SNIS Biennial Conference 2023

Theme and Guiding Questions 

During the past two decades, practitioners and scholars have witnessed a series of crises – financial, health, security, democratic, and climate – that have increased risk and uncertainty for individuals, states, and international organizations. As we seemingly head into an era of multiple and overlapping crises simultaneously unfolding at different speeds, what are the consequences and prospects for international organisation and its attendant organizations? How are international organisations affected by and responding to a world in crisis?

For the SNIS 2023 conference to be held at the University of St. Gallen, we invite paper proposals that focus on this broad theme and consider its implications across four tracks: technology and security, norms and normativity, governance and policy, as well as methods and methodologies. 

You might consider the following questions to generate proposals:

• How should we think about international security in a world where international organisation and organisations face crisis?
• How are power shifts and technological change contributing to a re-shaping of governance in international security?
• What are the effects of these multiple crises on the international normative order? Is the international normative order itself in crisis?
• How are actors reaffirming and transforming shared standards of appropriateness? What might (international) political theory contribute to these discussions?
• How have international organisations such as the EU tackled policy making in crisis?
• How do states of crisis affect legitimacy and membership in international governance arrangements?
• Are traditional methodological approaches to the study of international organisation and international organisations sufficient for understanding current challenges?