International Futures Conference

8th Pan-European Conference on International Relations

One International Relations or Many? Multiple Worlds, Multiple Crises
Warsaw, 18-21 September 2013, www.8thpaneuropean.org
Call for Panel and Paper Proposals in “International Futures” Section

Section synopsis:
Political and economic developments of the recent years have effectively disturbed the comfortable assumptions about stable and predictable future. In a world of complexity and uncertainty, leaders in governments and in business are being increasingly compelled to incorporate a forward thinking approach when taking decisions. Traditional forecasting methods based on trend extrapolation too often fail to provide a viable basis for strategic decision making. Policy planners and decision makers must learn the art of projecting radically different futures in order to be well prepared to confront them. In the reality of information overflow the winners are not the ones who gather most information but the ones that consciously filter and analyse it. Future studies in international relations focus exactly on that – on improving the capacity of strategists and policymakers to see future opportunities and risks and on providing tools to help them take concrete steps that will increase organisation’s or country’s resilience and competitiveness in the future. The section offers a space for reflection and discussion about key dimensions of uncertainty in the international relations and about the methods of embracing uncertainty in a systematic fashion. It may also be a place to debate how International Relations as a discipline might look like in the future. The section will consist of 5 panels. Each 105-minute panel should comprise four to five papers plus discussant and chair.
Further inquiries – please contact Section Chair, dr Michał Nowosielski (Institute for Western Affairs, Poland), email: nowosielski@iz.poznan.pl
Please submit your paper proposals and panel proposals via: http://www.conftool.pro/paneuropean2013/
Deadline: 24 February 2013