Values and Rules-Based International Order – Mapping the Problems and Opportunities

We would like to cordially invite IPSA members to submit propositions of abstracts of their future chapters to a book proposal of the edited volume:

Values and Rules-Based International Order - Mapping the Problems and Opportunities

Edited by Piotr Obacz, Edyta Chwiej, Marcin Kasperkowiak, Jakub Kłodowski, Hanna Korzonek, Brygida Kuźniak and Ihor Zeman.

We would be honored if you would consider contributing to our joint scientific project! At this initial phase, accepted abstracts will be included in the book proposal, which will then be submitted to a renowned international publishing house.

The book proposal is prepared under the project: “The State of Political and Legal Internationalization and the Future of Values and Rules-based International Order - Mapping the Problems and Opportunities. A common Perspective of Political Science and International Legal Scholarship”, funded under the Strategic Program Excellence Initiative in the Jagiellonian University.

Information on the members of the project team and editors of the volume:

Piotr Obacz, Ph.D. (Project leader) – Assistant Professor, political scientist, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, Faculty of International and Political Studies, Institute of Political Science and International Relations, Chair in the History of Polish Political Thought;

Edyta Chwiej, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, IR scholar, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, Faculty of International and Political Studies, Institute of Political Science and International Relations (Deputy Head for Educational Affairs), Chair in International Relations and Foreign Policy;

Marcin Kasperkowiak, BA – Student of political science in the Institute of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of International and Political Studies of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland;

Jakub Kłodowski – Student of international relations in the Institute of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of International and Political Studies of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland;

Hanna Korzonek – Student of international relations in the Institute of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of International and Political Studies of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland;

Dr. hab. Brygida Kuźniak, prof. UJ – Associate Professor in public international law, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, Faculty of Law and Administration, Chair in Public International Law.

Ihor Zeman, Ph.D. – Associate Professor in public international law, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine, Faculty of International Relations (Associate Dean of Educational and Methodical Work), International Law Department.

The submissions must include:

• title;
• abstract indicating the subject of the chapter, aims, and an outline of methodology;
• note on the Author: name, surname, academic degree, eventually academic position, academic affiliation.

Abstracts should be no longer than half of an A4 page (any font style, 12 points, 1,15 spacing).

The deadline for submitting abstracts is Wednesday, 31 January 2024.

Please send your submission to dr Piotr Obacz, piotr.obacz@uj.edu.pl.

Language of abstracts (and then the future chapters, when the book proposal will be accepted): English.

There is no limit of abstracts which can be accepted, although, in the case of evident excess of submissions, the editors will follow the substantive criterion in choosing abstracts – potential importance of the contribution to the subject of the edited volume and being of the abstract strictly in line with this subject.

The general concept of the volume

The projected volume addresses the need for an integral explanation of international phenomenon – values and rules-based international order (acronym: VRBIO). For this purpose, we welcome scholars from different research domains, especially political scientists, IR experts and international legal scholars. We want to collectively analyze the aforementioned international phenomenon from the perspectives of different scientific disciplines and different theoretical angles – especially, but not exclusively liberal, constructivist, and realist.

Values and rules-based international order is not just a political concept but preeminently is an international phenomenon – a real political-legal phenomenon. It is the result of the actions undertaken by the members of the international community – primarily, but not exclusively, states and international governmental organizations – to preserve peace, to bring interests to a common, to create platforms of cooperation, and to make international relations and world politics more regulated, stable, predictable by standardization of international behaviour on the basis of common, global law, legal and non-legal rules and political values.

However, there exist many forces that challenge values and rules-based international order and all of the actions undertaken for its preservation and development; many factors undermine and hammer its development; dialectically speaking, at the same time there exist significant tendencies toward transformation of problems into challenges, whose solution will contribute to strengthening and further development of the structure of VRBIO.

It is, therefore, necessary to determine on the basis of empirical research, and then to express it with proper theoretical formula, what is the source of the phenomenon called values and rules-based international order and what in practice defines this structure’s framework; what are its constitutive, distinguishing and accompanying features; what mechanisms are responsible for its functioning, maintenance and development?

To answer these and many other questions and to deliver a reliable theoretical formula describing and explaining VRBIO, as well as allowing predictions concerning its future, it is necessary:

• to diagnose the state of internationalization in international relations, with particular emphasis on its political and legal aspects;
• to revise descriptive categories, explanatory claims, analytic criteria and interpretive prisms concerning VRBIO;
• to perform the analysis of the actual structure of VRBIO and theoretical systematization of knowledge on this phenomenon;
• to formulate predictions concerning the development of VRBIO.

Furthermore, in this context it is worth determining political and legal aspects of internationalization; determining factors of integration of international community and factors inhibiting political-legal entropy, as well as opposite tendencies; determining functions of VRBIO from the perspective of international community and international relations; and mapping the problems and challenges VRBIO is facing, and which must be addressed if this international order is to survive and develop.

Contact Information

Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us! If you have any questions, doubts, suggestions or comments, please contact Dr. Piotr Obacz at piotr.obacz@uj.edu.pl.