The Finnish International Studies Association (FISA) organises its eighth triannual FISA Conference in cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, the Ministry of Defence of Finland, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) and the Foundation for Foreign Policy Research. The conference provides a comprehensive, timely, and multidisciplinary overview of the state of International Relations research, bringing together researchers and actors within the field of international politics. The conference will be held at the historic Scandic Valtionhotelli in Imatra, on 24-25 January 2025.
The theme of the 2025 FISA Conference is Borders, Old and New.
Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine has shown, in a horrifying manner, that borders can be contested also in the European continent. It has reminded us that borders are always fluid constructions, whose legitimacy differs across actors. These developments have led to a heightened political and economic focus on geography, and thus highlighted the importance of geopolitics and -economics for the stability and prosperity of regions. These issues are acutely important in the Eastern Finnish border region, where the 2025 FISA Conference is held. The panels in the FISA conference accordingly examine borders, old and new, from a variety of theoretical, analytical and methodological perspectives.
The conference keynotes will be delivered by professors Sonia Lucarelli (University of Bologna) and Ayşe Zarakol (University of Cambridge).
FISA invites papers and panels for workshop sessions. They can deal with various aspects of International Relations, including both theoretical and empirical contributions. The papers do not need to be directly related to the overall theme of the conference, but it is recommended. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the ones listed below:
Borders; Alliances in international politics; The Arctic; Challenges and challengers to the rules-based international order; Environment in international politics; The European Union; Political violence, extremism and terrorism; Theories of the international; The party politics of foreign and security policy; Foresight in international politics; Nordic cooperation; Language and meaning in international politics; Feminist approaches to world politics; Geoeconomics and the evolving international political economy; The global south in international politics; Strategic competition and great-power politics; International law and International Relations; Foreign policy; Development studies; Peace research; and Strategic studies.
NB: THE PAPER AND PANEL PROPOSALS CAN BE SUBMITTED IN ENGLISH, FINNISH OR SWEDISH. PLEASE USE THE SAME FORM FOR ALL THREE LANGUAGES
The call for papers and panels is open until 1 September 2024.
LINK TO THE FORM FOR FISA 2025 PANEL PROPOSALS
LINK TO THE FORM FOR FISA 2025 PAPER PROPOSALS
More information:
Ville Sinkkonen, Chairperson of FISA, ville.sinkkonen@fiia.fi + 358 9 432 7783