtle) role in the respective peace process.
    
    Author: Stefanie Kappler (Durham University)
  - Emotions and Knowledge Production in Conflicts: Applying a critical perspective
    
    This paper analyzes the nexus of emotions and knowledge production in International Relations and the creation of (in)security. With the emotional turn in IR, emotions are now recognized as shaping thinking, understanding, decision making and behavior in the political arena. As emotions contribute to the formation of Self-Other relations, the (mis-)use of emotional framings and appeals to convince, mobilize and foster support for political gain is especially observable in conflict settings.
    The paper considers how the appeal to and with emotions inform about political developments and actors in two case studies: the Russian war in Ukraine, and the Israel-Gaza conflict. It illustrates how emotions shape the room for politics and either constrain or facilitate empathy. Analyzed material includes text and images, including deepfakes.
    A deeper understanding of emotions’ influence in both a situational and a foundational manner allows critical questioning of knowledge production. Thus, the paper also offers thoughts regarding the ethical consequence of a responsibility for the Other, as well as recommendations for researchers applying a critical perspective.
    
    Author: Sybille Reinke de Buitrago (IKriS & IFSH)
  - “It’s the Slums in the Global Debate!”: the F20 Project as an Act of Global Political Imagination
    
    What if the slums could talk the G20 talk? Climate change, disaster reduction, digitalization and reduction of inequalities. It may be a consensus that we are all affected by those issues in different manners and intensities. We feel it individually, we live it collectively from a local perspective, but we all globally commune over these. The act of traversing realities and of translating global dynamics into the local context through a common language and accessible practices is more than a meaningful task: it is complex and involves a lot of creativity, communication skills and, of course, a certain dose of political imagination. Created by a young Brazilian communicator, René Silva, the F20 (or ‘Favelas20') Project emerges in this scenario with aims of inclusion of slums in the Global South over the current global debates discussed in light of the G20. Thus, in this paper I propose a discussion over the F20 Project not only as a practice of citizen diplomacy played by small non-state actors and marginalized bodies in a certain territory, but also as a practice of proactive contestation that emerges from specific ideals of global political imaginations shared by a certain complex of communities with specific dynamics of the Global South. This paper shall draw on two major discussions: one focusing on the kinds of practices enacted by the F20 and their character within the field of International Relations, and a second one with reflections about their political meaning in such moment, as well as future possible outcomes for the next presidency of the G20 in South Africa. With that, I hope to contribute to the Global IR Project by [re]centering political discussions in IR to the perspective of the marginalized, as well as to constructivist and utopia debates by bringing to the fore empirical experiences of the Global South based on specific dynamics of slums’ territory based on their everyday life perspective.
    
    Author: Raquel Santos (IRI/PUC-Rio)
  - Confrontation and Construction of Identities: Narratives of Palestinians and Israelis in the Conflict Scenario.
    
    This article explores the dynamics of political representations and imaginations within the framework of the ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. The study delves into the realms of cultural, material, affective, and collective representations, as well as the significance of emotions and mentalities in the socio-political landscape. The primary objective is to understand how passions, myths, and political emotions contribute to social reproduction, power relations, and political changes, particularly in the context of a prolonged conflict. The authors argue that an in-depth analysis of these elements is crucial for comprehending the construction and confrontation of identities within the Israeli-Palestinian scenario. By integrating the concepts of new political history, the paper sheds light on the complex interplay between historical narratives, cultural mentalities, and political ideologies, ultimately highlighting their impact on the social and political fabric of the involved communities.
    
    Authors: Michel Gherman (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) , Karina Stange Calandrin (Universidade de São Paulo)
  - Lulled into Inaction: Understanding the Passivity of Russian Society During War
    
    The complex tactics employed by the Russian government to manipulate public sentiment have been largerly discussed in connection with Russia's war in Ukraine. This paper focuses on contemporary "politics of pacification" strategies employed by the Russian government after the start of the war.
    
    The concept of the "politics of pacification" is not widely recognized as a distinct academic or theoretical concept yet. We define the term "politics of pacification" as a set of governmental or political strategies and actions aimed at calming or stabilizing a society, especially during times of conflict, crisis, or unrest.
    
    Diverging from the traditional politics of fear, mobilization, or demobilization observed during peaceful periods, this approach emphasizes a unique form of politics—one that aims to induce a state of societal inaction during times of conflict. Through a calculated blend of targeted measures, the Kremlin seeks to quell dissent, divert attention away from political matters, and reduce the potential for mass protests.
    
    In Russian context such measures include: discourse and media strategy of war covering, political strategy of calming down after the annunciation of the partial mobilization, demonstration that the Russian economy just benefits from sanctions, media strategy and narratives to show that Russia is still recognized on the international arena, media strategies that show Western Countries sufferings, silencing of war casualties, drones attacks and even the attack on the Kremlin, creating the appearance of normal life, discourse about those who have left, reassuring those who have stayed.
    
    Data will be collected from prominent Russian media, official documents, and speeches during the latter half of the first year of the war (August 24, 2022, to January 1, 2023), before and after partial mobilization. A comprehensive analysis of the Russian media landscape will be conducted using the SCAN Interfax platform. Relevant articles and messages from the selected websites and media platforms will be extracted based on specific keywords. Content analysis of the identified articles will be performed using the Atlas.ti software. Critical discourse analysis will enable us to address three aspects of the research question: the styles of politics of pacification, discursive strategies, and extra-discursive behaviors of political actors.
    
    Author: Olga Vlasova (King's College London)
- 37
  
  Roundtable / Plenary Roundtable: The rise of far right around the world
  
  Speakers: Aida Hozic (University of Florida), Chenchen Zhang (Durham University), Karin Narita (University of Sheffield), Michael C. Williams (University of Ottawa), Nitasha Kaul (University of Westminster)
- 38
  Panel / Comparative Studies of World Politics
  
  Sponsor: Theorising the Past, Present and Future of World Politics
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  - How to Measure Democracy in Latin America?
    
    The study aims to compare different expert indexes regarding the measurement of democracy. The main objective is to determine the convergence or divergence among the indexes, to assess if the interpretation of the same political phenomena can find differences depending on the index used. To this end, the Latin American region is going to be used for this analysis, emphasising the 21st century period. This allows for a comparison of presidential countries, which by definition have fixed mandates for the Heads of Government. Nonetheless, several countries in that region faced constitutional or unconstitutional changes of government, as consequence or cause of social and political instability. These episodes were tipping points that affected the political culture of the region. The research gives particular attention to these episodes, observing how this has been measured as impacts in the democratic performance.
    
    Author: Andre Araujo (São Paulo State University)
  - European Populism: Anti-Globalization and Anti-War Discourses in the Context of the European Parliament Elections of June 9, 2024. Case Study: France, Italy, Poland, Romania
    
    This study investigates how European populism employs anti-globalization and anti-war discourses to influence the 2024 European Parliament elections, focusing on France, Italy, Poland, and Romania. Applying framing theory, the research reveals how populist leaders construct narrative frames that challenge current political realities and offer alternative visions of the future. The case studies were selected using the "Most Similar Systems Design" (MSSD) method, ensuring comparability between countries with different contexts but similar populist manifestations. Data was collected from social media campaigns, utilizing the content analysis to examine how populist messages are communicated and perceived in real-time.
    The findings show that despite significant contextual differences, anti-globalization and anti-war discourses share common frameworks that exploit social and economic grievances to mobilize supporters. This paper examines how these frameworks influence more inclusive political visions. In France and Italy, anti-globalization frames emphasize economic sovereignty and cultural nationalism, while in Poland and Romania, the focus is on threats to national security. Anti-war speeches reflect anti-NATO sentiments and calls for neutrality. This study provides insights into understanding the complexities and dynamism of contemporary European populism and its broader implications for European politics.
    
    Author: Stefan Marosan (Babeș-Bolyai University)
  - What Explains Equity-Enhancing Reforms Under Centre-Right Governments? Evidence From Brazil
    
    While inequality has increased in most countries worldwide, income distribution across Latin America has become fairer in recent decades in both left- and right-leaning administrations. Yet, research remains incipient on how equity-enhancing initiatives sometimes emerged during centre-right governments. To narrow this gap, this article checks which mechanisms enabled a consequential education reform and the federalisation of cash-transfer programmes as proposed by the PSDB-led governing coalition in Brazil (1995-2002), considering hypotheses about electoral competition, left-wing legislative strength, social mobilisation capacity, and coalition dynamics. By combining multiple data sources, it is possible to observe the president signalling to voters that education and cash-transfer policies represented a material benefit. Meanwhile, the executive cultivated a large multiparty alliance that paved the way for the government’s success before a fragmented legislature. Whilst electoral competition and coalition dynamics appear throughout policy processes, the leftist bloc remained relatively weak in Congress, and bottom-up pressures were almost non-existent. For analytical generalisation, I propose new case studies to investigate whether competitive elections and cross-party cooperation would be relevant explanations for the persistence of the two redistributive policies in education and cash transfers during the subsequent governments of the left-wing Workers’ Party (2003-2016) and the far-right Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
    
    Author: Daniel Alves (King's College London)
  - What Can Small State Studies Tell us About Protostates? The Cases of the Palestinian Authority and Syrian Kurdistan
    
    With its focus on the effects of small size on foreign policy, Small State Studies have neglected the problematization of statehood in most of its theories. Consequently, the sub-discipline narrowed its focus down to the study of those actors which meet the general requirements of statehood. Nevertheless, the study of the effects of size on international behaviour can be highly insightful among protostates or quasi states, whose cases are mostly analysed solely from the perspective of their quest towards acheiving statehood.
    The paper attempts to connect the theoretical literature concerning propostates, quasi states, and small states thus providing an analytical framework to analyse how actors without definitive statehood overcome the effects of smallness (or even capitalize from it). The study will focus on two case studies, the Palestinian Authority and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The paper will contribute to questioning the state-centric narratives in mainstream IR and Small State Studies.
    
    Author: Mate Szalai (Ca Foscari University)
- 39
  Panel / Peace and Conflict in World Politics
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Secure World: Conflict, Insecurity and Vulnerability
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Helen Turton (University of Sheffield)
  - Autonomous War, and the Impending Ontological Upheaval
    
    This paper considers what autonomous weapons mean for the ontology of war. Beginning with Clausewitz’ conceptualisation of war as the reciprocity of hostile intentions between two or more groups which results in a “clash of arms”, I ask whether “war”—as we know it—can survive the unfolding revolution in robotics and artificial intelligence: How far and for how long “out of the loop”, for example, can humans be for war to still be war; and at what stage would we regard autonomous weapons as waging “autonomous war” (a feat for which—if we are to preserve the Clausewitzian notion of “war”—they would have to embody/manifest “hostile intentions”)? I argue that these questions point to an impending ontological upheaval: That if, hitherto, only war’s character has changed, then at some future point we will witness its nature morphing into something which escapes conceptual and ontological understanding thereunto. I conclude with a methodological argument: That our difficulty to grasp the ethical, legal, societal, and security implications of autonomous weapons is rooted in this impending ontological upheaval. This paper, as such, clarifies some of the unique ontological/methodological challenges facing the field of war studies as it ventures into an uncertain future.
    
    Author: Mark Gilks
  - Children and Other Forms of Violence: a Comparative Analysis of Children Involved in Organized Crime and Armed Groups in the Americas
    
    The presence of childhood in International Relations (IR) has historically occupied a marginalized space, particularly in the International Security field. The Childhood Studies in IR seek to demonstrate that children are actors who are not only influenced by international structures but also contribute to their construction. According to the UN, organized crime currently accounts for more deaths than armed conflicts and terrorism combined, with the Americas experiencing the highest rates of homicides related to the criminal activity, predominantly affecting individuals aged 13-29 who are both its main victims and perpetrators. Through the lens of Childhood Studies in IR, combined with Critical Security and Critical Peace Studies, using a qualitative approach, this study seeks to comparatively analyze the involvement of children as members of organized crime in three locations: Brazilian criminal factions, El Salvadoran pandillas, and urban gangs in the United States. Therefore, it aims to redirect academic discourse beyond "traditional" cases of children in armed conflicts, toward investigating the diverse and complex relationships of childhoods with both violence and peace, examining the specificities of each case. Furthermore, this research also enhances the ongoing need to de-silence childhoods immersed in spaces of violence perpetuation that remain overlooked within IR literature.
    
    Author: Júlia Henrique Lira (San Tiago Dantas)
  - Naming and Overcoming Violent and Statist Reflexes: An Anarcho-pacifist Contribution to Critical Terrorism Studies
    
    Both pacifism and anarchism have made appearances in recent CTS scholarship, but the mutually reinforcing dimension of several of their arguments means that their contribution is more potent when considered together. Three main themes emerge when approaching CTS with anarcho-pacifist lenses. First, labelling some violence as ‘terrorism’ entails disproportionate focus on it and sets the scene for larger-scale organised violence in response, with too little reflection on who gets to inflict political violence. Second, not only is the state implicated in the production of counter-terrorist violence, but the monopoly it purports to project over ostensibly ‘legitimate’ violence amounts to what could be termed ‘institutional terrorism’ to advance the interests of some over many others. Third, important though human security and socio-economic and political justice are for effective counter-terrorism, terrorism (whether bottom-up or top-down) is best resisted nonviolently for several reasons, including: that violence often fails whilst nonviolence tends to be more effective; that inevitable moral uncertainty counsels against irreversible lethal action; that nonviolence wrestles with the humanity of adversaries; that political action is constitutive and prefigurative; and that nonviolence is therefore more likely to trigger counter-responses that are nonviolent too, paving the way for an emancipatory reconstitution of agonistic political practice.
    
    Author: Alexandre Christoyannopoulos (Loughborough University)
  - Politics of Making EU Energy Sanctions for Russian Full-Scale Invasion to Ukraine: Structure Defines Agency?
    
    Why EU have introduced embargo on import of Russian coal and oil in 2022 for country’s full-scale invasion to Ukraine, while other energy industries, such as civil nuclear industry, remained unsanctioned, or, as liquid natural gas (LNG), only recently started to face partial EU restrictions?
    
    Two prime interests of this study will concern 1) internal differentiations of sanction packages targeting structurally complex economic sectors and 2) the evolution of these measures over time with the perspective of possible expansion.
    
    Drawing of classical international regimes theory and recent regime complexity theory, the main proposed theoretical novelty of this study is to analyse the multidimensional scope of sanctions packages as distinct type of international regimes (IRg).
    
    Theoretical framework of this study will be based on combination of:
    
    • less-institutions centered approaches from the earlier literature on IRg (Krasner 1982, Haggard and Simmons 1987) viewing them foremost as norms and rules
    • with elements of recent regime complexity theory (Henning and Prat 2023 ) concentrating on the role of structural factors in explaining international regimes complexity.
    
    The analysis in line with theory-building process-tracing methodology will look
    
    • at the different combinations of four factors (level of dependency, perception of sanctioning feasilibity, concentration of internal losses, targeting effectiveness)
    • with different political outcomes (diversification without sanctions, import embargo, effort to control target state economic contacts with third parties)
    • in the cases of EU sanctionative responses concerning four Russian energy industries ( coal; oil and petroleum products; natural gas and LNG; civil nuclear industry).
    
    Key Words: Sanctions, Economic Statecraft, International Regimes Theory, Regime Complexity Theory, EU, Russo-Ukrainian War, Energy, Coal, Oil, Natural Gas, LNG, Nuclear.
    
    Author: Ihor Moshenets (Central European University)
  - Moving Beyond R2P: Atrocity Prevention as a Field of Practice But Not (yet) a Field of Inquiry
    
    This paper argues for the need to move the study of mass violence beyond the narrow confines of debates around the Responsibility to Protect and to establish a new field of ‘atrocity studies’. The discipline of IR has largely adopted R2P as the primary lens through which to view the prediction, prevention of, and response to mass atrocities over the last two decades, without sufficient reflection on the limitations of such an approach. This paper challenges this trend. It proceeds in three parts.
    
    The first part argues that the problem of mass violence has been broadly addressed to date across various disciplines through the distinct, limited, and peculiarly unconnected fields of R2P studies and genocide studies - fields with considerable unfulfilled potential for overlap.
    
    The second part evidences the parallel evolution of atrocity prevention as a distinct field of practice in recent decades through the inclination of practitioners to employ this alternative language, a development often erroneously conflated by academic observers with evidence of the influence of R2P.
    
    The third part in turn argues for the establishment of atrocity prevention as a distinct multidisciplinary field of inquiry, and suggests - borrowing from David Scheffer - the alternative umbrella term of ‘atrocity studies’. It does so by further sketching out what this new field of inquiry might entail.
    
    Author: Ben Willis (University of Plymouth)
- 40
  Panel / Power, Development, and World Politics
  
  Sponsor: Towards a More Cooperative World: North, South, and Beyond
  
  Convener: Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)
  
  Chair: Matheus Felten Fröhlich (University of Vale do Taquari)
  - Ignoring Inequality: Economists in the Struggle for Postcolonial Development
    
    Including transnational experts into the everyday work of IOs has become an anchoring practice of contemporary global governance. This paper argues that it has simultaneously transformed multilateral diplomacy and maintained colonial structures of power in the global economic order. I study the role transnational economic professionals from the Global South and the Global North have played in the design of multilateral development policies in the 1940s and 1950s. Practices of knowledge production among Western economists at the OEEC/OECD produced ignorance on the causes of global inequality by silencing the role that colonial extraction played in post-WWII European economic recovery. A partial interpretation of the success story of the Marshall Plan effectively ignored the structural and historical causes of national prosperity highlighted by Global South economists. As a result, questions of economic development were effectively removed from the decolonization process underway at the UN, and postcolonial countries became excluded from the multilateral coordination of development assistance.
    
    Author: Alice Chessé (McGill University)
  - Corporate Financialization and Global Value Chains: Case Studies in Argentina
    
    The literature on financialization emphasizes its linkages with production (Epstein, 2005; Krippner, 2005; Palley, 2013; Van der Zwan, 2014) however, its main concern has been to elucidate whether financialization leads to a reduction in productive investment (Orhangazi, 2008; Stockhammer, 2004). In this paper, instead, the focus is on the interrelation between firms' role in the global production organization and their financial strategies. It is assumed that financialization succeeded alongside the restructuring of the global production organization, and both processes shape each other (Kaltenbrunner, 2018; Morgan, 2014).
    This interrelationship presents particularities when analyzed in the periphery. Several authors recognize that different roles of the firm in the global production structure and their subordinate position in global finance affect the financial behaviour of Non-Financial Corporations (NFC) (Andreoni et al., 2021; Bonizzi et al., 2022; Kaltenbrunner et al., 2023; Soener, 2020).
    The purpose is to examine the relationship between the financialization of Argentine NFCs and their integration into GVCs through balance sheet analysis of four case studies of Argentinean firms from the consumer electronics GVC (international integration subordinated to the leading firms in the chain, specialization in low value-added tasks, and orientation towards the domestic market) and the oilseeds and derivatives GVC (internationally competitive and export orientation).
    
    Author: Ignacio Juncos (National University of Cordoba)
  - The Expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Around the World and the Inclusion of American Countries
    
    The Belt and Road Initiative is an update for today's times of what the Silk Road was in ancient times. Three of its main differences are: (1) the operating range; (2) the centrality of actions; and (3) the activities and "goods" that circulate in the BRI. Regarding the first point, the new route differs from the previous one in terms of the number of countries and covers all continents. The centrality of the actions shows that this time the initiative is entirely Chinese and, finally, the activities and goods involved in the New Silk Road are no longer low-complexity products but engineering projects, factories, financial investments, among others.
    
    The American continent was not present on the old Silk Road, but it is on the new one. This work seeks to understand which countries, which institutions, and which goods and services activities are part of the first ten years (2013-2023) of the BRI. Using Process Tracing, we seek to understand how the BRI is a cooperation instrument for the development of American countries, highlighting their disputes and the positive and negative points for the development of the different regions.
    
    Author: Vitor dos Santos Bueno (Universidade De Brasília)
  - Country Ownership in Foreign Aid Beyond the Aid Negotiation Stage: The Use of Donor- and Recipient-Based Delivery Channels in Aid for Trade
    
    The notion of country ownership responds to the realisation that ‘template policies’ do not promote development in the same way, if at all, in different countries and contexts – and indeed development may be undermined in specific scenarios following donor countries’ imposition of their own idea of successful policies. Much attention has been devoted, accordingly, to the role of country ownership in improving aid effectiveness. The literature, nonetheless, has mostly focused on the role of developing country governments during the negotiation phase and/or as coordinators of aid efforts across donors. In turn, the aid relationship has evolved to include new forms of donor presence in aid-recipient countries, for example through the use of donor-based aid delivery vehicles. The implications of the latter with respect to aid development impact, nonetheless, remain largely unexplored.
    
    This paper aims to advance this gap by exploring the role of country ownership, as determined by donor- versus recipient-based aid delivery channels, in shaping economic inequality outcomes of Aid for Trade (AfT) programmes in Colombia and Peru. While 34.8% of AfT projects in Peru have been delivered by donor agencies, this figure is much higher for Colombia at 40.9%. The paper will employ in-depth interviews with representatives from AfT delivery agencies in both the donor and the recipient side in each country, to contrast the degree of consideration, community consultation and/or amelioration measures for potential inequality consequences of the respective programmes.
    
    Author: Andrea Gimeno Solaz (University of Edinburgh)

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