GS03 Political Theory

This session explores key issues in global Political Theory and studies political thinking globally, highlighting the way in which political theory is transboundary and has multiple regional centres where theory develops in different (or perhaps the same) ways. We hope to provide a platform for discussing different ways of theorizing, the rethinking of concepts, and their use across regional differences, as well as for fostering transboundary scholarly dialogue between the Global North and the Global South, the East and the West. Papers and panels in political theory can deal with applied or critical theory, and we encourage empirically grounded analyses and theorizing from places of resistance and struggle. Keeping with the conference theme, we look forward to discussing papers that focus on vulnerabilities and resilience, and that analyse socio-political mobilization, conflict and adaptation “from below”. We are particularly keen on promoting the work of women and minorities in political theory, as well as on bringing together scholars that can draw on and enhance Latin American political theorizing. Such theorizing could address, in particular, political movements and populism, the formation of political communities and affective identification, the sources of political polarisation and their relation to democracy and hegemony, and the intellectual, juridical, and rhetorical resources that are deployed by activists to resist oppressive structures and empower the most vulnerable in society.