Florence, 12-14 September 2013

Section on ‘International Relations’

The analysis of international politics is becoming a dynamic and a rapidly evolving process. It requires firstly the ability to understand the occurrence of conflict and cooperation between States and non-State actors, and secondly the ability to identify and interpret the geopolitical changes and the new global agenda issue, through the politicization and securitization processes. Traditional schools of international relations have consolidated basic assumptions about inter-State relations and the stabilizing function of international institutions. The most recent literature has focused its attention on the causes and nature of the wars, and then on the actual conditions that strengthen security and stabilize peace. The processes of globalization and interdependence have imposed to scholars a theoretical and empirical re-adaptation. While respecting the traditional methodologies, other approaches able to grasp and explain the dynamics of reality should be adopted. States and intergovernmental institutions, both regional and global ones, act in parallel to the presence and influence of new non-State actors. The decline of inter-State war and conflict transformations require a more in-depth study of the implications of military intervention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Additional topics, namely the fight against organized crime and the global management of natural disasters, which require multidisciplinary efforts, should be considered as well.  

The section intends to create a space for debate, research and comparison, which is firmly anchored to the framework of international relations theories, but, at the same time, is open to innovative approaches and analyses, developed by Italian and foreign scholars. To this end, the section will collect proposals for panels (working groups) that wish to promote the deepening of theoretical debate, as well as empirical investigations and case studies.

Please send your panel proposals by 20 March 2013 to section chairs at dirrera@unict.it and emidio.diodato@unistrapg.it