Call for Papers 2024: Special Issue on Decolonizing International Relations: The Enduring Legacy of the Bandung Conference

Global South Review invites submissions for a special issue commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Asia-Africa (Bandung) Conference, focusing on rethinking its significance for international relations and the evolving global order.

Scope and Topics:

This special issue welcomes submissions that address (but not limited to) the following themes:

  • The historical importance of the Bandung Conference in fostering Global South solidarity, decolonization efforts, and the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

  • The relationship between Bandung’s principles and contemporary debates on global governance, human rights, and environmental sustainability in the Global South.

  • Analyzing the marginalization of Bandung in mainstream IR theory and exploring how Global IR can offer a more inclusive and pluralistic approach to international politics.

  • Investigating the socio-political and economic characteristics of the Global South, including the legacies of colonialism, and how Bandung addressed or failed to address these structural challenges.

  • The opportunities for innovation in the Global South, focusing on frugal, bottom-up initiatives, as well as the import of sophisticated technologies from the Global North, and the tensions between endogenous and exogenous development models.

  • The Bandung Conference’s role in rethinking the notion of ‘development’ in Global South contexts, where ecological resilience, social solidarity, and sustainable living practices may outpace Northern paradigms, as discussed by scholars such as Escobar (2015) and Hickel (2020).

Timeline:

This special issue will start reviewing papers as soon as they are received. Nevertheless, the main deadlines are as follows:

  1. Full paper submission deadline: November 17, 2024

  2. Notification of acceptance: November 25, 2024

  3. Publication date: April 2025

Guidelines:

 

  • Submission guidelines: ugm.id/GSRSpecialIssue1

Information:

For questions or further information, please contact the Editorial Team  at gsr.fisipol@ugm.ac.id. Authors who are unsure about submitting their work to this special issue, can contact the Editorial Team by email with an abstract and subject heading format: [SI Abstract Consultation] Name_Affiliation.

We look forward to your submissions!


References:

Escobar, A. (2015). Degrowth, postdevelopment, and transitions: a preliminary conversation. Sustainability Science, 10(3), 451–462. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0297-5

Hickel, J. (2020). What does degrowth mean? A few points of clarification. Globalizations, 18(7), 1105–1111. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2020.1812222