Call for Proposals

English is the working language of the conference, with limited translation in Armenian and Russian.

The emergence of a multipolar world politics is promising for many. The “rise of the rest” is expanding the agency of developing countries, potentially leading to more inclusive systems of global governance. Optimists claim that increased multipolarity will create more open economies and political systems and a deeper and more integrated liberal rules-based order. The more circumspect worry that the power competition between the West and the rest, heightened in recent years, will increase divisions in conflict regions, creating fresh openings for proxy wars. Whether in the Middle East, South Caucasus, or the Western Balkans in the EU’s backyard, unsettled regional security orders have shown a propensity to become global security threats. Multipolarity in world politics has caused ongoing conflicts to become protracted and intractable, and this poses a major challenge to the international community. Global conflict management systems are under stress, outcomes from liberal peacebuilding and authoritarian conflict management strategies have been mixed at best and meaningful discourse and debate on the quality and nature of future peace is still in its infancy.

While states, large and small, remain central to strategic global security, people power and social movements around the world will increasingly shape the contours and the content of a multipolar world order. The prospects of the liberal principles of human rights, free markets, and open political systems in this context are highly contingent on the ability and the willingness of the people to support them. Armenia’s Velvet Revolution in 2018, realized through the strategic deployment of nonviolent civil disobedience and people power, was a reaffirmation of the kind of social change that can emerge from the bottom-up, rather than dictated by distant centers of global power.

The purpose of this conference is to understand the shifting impact of world (dis)order on human security. What are the challenges for human security within a multipolar world order? What is the role of people power in keeping states open and peaceful and economies trading with ease? What is the longer history of this transformation? How have art, literature, music, religion, and historiography played a role in shaping perceptions over time? What are the prospects for stronger and deeper diplomacy in conflict regions? How do we address the global flows of refugees and migrants? Women’s empowerment is central in people power movements. How do women apply their agency and voice towards a more prosperous and peaceful world? How significant is gender in shaping political power?  How has religion played a role in shaping perspectives and relationships, local and global? In a context of shifting structures of world power, what is the future for human security? How well are the structures of a multipolar world order equipped to address such crises as climate change, ethnic cleansing, or human trafficking?  

Professional Development Seminars

The conference will also include professional workshops on effective communication, research methods, writing for broader audiences, effective integration of “writing-to-learn”  strategies in college teaching, approaches to experiential learning, and practitioner panels on global security. Registration in the workshops is required to secure participation..

Paper abstracts are invited on the topics and themes listed below: