The fast travel of ideas, products and people across national borders is one of the defining features of the world today. People around the globe are connected via trade and technology but also through common world cultural models and discourses as well as increasing awareness of globally shared policy problems. The number of international organizations, which have a key role in constructing and disseminating worldwide policy models and ideas, has skyrocketed during the past decades. Growing awareness of the world as a “single place” and of the international trends in policy-making has, in many cases, led to the synchronization of national policies. It has also paved the way for the problematization of traditional identities and to the construction of new cosmopolitan sensibilities. Even the reactionary nationalist movements seem to share and emulate their own “best practices” transnationally with an impressive speed.
Modern societies seem to move like a school of fish, with each nation-state reacting to the moves of others almost immediately. This does not only concern national policies or the establishment of similar NGOs across nations. It is also visible in the way that actors embrace the same kind of identities and engage in widely shared cultural practices all around the world. The following questions then emerge: What are the drivers behind global changes? How should one conceptualize the role of international organizations and global governance in the process? What kind of new bordering practices or spaces for enacting citizenship emerge in the face of increasing migration? How should one approach questions of culture, identities and cosmopolitanism in a globalized world. Finally, how should the social sciences react to these questions through the development of novel methods and viewpoints? The Midterm Conference invites papers dealing with these and other topics related to the ideas, believes and interests involved in global social change.
NB! Due to great demand, the call for papers has been extended to 15 February 2021!
Those whose paper was already accepted for the original meeting (was to be held in Frascati, Italy, 16–17 April 2020) can resubmit the same paper, or submit an updated or new one.
Notification of acceptance: By 3 March 2021
Further queries and information: Please contact the conference organizer at esarn15.midterm2021@tuni.fi.