This summer has witnessed unprecedented global protests against the systemic injustices meted out to racial (and other) minorities around the world. It is no secret that the fields of international relations in general, and of security studies in particular, have largely overlooked the question of race, and some scholars continue to assert that racial hierarchies are not driving forces in international relations and security. This summer’s events have reminded us of our field’s longstanding collective blind spot and of the ways in which its dominant discourses have often marginalized scholarship centered on race.
To that end, Security Studies is issuing a call for both individual papers and special issue/forum proposals at the intersection of race and security. We envision that contributions will, from their particular vantage point, address some aspect of the following: Have, and how have, racial categories, relations, and hierarchies constituted and shaped features and dynamics of international and national (in)security and violence? Have, and how have, features and dynamics of international and national (in)security and violence constituted and shaped racial categories, relations, and hierarchies? The editors will organize accepted individual submissions on these themes into a special issue or forum. That would not preclude, however, the publication of a guest-edited special issue or forum on these themes. The editors thus welcome both individual papers and special issue/forum proposals exploring a wide range of substantive research questions at the juncture of race and security.
Please submit individual papers as regular research articles (via the ScholarOne platform), noting in the cover letter that the paper is for consideration as part of the “Race and Security” initiative. If you wish to submit a special forum/issue proposal, please follow our special forum/issue guidelines. Security Studies deeply values diversity in all its forms, and the editors will be attentive to whether special forum/issue proposals exhibit theoretical and methodological diversity and involve contributors from diverse stages of career and with diverse backgrounds (with respect to, notably, gender, geography, and racial identity).
For full consideration as part of this “Race and Security” initiative, please submit both individual papers and special forum/issue proposals by December 1, 2020. Once manuscripts are accepted for review, please be prepared for an expedited review process and a tight revision and publication schedule.
For further inquiries about this initiative, please contact Editor-in-Chief Ron Krebs.
Text originally published on Security Studies Journal