Statehood, Sovereignty and Conflict: Past, Present and Future

Research on statehood, sovereignty, related conflicts, and their interrelation continues to be paramount for a better understanding of global politics. Through such conflicts, states change to accommodate self-determination demands, including by allowing a part of their territory to become independent. As a result, territories change allegiance, new states emerge, and others disappear. The international system of states thus reshapes constantly. In this way, our world has been impacted by many longstanding conflicts, such as those emanating from incomplete decolonisation processes in Western Sahara or Palestine, ‘frozen conflicts’ related to more recent political transitions, like the dissolution of the Soviet Union or Yugoslavia, like Kosovo, or disputes on indigenous issues, such as in Canada or Latin America. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, following a more regionally limited conflict since 2014, also shows the potential for escalation and highlights the significance of said issues for the future of regional and international security. This Section therefore seeks to explore the past, present and future of the triangle of conflict, sovereignty and statehood. The Section will contribute conceptually and theoretically to better understanding issues at the heart of such conflicts, including: i the role of international norms, like self-determination and sovereignty, in the emergence, development and management of conflicts ii past and ongoing conflicts concerning more material aspects of international politics, such as borders and their contestations, territorial and population control, and old and new ways of waging war, and their interplay with international norms iii varying degrees and types of conflict-related violence, including physical, gender, systemic or race iv the range of local, regional and international actors involved in these conflicts, such as regional powers and international organisations but also less conventional players, including secessionist and self-determination movements, de facto states or rebels. Besides exploring these interlinkages, the Section aims to simultaneously (re)define statehood, sovereignty and conflict. The Section seeks to anchor such conceptual and theoretical inroads to rich and diverse empirical studies worldwide. It potentially includes the investigation of regional powers across a range of conflict-affected areas, such as Russia’s role in Eastern Europe or China’s increasing involvement in Africa or Latin America; Security missions of the EU or the OSCE, or UN and AU peacekeeping towards a better appreciation of more collective involvement in conflict. More generally, the Section incorporates conflict across the world, including but not limited to post-colonial ones, so-called ‘frozen conflicts’ or disputes over indigenous rights. Finally, the Section also seeks to facilitate discussions of a more methodological nature. This includes, but is not limited to, the following themes: • Questions of sharing best practices of how to research conflict, including reflections on data collection techniques, research travel in conflict-affected areas and involved potential opportunities and limitations. • Matters of global inequalities in knowledge production and the tension between studying conflict as an external observer and researching from the ground, broader issues of positionality and participatory research, including in relation to vulnerable populations. The Section also seeks to explore ethical dilemmas of researching conflict, including the ambivalent impact such research might have, researchers’ relations to non-academic spheres, including through donor funding or outreach activities in communities affected by conflict. In this context, Section Chairs invite original contributions to this non-exhaustive list of areas: 1 How conflicts over statehood unravel on the ground, including issues of border disputes, border demarcation, borderisation, and border management 2 How local populations are affected by such conflicts, including how people navigate the complex everyday legal realities in de facto states, also drawing on legal anthropology or scholarship on migration and borderlands 3 The international dimensions of conflict, such as the foreign policies of aspiring states or those opposing them, as well as processes of recognition of statehood or other self-determination claims, including non- and de-recognition 4 The diplomacy, determinants and impact of conflict management and resolution, including from international organisations and non-state actors 5 The role of regional and international actors, such as patrons, missions of international organisations and non-state actors, in conflicts over statehood and sovereignty 6 Analyses with a historical or spatial focus broader than the dominant literature, such as accounts of sovereignty and its relation to conflict, or de facto states in regions beyond the post-Soviet space 7 Links between statehood, sovereignty and conflict to other concepts and processes of global politics, such as nationalism, identity, citizenship, foreign policy, ideology, globalisation, secession or civil war 8 How global risks and crises, such as climate security, nuclear proliferation or pandemics, relate to the state, war and conflict 9 Political communities with self-determination demands beyond traditional understandings of sovereignty and statehood, such as indigenous peoples from different areas of the world 10 Methodological dilemmas and opportunities for studying statehood and conflict, including managing ethics, questions of positionality, inequality and their impact on knowledge production. The Section seeks to bring together scholars from various disciplines, backgrounds and studies that might draw on different empirical findings, employ multiple methods and advance a wide range of conceptual and theoretical arguments. It also seeks to promote interdisciplinary links and dialogue between more traditional accounts of statehood, sovereignty and conflict and neighbouring disciplines. The Section brings the disciplines of political science, international relations and law that have often dominated the debate into dialogue with disciplines such as history, political geography, political economy, sociology or indigenous studies. The Section will also seek to be diverse in terms of its geographic and thematic coverage, and inclusive of a variety of analytical approaches, including more critical (e.g. post-colonial, decolonising). In terms of methods, we invite Papers that might draw on single, small- medium- or large-N studies, contributions with a heavier conceptual / theoretical profile, as well as methodological reflections on the conduct and dissemination of research. Section Chairs will give preference to Papers and Panels seeking to introduce innovative approaches to studying statehood, sovereignty, and conflict. They will evaluate full Panel proposals based on the diversity of their composition in terms of the academic seniority of the contributors, gender, ethnicity and other characteristics underrepresented in academia.