WSF Award of Excellence Program for Research Papers on World Society 2013

Structures of the World Political Economy and the Future of Global Conflict and Cooperation

Download here: Call for Papers

Some see recent developments in the global political economy as fundamental departures from the structures of the past while for others these recent changes are rather similar to those that have occurred in earlier centuries. The international division of labor in the world economy seems to be in a constant state of flux, and the most recent wave of financialization has sent the global economy into a crisis. Rising food prices and high unemployment have contributed to an increase in anti-authoritarian movements and many countries are facing unsustainable levels of sovereign debt and consequent movements toward austerity.
What are the implications of these developments for the future of global conflict and cooperation? Western powers are engaged in several wars in the Middle East. The “rogue” states of Iran and North Korea command a great deal of international attention. Moreover, a handful of semiperipheral countries including China, South Korea, Brazil and Russia continue to vie for a more central place on the world stage, and there appear to be significant factions on the UN Security Council that correspond to the divide between old and rising world powers. Thus, the world-system seems to be evolving toward an increasingly multi-polar political structure in which the ability of the U.S. to generate hegemonic consensus and order has declined.
With this call for papers the World Society Foundation and the ASA PEWS Section encourage researchers to investigate the evolution of the world economic structure in the 21st century, contending scenarios for the future of global conflict and cooperation and particularly the relationship between the two. Issues that may be addressed include (but are not limited to) the following:
• Characterizations (qualitative, quantitative or historical) of important changes to the structure and/or the logic of the world political economy, including the rise and fall of leading sectors or their geographical distribution;
• Empirically informed considerations of theoretical concepts including the core/periphery hie-rarchy, the semiperiphery, North/South relations and global class formation;
• The role of firms and supra-national organizations in the evolution of the world political economy and/or conflict and cooperation;
• Empirical considerations of the rise of new blocs or international coalitions and the rise of important contending national powers;
• The future of global governance and global state formation in world historical perspective;
• Coalition-formation among contemporary antisystemic social movements and potential coalitions with progressive regimes in the Global South in world historical perspective.

Submission Details:

Option 1. World Society Foundation Route
Scholars interested in having their papers considered for the World Society Foundation Award of Excellence Program for Research Papers on World Society are invited to submit paper proposals before May 25, 2012. These abstracts should indicate clearly which sub-theme the applicant intends to address, as well as the following:
• Title of the paper
• Abstract of no more than 500 words (longer abstracts will be disqualified)
• Name of the author(s), present address (including e-mail address), and name of the institution to which the author is affiliated (if applicable)
The Organizing Committee of the Conference and the World Society Foundation's Board will evaluate these proposals and ask successful applicants to elaborate their proposals into full papers (25-30 pages, but no more than 8000 words) in English. Notification of acceptance or refusal of abstracts will be given before June 30, 2012. We strongly encourage authors to discuss the implications of their findings for future global social integration and for existing theoretical perspectives on global social change. The deadline for delivering full papers is November 30, 2012. The authors of the most outstanding papers will be invited to the conference and they become candidates for the Foundation's 2013 Award of Excellence in World Society Research. Notification of selected papers will be given by January 15, 2013. The Award, with a prize of US$ 10,000 (First Prize) and US$ 5,000 (Second Prize) will be presented at the Riverside conference. The World Society Foundation's Board of Members and the Organizing Committee of the Conference will act as the jury for this evaluation.
The World Society Foundation will give highest priority to papers that combine a general theoretical discussion with new empirical findings. These findings may be based on comparative research as well as single-case studies, and on qualitative as well as quantitative research methods. In any case, paper proposals should give a very clear indication of the research methods, data sources and analytical tools that will be used. Please note that the Foundation is seeking original contributions. Papers that have already been published or submitted for publication will not be accepted.
Abstract proposals and full papers must be sent by e-mail to Nelda Thomas nel-da.thomas@ucr.edu at IROWS with “World Society Foundation submission” in the subject line. Submissions by postal mail will be disqualified.

Option 2. PEWS Route
Those who prefer to submit their proposals in the traditional PEWS manner must send an ab-stract by November 30, 2012. These abstracts should indicate clearly which sub-theme(s) the appli-cant intends to address, as well as the following:
• Title of the paper
• Abstract of no more than 500 words (longer abstracts will be disqualified)
• Name of the author(s), present address (including e-mail address), and name of the institution to which the author is affiliated (if applicable)
The Local Organizing Committee will make their choices by January 15, 2013. Those selected will receive local housing and meals.
Proposals must be sent by e-mail to Nelda Thomas nelda.thomas@ucr.edu at IROWS with either “World Society Foundation submission” or “PEWS submission” in the subject line. Submissions by postal mail will be disqualified.

Publication
There will be two publications coming out of this conference. One, selected by the WSF's scientific advisory board, will be in a volume of World Society Studies, the WSF's edited book series. A second, selected by the PEWS Organizing Committee, will appear in the PEWS series, published by Paradigm.

Travel grants
The World Society Foundation sponsors a small number of travel grants covering airfare and accommodation (in full or in part) for students and participants from Africa, Asia, Latin-America and Eastern Europe (International Sociological Association country categories B and C). Travel grants will be allo-cated on the basis of a competitive assessment of papers submitted. The Organizing Committee of the Conference and the World Society Foundation's Board of Members will act as the jury for this evaluation. Deadline for submission of papers for travel grants is November 30, 2012. Applicants receiving travel grants will be notified by January 15, 2013.

Organizing Committee: Christopher Chase-Dunn (UCR), Matthew Mahutga (UCR), David A. Smith (University of California-Irvine), Christian Suter (University of Neuchâtel), Immanuel Wallerstein (Yale). For more information on the World Society Foundation and its activities, please check out our web site: http://www.worldsociety.ch/. The PEWS web site is at http://www2.asanet.org/sectionpews/index.html. The IROWS web site is at http://irows.ucr.edu and the conference web site is at http://irows.ucr.edu/conferences/wsfpewsconf/wsfpewsconf.htm. ~~UP~~