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We are happy to share this call for papers with you!

Dear colleagues,

We are co-organizing a panel or two on "Transnational Professionals within and beyond ‘the West’: Reshaping Global Governance?" (abstract below) for the EISA (European International Studies Association) conference 5-9 September 2023 in Postdam.

Please send us and our co-convener Nina Reiners (University of Oslo) a title and abstract until 13 March if you are interested and plan to attend EISA.

"Transnational Professionals within and beyond ‘the West’: Reshaping Global Governance?"

The panel will bring together scholars from various sub-fields in International Relations and neighboring disciplines to examine the composition, role and impact of transnational professionals in shaping global politics within and beyond the West. The discussions will delve into the challenges and opportunities faced by transnational professionals as they navigate cultural, political, and regulatory boundaries in different contexts. The panel will also explore how changes in global order and technological advancements are transforming the nature of work, cooperation/competition among professional communities, and mobility for transnational professionals, and how this is shaping global power dynamics and practices. The panel provides a platform for interdisciplinary exchange, offering insights into the complexities of the transnational professional experience. It aims to do so beyond the usual confines of the field and invites contributions engaging transnational professionals from the Global South, for example in building a green court in Ethiopia, in regulating and managing Chinese companies, or by attending to postcolonial hierarchies in transnational legal or peacebuilding work. The panel will also explore whether and how transnational professionals contribute to the development of more inclusive and equitable global politics, but also to what extent they are open and inclusive as a group or more aptly captured as transnational elite. How consolidated or fragmented are transnational professional fields today? The panel will contribute to a deeper understanding of the structures of transnational professional fields today and the role transnational professionals play in shaping global politics within and beyond the West and affect change in various arenas.