Global Tensions and Their Challenges to Governance of the

International Community

A Conference Sponsored by the

International Studies Association and the Central and East European International Studies Association  

June 26 through June 28^th, 2003

Central European University

Budapest, Hungary

The September 11 events have thoroughly shaken the international community. The incident has assumed global proportions and has raised many fundamental questions regarding international conflicts and their management. Just as policy-makers started to move away from non-interference in states experiencing chaos and violence and began to perceive intra-national conflicts as a threat to the maintenance of international peace and security, a new kind of warfare seems to have emerged in which an enemy could virtually be a next-door neighbor, in any region of the world. Last, but certainly not least, attacks perpetrated by non-state actors have proved capable of inflicting considerable damage to the global economy, and may even affect the way everyday lives are conducted by ordinary people.  

Yet these problems are not entirely new. As a superpower, the reaction of the United States to the attack and its subsequent response have resonated throughout the world. But outbursts of international terrorism are well known to many other, "smaller" states. In fact, this problem has been with them for decades.  Indeed, the problem has existed and will continue to exist as long as the issues that stimulate violent reactions against what may be perceived as political, social and/or economic injustices endure in any region of the globe. The international agenda suggests that there are a variety of problems that could lead to terrorism – in other words, violent outbursts like the events of September 11 may have different roots and causes. Terrorism has long been debated in the international institutions such as the United Nations. But so have been the problems of the Middle East, poverty, debt, environmental degradation, etc.  And so far no workable solutions have emerged.

The forms of governance as we know them today appear to have failed to address problems that produce violence.  Grievances against injustices of the present international order continue to be strong, and are felt at all levels: national, regional and global. The failure of global governance provides, however, a breeding ground for certain non-state, non-governmental actors (which may or may not be ultimately interested in contributing to solving the problems of the world’s poor and oppressed) to take up violent courses of action, thereby deriving legitimacy out of such grievances. In the globalizing international community, the roots and causes are increasingly perceived to have transboundary effects. Hence, groups resorting to violent action may easily assume a transnational character.  And the solution to those problems, a prerequisite for removing the underlying causes of acts of terrorism directed not only against governments but also against random individuals or against civilization in general, requires a global rather than a unilateral response.  

"Global Tensions and Their Challenges to Governance of the International Community" is, we believe, an appropriate topic for discussion at the 2003 CEEISA/ISA conference. Although terrorism has been often mentioned in this statement, we do not presume that terrorism in its various forms must be the sole problem we should focus on. Instead, we suggest that tensions that may lead to such violent acts need to be studied in the light of an ever more complex international community. We believe, for example, that every study of (global) governance has to become even more alert to a whole range of non-state, transnational actors and processes that are crosscutting the world but are largely outside the purview of international governance as we have known it thus far. We also believe that a critical examination of whether contemporary forms of global governance are adequate to meet the challenges of new global tensions is in order.

Consequently, we believe that an exploration of the emerging models of global governance that would respond to the aforementioned challenges is timely and appropriate as the theme for the 2003 conference of CEEISA/ISA in Budapest, Hungary.  Although papers on any topic within the domain of international studies will be considered for inclusion in the conference program, preference will be given to submissions that are directly related to the broad conference theme presented above.

DEADLINE: The deadline for panel or individual paper proposals was:
 15 September 2002.

Program/Panel Organizers:  The panel organizers are P. Terrence Hopmann  (Philip_Hopmann@brown.edu), Zlatko Sabic (zlatko.sabic@Uni-Lj.si) and Sai Felicia Krishna-Hensel (cissisa@attglobal.net). Any further inquiries about the program should be addressed to one of the three organizers.