Conference Program

The analysis of resistant practices that draw on shared experiences, informal networks or non-conformist behavior become increasingly relevant for international relations.

This paper presents a constructivist perspective on resistance and enables to highlight the importance of passive or covert forms of resistance to challenge and change power relations. It shows that these multiple forms of resistance are in the blind spot of classical traditions of thought, as they cannot without a focus on law and organizational capacity.

The reflections presented broaden the understanding of political dynamics by recognizing these passive, covert and smaller forms of resistance as politically relevant. To this end, they offer an alternative view of the relationship between power and resistance and open up new perspectives on individual and collective resistant practices in global power structures.

The main challenge of contemporary international environment is its indetermined fluidity whereas elements of continuity and change are intertwined so closely together in a way that creates new quality in international relations, giving new forms and functions to existing institutions. One of those is the semi-formal institution of the West. Main research question of this paper will be to determine current reach and internal structure of the West beyond what si commonly associated with the West: United States and European Union. The analysis will embrace veryfication of three major hypothesis. First and foremost, with the advent of transnational social space the borders of the West became dissattached with the nation-state borders. There are Western spaces on other continents as well as non-western spaces wirhin European Union and United States. Second West had grown beyond its geographical and political craddle offering different forms of membership to plethora of nations. Therefore it seems that for states located outside of Europe and North America, there is available a dual formula of civilizational participation not forseen by orginal ideas of Samuel Huntington and others. And third ihypothesis is that sheer size and complexity of the West ignited evolution of complex management system embracing number of secondary and tertiary decision making centers, often in dissonance which may indicate its weakness and fragility. Interesting supplement will be adressing the status of China and its tensions with the US, whether it is aimed at West or if it is a conflict for Western hegemony.

The “State” is dead. Long live the “Bloc”!? Unbeknownst to the State and its coterie of attendants, technological changes are occurring that could shift world politics from state-centered to region- or bloc-centered. As the transition to renewable energy increases, particularly to volatile sources of energy such as wind and solar, states that prioritize independence risk becoming electricity islands with less stable grids, rendering them prone to electricity disturbances and blackouts. As real-world experience and electricity system modeling demonstrates, states relying on a high proportion of volatile renewable energy have more stable, efficient, and less costly electricity systems when they forge dense interconnections with other states and develop regional grid networks. The ensuing regional interdependence will supersede historical trade-of-goods interdependence, in both depth and longevity, because of the exorbitantly high exit costs and lock-in effects resulting from deep grid interconnectedness. The construction of such electricity interconnections is already underway in many regions, spurred by technical necessity, but state leaders and many IR scholars seem unaware of the profound political and geopolitical implications. Using IR theoretical concepts, this paper argues that member states of regions with blurred electricity borders will be unlikely to engage in hot conflict with each other and more likely to have cooperative and peaceful interstate relations. States will not lose their importance, but international politics in a green world might be shaped more by inter-bloc dynamics and tensions than by individual states and the power configurations of past centuries.

International organizations have promoted the understanding that water resources are central to promoting water, food and energy security through the WEF nexus approach. Recently, this view has been further reinforced by discussions of the water-forest nexus in the context of climate change. Brazil is an important actor for the success of international environmental policies, due to its geographic and demographic dimensions, its biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as the role of the Amazon Forest in the regional and global climate system. The objective of this article is to analyze the evolution of water resources governance carried out by Brazil in recent decades and assess whether the country's water management reflects good practices recommended internationally. Until recently, the governance of water resources was dispersed across several ministries, which was reflected in a management marked by sectoralization and with difficulties in implementing WEF nexus approaches, although organized by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change - MMA. Currently, water management is concentrated in the Ministry of Regional Integration and Development - MDR. Our working hypothesis is that the concentration of water governance in the MDR, despite enabling WEF nexus approaches that simultaneously promote water, food and energy security, weakens Brazilian environmental policy by distancing water governance from environmental and climate governance, and water security, organized by the MMA.

This paper delves into the examination of identity constructions and hierarchical relations within the context of discussions regarding Türkiye's participation in United Nations Peacekeeping missions in the Turkish Parliament. The primary objective is twofold: first, to scrutinize how actors involved in foreign policy decision-making negotiate specific choices involving armed forces and international norms, and second, to analyze how these discourses articulate identities and power dynamics. The research concentrates on parliamentary speeches concerning peacekeeping missions in Africa and the Middle East, focusing on the interconnectedness of identity ("who are we?" and "who are they?"), power ("who makes decisions, dictates terms, or is subject to these decisions/dictations?"), and policy articulation ("what are we going to do and why?"). Employing Post-Structuralist Discourse Theory, the study aims to comprehend the discursive articulations that reproduce truth, power, and hegemonic relations.

Türkiye serves as an intriguing case study for two primary reasons. Firstly, as a medium-sized state, there is a limited post-structuralist peacekeeping literature exists about it. Secondly, exploring the Turkish Parliament as a venue for diverse forms of discursive articulations and as a co-decision body providing consent for military missions abroad holds substantial promise and opens avenues for further research.