RC 36 and RC 51 Joint Conference on Power and Crisis

The IPSA Research Committee 36 on Political Power and Research Committee 51 on International Political Economy will hold a conference on Power and Crisis from 31 May to 1 June 2024 in Porto, Portugal.

Power has been studied in many contexts. One especially interesting, but neglected, context would be how power manifests itself in crises that stem from transformations in competing socio-political arenas at both domestic and international levels. Hence, old certainties and institutional settings crumble and actors have to face the unsettling conditions of a state of flux.

What power dynamics reveal themselves when people are faced with especially threatening situations? To whom are the reigns of control assigned when groups are faced with impending threats? What happens to democratic process during such dire times, particularly in developing and emerging nations, where institutions are not as consolidated as they are in the advanced industrial societies? What power dynamics establish themselves after the crises are abated? There are many such questions that are of special interest to students of power.

In particular, we are concerned with unpacking the interplay between crisis and the subsequent redistribution of power during periods in which new actors emerge as providers of both material and ideational resources, as has been the case in aftermath of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Yet, this conference takes a broader view in inviting papers beyond specific critical junctures and aims at exploring the dynamics of power in crisis both in a short and long-term perspective across disciplinary boundaries: economic, political, social, religious, environmental, geo-political, health, etc. Hence, participation is open to any scholarly field in which power is studied.