Theme of the Conference

"The global (ex) "periphery" re-claiming its historical significance: Africa, South America and Eastern Mediterranean architecture under transformation"

(31 October/1 November 2026 - Thessaloniki)

The Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean Review (BSEMR) and its constituent institutions, the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Black Sea and Mediterranean Studies in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (ILABSEM AUTh) and the School of Law in the University of Nicosia issue a call for abstracts for participation in an international conference. The conference is co-organized by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

This conference aims to explore the rise in international significance of three major international regions: Africa, South America and the Eastern Mediterranean. These regions increasingly occupy critical spaces of political, legal, economic, and socio-technological roles, through transformations and repositioning within the contemporary global order. Long framed as “peripheries” in dominant international narratives, these sets of countries and regions are, currently, increasingly reclaiming historical, strategic, and normative importance amid shifting alliances and reshuffling power structures, renewed geopolitical tensions, post- and neo-colonial dynamics, including rapid technological change.

By adopting a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, the conference invites scholars to seek the critical examination of how emerging global and regional forces intersect, effectively reshaping supra-national governance, international relations, and social architectures across these interconnected regions.

These regional blocks of countries already, manifestly, constitute crucial vectors in contributing to an observable rebirth of the formerly known as “Global South”, as they are very energetically strengthening and dynamically reshaping anew preexisting power alliances. Such as “BRICS”, which is re-emerging as a solidified geo-political power constellation. Consequently, the BRICS, in its new guise, with new powerful liaising members, positions themselves as a rising power component and a potentially crucial global pole in the now rapidly advancing formation towards a multi-polar global system.

 All international shifts, notably the reshuffling of hard power and of rising of strategic relational constellations entail, inevitably, that these may impact drastically on the status of formerly powerful countries: EU Member-States, including especially European Mediterranean countries and regions. So, the strategic gamble, here, for these countries is to avoid any debilitating and corroding effects and how best to adapt and get involved beneficially in them.

Proposed Sessions

• International relations and common historical trends of the three regions

This session invites contributions that examine shared historical trajectories and international relations patterns linking Africa, South America, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Papers may explore comparative imperial legacies, Cold War alignments, participation in the non-alignment movements of the Cold War period, South–South cooperation, regional integration efforts, and common responses to globalization. Emphasis is placed on identifying structural continuities and divergences that have shaped the positioning of these regions within the international system.

• The impact of the wars in Iran, Gaza and Syria on Eastern Mediterranean

Focusing on contemporary conflicts and their broader regional implications, this session seeks research papers exploring the political, legal, humanitarian, and security consequences of the wars involving Iran, Gaza, and Syria for the Eastern Mediterranean region as a whole. Contributions may analyze issues such as regional instability, migration and refugee flows, energy security, international law upheavals, proxy conflicts, and shifting alliances, highlighting how prolonged warfare devastates countries and reshapes regional order and international terms of co-existence and engagement.

• Post- (neo) colonial Africa

This section aims at exploring Africa’s post-colonial condition in the context of persistent neo-colonial economic, political, and legal structures. Papers may address governance models, development paradigms, international financial institutions, resource extraction, foreign influence, and resistance strategies. Contributions that critically assess Africa’s agency, normative innovation, and alternative futures beyond inherited colonial frameworks are particularly welcome.

• Trumpism and the Monroe Doctrine on South America

This session invites examination of the resurgence and reinterpretation of Monroe Doctrine under the spell of Trumpism and its long-term impact on South America. Welcome are contributions analyzing US foreign policy shifts, sovereignty and interventionism, regional autonomy, populism, trade relations, and security dynamics. We encourage critical global perspectives on how contemporary US foreign policy and political ideologies influence hemispheric relations and South American responses.

• The transformative effects of new technologies

This session focuses on the role of emerging technologies—such as artificial intelligence, digital governance, surveillance systems, and platform economy transforming political authority, social organization, and economic development across the three regions. Papers may explore regulatory challenges, digital inequalities, technological dependency, innovation ecosystems, and the interaction between technology, power, and rights within non-Western contexts.

• Neoliberalism and potential alternatives in the three regions

This session invites critical research engagement with neoliberal economic and governance models and the exploration of alternative paradigms emerging in Africa, South America, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Contributions may address the strategic instrumentalization austerity policies, the role of social movements, the developmental dynamics of states, solidarity and sharing economies, legal reforms, and post-neoliberal experiments. The session seeks to assess whether and to what extent these regions are generating sustainable alternatives to the dominant global economic orthodoxy.

The conference will take place in Thessaloniki/Greece (exact venue to be announced at a later stage)

Proposed abstracts may be submitted by 30 April 2026 to the email addresses below:

bsemr@auth.gr

Notifications regarding the acceptance or rejection of submitted abstracts will be sent in May 2026.

A selection of accepted papers will be published in the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean Review.

(https://www.lawjournals.unic.ac.cy/index.php/bsemr/index)