ISA 2027: Call for Proposals

Tropes and famous literary aphorisms abound, suggesting that we can, indeed, make sense of dislocations and reconfigurations. But are we truly acknowledging unprecedented ruptures, or are we suffering from amnesia? Does our field of international studies, even when defined as interdisciplinary, provide sufficient analytical tools, or have we failed to reckon with historical or comparative lessons some might prefer to erase? Spread across the globe and spanning generations, do we as a community share sufficiently a moral compass to guide our collective journey into whatever might be a new (academic) normal? Together, can we envision anew future possibilities, whether frightening or hopeful?

At this critical moment, our association and higher education generally seem exceptionally fragile, as we inevitably view innumerable challenges through divergent, if not incommensurate lenses. Manifest in both teaching and research, our analyses need a foundational engagement, perhaps even empathy, with those from other viewpoints to recognize the complexities of memory, place, and time. By choosing two keywords—amnesia, reckoning—we seek to foster creative conversations about these concerns and potential pathways forward. Theme-based proposals can center one of these keywords or the relationship between them. We also welcome participation from newcomers from adjacent fields, to span everything from traditional topical approaches to philosophical, historical, or conceptual engagements. Instead of a checklist of potential panel ideas, we offer a few prompts that we hope will jumpstart essential dialogues.

The paradigm debates are dead; long live the paradigms! Is the Liberal International Order an artifact of the last century? Is Marxism resurgent? Are Realists reinventing American Empire? Where does racial capitalism fit into the pantheon? What other core concepts should be reconsidered? Who even gets to arbitrate what ranks as a “core” concept? Conversely, when and how have peripheral perspectives sometimes recentered these debates?