General Framework
The METU Conference on International Relations is the oldest annual conference in Turkey on international relations and brings together scholars from all around the world as well as from Turkey to discuss a wide variety of topics organized into approximately 40-50 panels and roundtables. Previous conferences have addressed important themes such as hegemony and empire, international security and neighbourhood.
The theme of the 2009 conference is Patterns of Change in the Global System. The Conference will provide a forum for a thorough discussion of change with respect to different actors and structures. In order to attain a systematic perspective towards the issue of change,the Conference will attempt to deal with the following questions: How has the discipline of International Relations traditionally conceptualized and contextualized patterns of change? What is the promise of alternative approaches presented by Critical Theory, Constructivism, Historical Sociology and Post-Modernism? What is the context and content of change at global, regional and national levels? How has the nature and role of the nation-state changed in the process of globalization? What are the practical and theoretical implications of globalization vis-à-vis the issues of global governance and cosmopolitanism? What are the major trends of change in the post-Cold War era? Where does international law stand within these discussions? How should we comprehend the relationship between crisis and change? Does the current financial crisis imply a change in understanding the conception of statemarket, state-society relations? Is there a change in the way security is perceived? What are the new parameters of security in respect to environment, international migration and gender? What are the specific epistemological and ontological questions that arise in relation to these issues?
The Conference will therefore address a wide-range of prominent debates on the issue of change in the global system. A non-exhaustive list of possible themes for the Conference is provided here.