Centre for Global Security Challenges Conference 2026: Call for paper and panel proposals

The CGSC is pleased to invite panel and paper submissions for their "New Ordering? World Politics and the Future of Global Challenges" conference to be held at Leeds on 21 and 22 May 2026.

It is widely believed that the international order – however defined – is not merely in ‘transition’ but rather in a state of rupture. Yet the concept of ‘order’ in international relations and security studies remains deeply contested as an analytical device, as a normative framework, and indeed as a political goal. A heated debate about the future of ‘world order’ in transition reflects controversies about shifting distributions and dynamics of power, emerging regions and technologies, and the crumbling legitimacy and crisis of global governance and institutions. This debate has generated necessary critiques of the abuses of power, hegemony, exclusion, and inequality in international relations, but less clarity on what this implies for ‘global challenges’ and their management. Collective action around shared challenges – such as climate change, trade, nuclear weapons, migration, and armed conflict – relies, implicitly if not explicitly, upon institutions and norms to bring reciprocity amongst stakeholders, political commitment, and shared expectations. In this sense effective collective action requires order. This conference will facilitate discussion on the theme of ordering, broadly defined, to explore the state and future of ‘global challenges’ and their management.

• What do questions of world order and transitions mean for pressing global challenges such as climate change, nuclear weapons, geopolitical conflict, food security, etc.?
• What are the processes and dynamics of the ‘transitional international order’?
• What is being contested in such transitions – power relations, alliances, norms, institutions, culture, civilisations, identities, or ontologies…?
• What are the processes of re-ordering in regional and global contexts and how do they reflect counter-hegemonic forces and narratives?
• How does the concept of order and ordering shape security studies and IR debates and subjects broadly, including securitisation, armed conflict, conflict resolution, the technologies of security, the polycrisis, and the widening/deepening of the security agenda?

Please submit paper proposals here.

Please submit panel proposals here.

The deadline for proposals is 31 March 2026.

Questions can be sent to: cgsc@leeds.ac.uk

The conference will be held at the University of Leeds campus on 21 and 22 May 2026. Refreshments and lunch on both days of the event will be provided but participants must cover their own travel and accommodation costs.

The Centre for Global Security Challenges (CGSC) is a large, interdisciplinary research centre, hosted in the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds.