The 4th Jagiellonian Interdisciplinary Security Conference (4JISC)
“The Age of Warring States: Debating Peace and War in the 2020s”
Krakow, Poland, 5-6 September 2024
Call for Papers
An interdisciplinary reflection and research on contemporary security is driven by a whole variety of factors and variables which represent the critical components of the security field, as well as various elements which are supplementary yet prominent for the contemporary security environment. The Jagiellonian Interdisciplinary Security Conferences have aspired to actively cultivate the broad and rich area of security structures, processes and developments in various dimensions, exploring the multi-level architecture of complex security systems and offering fresh insights into fundamental aspects of contemporary security. The 4th Jagiellonian Interdisciplinary Security Conference (4JISC) takes up the challenge of interdisciplinarity in security studies from the perspective of great powers’ game which has exerted the strongest impact on the global security system in the past few years. The broadening of the security studies field by non-conventional factors, placing emphasis on global commons, soft and smart power, transversal processes, cross-border transfer, global circulation and distribution of key resources, must now be confronted with ‘’Empires striking back”, seeking to leverage their potential not only for their national interests, but for questioning the functionality of the global order and challenging the guardians of this order with assertive, aggressive and reclamatory aims and actions. The perennial interplay between peace and war takes on new shades in the present decade. The full-scale war in Ukraine, new phase of the Palestinian conflict, civil war in Syria, protracted instability in Iraq, tensions in the Sahel, in the Caucasus, and in Central America, in addition to terrorist threats, uncontrolled and instrumentalized migration, transnational organized crime, information warfare and nuclear weapons threat, epitomize the (in)security environment nowadays.
A debate on peace and war in such entangled international environment, interacting with complex domestic affairs, is implicated in the reconsideration and revision of many concepts, theories and traditional approaches which have dominated in the 21st-century security studies, international relations and political science. It results from vibrant exchanges among scholars and experts in their search for better tuned and more effective theoretical and methodological frameworks. But it is mostly due to the dynamics of social interactions, international relations, security policies and interests which has generated numerous processes, events and trends in the past few years. Shifts on the global security map are no longer seen from a conventional IR perspective; rather, they are perceived as transversal, multi-dimensional and transgressive acts and actions, interacting with, and interfering in, so many diverse actors, structures and relations enmeshed in the networked architecture of contemporary security.
In this context, the responsibility for maintaining peace and stability has become more dispersed, with the continuously crucial role of states, their alliances and intergovernmental organisations mingled with the impact of non-state actors, networks, and even individuals. With the increasing uncertainty within regional and global security environments and the contestation of existing security structures, all actors need to (re)adapt and adjust their strategies and trajectories for action. In this challenging reality we celebrate the 75th anniversary of signing of the North Atlantic Treaty and the 25th anniversary of the first post-Cold War enlargement of NATO. The Alliance, which has stood as a dominant security provider in the North Atlantic region and served as a tool for stability worldwide, currently has to face this new reality and again adapt to its security environment. The way how NATO tackles with the amassing challenges to its missions and tasks, as well as risks and threats to its members’ security and defence, seems to be a litmus test for the Alliance’s robustness and efficacy as a global security actor
The 4th Jagiellonian Interdisciplinary Security Conference invites all participants to explore contemporary security in a pluralist, interdisciplinary and novel way, daring to challenge the established ‘paradigmatic’ frames and offer fresh and stimulating ideas and concepts. Sun Tzu’s thoughts, reflecting the Warring States period in ancient China, might be a springboard for an open, animated and useful discussion on the revival of competition, rivalry and hostility among contemporary states. Currently, security is much more a collective endeavour, engaging alliances and coalitions in regional and global defensive arrangements. G7, Quad, Quint along US-drawn geostrategic fault lines.
This is also an invitation to a novel and broader outlook on the spectrum of security-related themes, problems and fields which stretch between peace and war. This entails exploration and discussion of factors, variables and determinants which address the security conundrum in times of uncertainty, relativity, risk and redux which emerge and expand in the multiple spaces conserving traditional patterns of cooperation and conflict, maintaining the modernization dynamics in politics, governance, and security, and exploiting virtual structures of AI-driven cyberspace, quantum computing and machine learning.
The 4th Jagiellonian Interdisciplinary Security Conference is intended to offer a forum for a lively, stimulating and interdisciplinary debate on contemporary concepts, meanings, theories and practices of peace and war, order and instability, threats and opportunities, the past and the future. It is aimed to explore what happens when we overcome, and not bypass, conventional thinking patterns and strive at exploring, explaining and examining matters of peace and war in a truly broad, rich and interdisciplinary manner. The Organizers of 4JISC, and the Programme Committee in particular, encourage prospective participants to submit panel, round-table and paper proposals addressing the following key themes and topics:
- Reexamining theoretical foundations of peace and war;
- The transformation of agency and actorness in the spectrum of contemporary security;
- Global powers in search of a new system: Reform, revisionism, denial;
- The dynamics of conflicts and crises: From a comprehensive approach to a selective one;
- Cooperation and integration as peace-building and security-enhancing policies and strategies;
- Activeness and indifference in contemporary security environment;
- Military and non-military aspects of the use of violence;
- Intelligence and awareness building: Old wine in new bottles?;
- New dimensions and spaces: Artificial Intelligence as a game changer.
The Organizers of 4JISC are committed to ensuring inclusive and hospitable spaces for every participant with a due commitment to the status of representation and diversity.
The conference is organized by the Department of National Security, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland in cooperation with the Global Trends Lab, part of the Priority Research Area “Society of the Future” (POB FutureSoc) at Jagiellonian University.
The organizers invite proposals of papers, panels and/or round-table discussions. Abstracts should be submitted via the online application upon the previous registration.
Registration terms, dates and fees are available in the „Registration” tab: https://zbn.inp.uj.edu.pl/4jisc/registration-info
The abstract submission deadline is 10 June 2024.
Notification of acceptance of proposals will be made by 15 June 2024.
Contact with the organizers: jisc@uj.edu.pl
