Call for Papers – Workshop
Workarounds in Polarized Times: Navigating Deadlock in Global Governance
Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany · 27–29 January 2027
About the workshop:
International cooperation today is shaped by polarization, institutional gridlock, and contested norms. Yet actors find ways forward – through minilateral coalitions, forum shifting, legal reinterpretation, bureaucratic agency, and private governance. These workarounds can solve problems, but they may also erode legitimacy and deepen inequalities.
This workshop invites papers that examine workarounds as a mode of international politics under conditions of polarization. We welcome contributions drawing on diverse theoretical perspectives, methods, and empirical domains, centered on the overarching question: When rules, institutions, or political processes become constrained or blocked, how do actors get things done?
Abstracts of 300–500 words via Google Forms. Submit by 1 June 2026. Results announced July 2026.
Hosted by Lisbeth Zimmermann, Ben Christian & Nele Kortendiek