The institutions of international society revisited: theory, practice, performativity

The purpose of this workshop is to re-assess the institutions of international society, as defined by Hedley Bull in the 1970’s, in light of recent theoretical advances in International Relations scholarship, viz. the focus on practice and performance. It will focus on two main issues: (1) which are the institutions of (contemporary) international or world society and how have these institutions evolved? (2) what does the deployment of analytical concepts such as practice and performativity add to our understanding of the institutions of international society, and thus of international society as such? Answers to these questions should yield a theoretical and empirical update of the concept of international society. To this end, we invite papers that analyse a particular institution of international society (e.g. war, diplomacy, law, or less common entries like colonialism and multilateralism), or that analyse an emerging institution of world society, through the lens of practice and/or performance theory. Papers can be either theory-heavy, empirics-heavy, or evenly balanced, but all should preferably include both components.