Where will the ISA South Greensboro conference be held?

The ISA South Greensboro conference will be held in Greensboro, USA.

What is the eligibility level for participants at this conference?

The eligibility for participants at the ISA South Greensboro conference is at the college level.

What is the format of the ISA South Greensboro conference?

The ISA South Greensboro conference is a traditional in-person academic conference.

ISA South Greensboro 2026

Name: ISA South Greensboro 2026
Start: 2026-10-09T00:00:00Z
End: 2026-10-10T00:00:00Z
Location: Greensboro

Oct 9–10, 2026Greensboro, United StatesIn-person

Registration open

The ISA South Greensboro conference in Greensboro, USA, serves as a significant academic gathering for scholars and practitioners in international relations. This event, held in North America, provides a platform for in-depth discussions, presentation of research, and networking among professionals. It is designed for those at the college level, fostering intellectual exchange and collaboration within the field.

Committees & topics

Topics
The Field of International Studies: Scope and Contemporary Challenges · International Relations: Theory, Practice, and Twenty-First Century Order · Peace and Conflict Studies: From Galtung to Contemporary Peacebuilding · The Global Human Rights Regime in an Era of Contestation · The Global Distribution of Power and the Emerging Multipolar Order · Artificial Intelligence and the Governance of Emerging Technology · The International System: Structure, Institutions, and Reform · International Conflict in the Twenty-First Century

Why it matters

The ISA South Greensboro conference is crucial for advancing the discourse in international relations. By bringing together experts and emerging scholars, it facilitates the dissemination of new research and encourages critical engagement with contemporary global challenges. The conference's location in the USA offers a unique regional context for these discussions, potentially influencing the perspectives and case studies presented.

This gathering contributes to the ongoing development of international relations as a discipline. Participants have the opportunity to explore diverse theoretical approaches and empirical findings, which can lead to new insights and policy recommendations. The collaborative environment supports the growth of academic networks, which are vital for sustained research and inter-institutional cooperation.

How to prepare

To maximize the benefit from the ISA South Greensboro conference, prospective attendees should prepare by identifying key themes and panels relevant to their research interests. Engaging with the work of other presenters beforehand can facilitate more substantive discussions and networking opportunities. Given the academic nature of the event, a strong understanding of current international relations theories and methodologies will be advantageous.

Attendees should consider how their research or professional experience connects with broader international relations concepts. For instance, understanding different engagement strategies or the nuances of dynamic analysis can enrich their participation. Preparing concise summaries of their own work and potential questions for other presenters will enable more effective interaction during the conference. Given the college-level eligibility, participants are expected to contribute to a rigorous academic environment.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

United States

As the host nation, the USA provides the logistical and academic infrastructure for the conference, influencing the regional focus and accessibility for North American scholars.

Role in topic

The USA's role as the conference host in Greensboro, North America, means it is central to the event's organization and location. Its academic institutions and scholars are likely to be prominent participants, shaping discussions through their research and perspectives on international relations.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

The Field of International Studies: Scope and Contemporary Challenges

International Studies emerged as a distinct interdisciplinary field after World War I, when the devastation of industrialized warfare prompted scholars and statesmen to systematically study the causes of conflict and the conditions for peace. The founding of the first chair in International Politics at Aberystwyth University in 1919 and the establishment of institutions like the Royal Institute of International Affairs and the Council on Foreign Relations marked the formalization of the discipline. Throughout the Cold War, International Studies expanded to incorporate area studies, development economics, comparative politics, and security studies, reflecting the bipolar competition's global reach. In the post-Cold War era, the field broadened further to address transnational issues such as globalization, migration, climate change, pandemics, and non-state actors. Critical, feminist, and post-colonial approaches have challenged the Western, state-centric orientation of traditional International Studies, while data-driven and computational methods have reshaped empirical research. Today the discipline grapples with questions of relevance: how scholarship informs policy, how it accommodates non-Western perspectives, and how it adapts to a world where technology firms and climate systems exert influence comparable to states.

Key players

International Relations: Theory, Practice, and Twenty-First Century Order

International Relations as a structured discipline arose in the interwar period, shaped by debates between liberal internationalists, who placed faith in institutions like the League of Nations, and realists, who emphasized power politics and the anarchic nature of the state system. The failure of collective security in the 1930s, the onset of the Cold War, and the rise of nuclear deterrence entrenched realism as the dominant paradigm, while institutionalist and constructivist challenges later expanded the theoretical landscape. Foundational texts by Morgenthau, Waltz, Keohane, and Wendt continue to frame contemporary debate. In practice, the post-1945 liberal international order—anchored by the United Nations, Bretton Woods institutions, and U.S. alliance systems—structured global affairs for decades. That order is now under significant strain. Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, intensifying U.S.-China strategic competition, and the erosion of arms control regimes have revived great-power rivalry. Simultaneously, rising powers and middle powers are demanding reform of institutions such as the UN Security Council, IMF, and World Bank to better reflect contemporary distributions of wealth and population.

Key players

Peace and Conflict Studies: From Galtung to Contemporary Peacebuilding

Peace and Conflict Studies developed in the aftermath of World War II and the early nuclear age, as scholars sought a scientific understanding of war's causes and pathways to durable peace. Johan Galtung's founding of the Peace Research Institute Oslo in 1959 and the Journal of Peace Research in 1964 institutionalized the field, while his distinctions between negative peace (the absence of direct violence) and positive peace (the absence of structural violence) remain foundational. The Cold War spurred research on deterrence, arms races, and disarmament, while decolonization brought attention to civil war, insurgency, and post-colonial state-building. Since the 1990s, the field has shifted toward post-conflict reconstruction, transitional justice, and the prevention of mass atrocities, informed by experiences in Rwanda, the Balkans, Sierra Leone, and Colombia. The UN's 2015 'Sustaining Peace' agenda and the 2016 twin resolutions on peacebuilding emphasized prevention over reactive intervention. Current debates focus on the changing character of conflict—protracted internal wars, urban warfare, drone and cyber operations, climate-driven instability, and the involvement of private military companies—and on whether existing peacebuilding frameworks remain fit for purpose amid renewed great-power rivalry.

Key players

The Global Human Rights Regime in an Era of Contestation

The modern human rights regime is rooted in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in response to the atrocities of World War II, and codified through the 1966 International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Subsequent treaties addressed torture, racial discrimination, women's rights, the rights of the child, and persons with disabilities, while the 1993 Vienna Declaration reaffirmed the universality, indivisibility, and interdependence of all rights. The creation of the OHCHR in 1993 and the Human Rights Council in 2006 institutionalized monitoring and the Universal Periodic Review. The regime now faces significant pressure. Authoritarian retrenchment, restrictions on civil society, the use of digital surveillance, and conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar, and Xinjiang have exposed enforcement gaps. The OHCHR's 2024 work on AI and human rights, alongside GA Resolution 76/300 recognizing the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, signals an expanding rights agenda. At the same time, debates over selectivity, sovereignty, and the relationship between universal standards and cultural pluralism continue to divide the Council and broader UN membership.

Key players

The Global Distribution of Power and the Emerging Multipolar Order

The distribution of power among states is the central organizing question of international politics. The post-World War II order was bipolar, structured by U.S.-Soviet rivalry; the Cold War's end ushered in what scholars termed a 'unipolar moment' of American primacy, characterized by expansive NATO enlargement, U.S.-led interventions, and the universalization of market economics. This unipolarity began eroding in the late 2000s as the 2008 financial crisis weakened Western economies, China's rapid growth produced a near-peer competitor, and Russia reasserted itself militarily in Georgia, Ukraine, and Syria. Today most analysts describe an emerging multipolar or 'multiplex' system. China's GDP at purchasing power parity now exceeds that of the United States, while its Belt and Road Initiative, naval expansion, and leadership in critical technologies extend its global influence. India has become the world's most populous country and a swing power between blocs. Middle powers including Brazil, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and South Africa increasingly hedge among great powers. Forums such as BRICS+ and the SCO offer alternatives to Western-led institutions, while debates over UN Security Council reform, dollar dominance, and technology standards reflect contestation over the rules that will govern the next order.

Key players

Artificial Intelligence and the Governance of Emerging Technology

Artificial Intelligence has progressed from a primarily academic field into a general-purpose technology with profound geopolitical implications. The 2017 release of the transformer architecture, followed by large language models culminating in systems such as GPT-4, Gemini, and Claude, demonstrated rapid capability gains and triggered a global race in compute, semiconductors, and talent. The United States and China account for the largest share of frontier model development, while the European Union has emerged as the foremost regulatory power, adopting the AI Act in 2024 as the first comprehensive horizontal AI law. Governance efforts are proliferating but remain fragmented. The 2023 Bletchley Declaration, the subsequent Seoul and Paris AI Summits, the 2024 UN General Assembly Resolution 78/265 on safe and trustworthy AI, and the establishment of national AI Safety Institutes mark the emergence of an international AI governance landscape. Core disputes include export controls on advanced semiconductors, the militarization of AI in autonomous weapons systems, algorithmic discrimination, the future of work, and the concentration of capability within a small number of firms and states. The OHCHR's ongoing work on AI and human rights underscores the technology's implications for free expression, privacy, and non-discrimination.

Key players

The International System: Structure, Institutions, and Reform

The contemporary international system rests on the Westphalian principle of sovereign equality, codified in the 1945 UN Charter and reinforced by a dense web of institutions including the United Nations, the Bretton Woods financial bodies, the World Trade Organization, and regional organizations such as the EU, AU, ASEAN, and OAS. This system institutionalized norms of non-aggression, self-determination, and pacific settlement of disputes, while preserving privileged roles for the World War II victors through Permanent Five veto rights and weighted voting in the IMF and World Bank. The system is under stress on multiple fronts. The Security Council has been paralyzed on Ukraine, Syria, and Gaza; the WTO Appellate Body has been non-functional since 2019; and the use of unilateral sanctions has expanded. The 2024 Pact for the Future, adopted at the UN Summit of the Future, committed members to reforms across peace and security, sustainable development, digital cooperation, and Security Council composition, though implementation remains contested. Rising powers seek expanded representation while incumbents resist diluting their influence, raising fundamental questions about whether the system can adapt or whether parallel institutions—BRICS+ financial mechanisms, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the SCO—will progressively displace it.

Key players

International Conflict in the Twenty-First Century

International conflict has undergone significant transformation since 1945. Interstate war declined sharply during the Cold War's later decades and the 1990s, with most violence shifting to civil wars, often internationalized through proxy involvement. The post-9/11 period was dominated by counterinsurgency campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, while the 2010s saw the Syrian civil war, the rise and territorial defeat of ISIS, and Russia's annexation of Crimea presage the return of large-scale interstate war. The 2020s have witnessed a sharp escalation. According to data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program and SIPRI, 2022 saw the highest level of state-based conflict deaths in nearly three decades, driven primarily by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, the spread of conflict to Lebanon and Yemen, the civil war in Sudan, instability across the Sahel, and tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea define the current landscape. Modern conflict increasingly integrates cyber operations, drones, information warfare, and economic coercion, while international humanitarian law and accountability mechanisms struggle to keep pace.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for ISA South Greensboro 2026.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Trump's Federal Election Strategy

Supreme Court VRA Ruling Empowers GOP 2026

Akpabio vs Oshiomhole: 2027 Power Struggle

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

The Power-Interest Grid

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Conflict Resolution

Media & Press Relations

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

The states in play, with the data that shapes their stance

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

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Country dossier

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Country dossier

United States College October 2026

By committee

Frequently asked questions

ISA South Greensboro 2026

Oct 9–10, 2026Greensboro, United StatesIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Topics
The Field of International Studies: Scope and Contemporary Challenges · International Relations: Theory, Practice, and Twenty-First Century Order · Peace and Conflict Studies: From Galtung to Contemporary Peacebuilding · The Global Human Rights Regime in an Era of Contestation · The Global Distribution of Power and the Emerging Multipolar Order · Artificial Intelligence and the Governance of Emerging Technology · The International System: Structure, Institutions, and Reform · International Conflict in the Twenty-First Century

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

United States

As the host nation, the USA provides the logistical and academic infrastructure for the conference, influencing the regional focus and accessibility for North American scholars.

Role in topic

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

The Field of International Studies: Scope and Contemporary Challenges

Key players

International Relations: Theory, Practice, and Twenty-First Century Order

Key players

Peace and Conflict Studies: From Galtung to Contemporary Peacebuilding

Key players

The Global Human Rights Regime in an Era of Contestation

Key players

The Global Distribution of Power and the Emerging Multipolar Order

Key players

Artificial Intelligence and the Governance of Emerging Technology

Key players

The International System: Structure, Institutions, and Reform

Key players

International Conflict in the Twenty-First Century

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for ISA South Greensboro 2026.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Trump's Federal Election Strategy

Supreme Court VRA Ruling Empowers GOP 2026

Akpabio vs Oshiomhole: 2027 Power Struggle

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

The Power-Interest Grid

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Conflict Resolution

Media & Press Relations

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

The states in play, with the data that shapes their stance

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

United States College October 2026

By committee

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

Related conferences

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Turkey's evolving role in a new global geopolitical and security order

2026 Jordan Center Masters and Undergraduate Research Symposium

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Frequently asked questions

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

Related conferences

The Future of U.S. & China Conference 2026: A Shifting Global Order

Turkey's evolving role in a new global geopolitical and security order

2026 Jordan Center Masters and Undergraduate Research Symposium

Pakistan Conference @ Harvard 2026

2026 AGS Geopolitical Leadership Summit

Gathering for a New Lebanon

Frequently asked questions