Description
Co-convened by Professors Erskine (ANU) and Wheeler (University of Birmingham), ‘Avoiding Armageddon: Coral Bell’s Contribution to International Relations’ seeks to bring together leading and emerging scholars to reflect on Bell’s contribution to the discipline of international relations (IR) and our understanding of international politics. The roundtable is inspired by the co-convenors’ belief that Bell’s work has not achieved the recognition that is deserves. It is also motivated by the contention that her work on nuclear crises and great power relations speaks directly to current global security challenges and proposed existential threats, especially in the domains of nuclear weapons and AI. Moreover, how we locate Bell’s scholarship within the pantheon of IR theories, and Bell’s relationship to the English school, will also be focal points for the roundtable. In order to engage with these themes, we have invited panellists to address one or more of the following questions: What was Coral Bell’s contribution to the discipline of IR and/or our understanding of international politics? How is her work still relevant today? And, why has she not been given the recognition that one might argue she warrants as a central figure in IR given her contribution and on-going relevance?
