Hello AoIR fellows, Those of you who work at the intersection of Internet technology and International Relations may be aware that in March, we had a new section approved at the International Studies Association (ISA) conference in Toronto. Science, Technology, Art and International Relations (STAIR) will allow us to share our work in a more focused way and also to begin incorporating work from other disciplines that have relevance for understanding the implications of technology for global politics. It should have special resonance with many of you who work on political aspects of Internet technology. Next year in New Orleans, we will present our inaugural program and I wanted to extend an invitation to any of you who may be interested to submit a paper or a panel/roundtable proposal. The CfP is below but don't hesitate to contact me or the program chairs (listed at the end) if you have any questions. Hope to see some of you in New Orleans! Madeline Call for Papers: International Studies Association 2015 Annual Convention Science, Technology, Art and International Relations (STAIR) Section Deadline: 1 June 2014 http://www.isanet.org/Conferences/NewOrleans2015/Call.aspx The newly chartered ISA section on Science, Technology, Art and International Relations (STAIR) recognizes that science, technology, and art are critical to global politics. They shape much of the everyday reality of international security, statecraft, development, design of critical global infrastructures, approaches to social justice, and the practices of global governance. Science, technology and art (i.e., in the form of creativity, the arts, architecture and design) permeate international affairs in the form of material elements and networks, technical instruments, systems of knowledge and scientific practices. They challenge existing conceptual approaches and prompt us to step beyond IR canons to seek inter-disciplinary collaborations. Through this new section we seek to generate the space for International Relations as a discipline to engage these matters through productive intellectual conversations with existing subsections as well as with other disciplines. STAIR will facilitate theoretical understandings of how we go about creating, assessing, and deliberating scientific, technological and artistic design and their impact on the shifts of contemporary world order. At the next ISA in New Orleans, (February 18th-21st) STAIR seeks to engage particularly with the impact of science, technology and art on ‘global IR’ and how scientific and artistic practices, technological infrastructures and artistic performances open up global understandings of international and global affairs. STAIR encourages submissions of individual papers, (innovative) panels and roundtables that explore the following themes: - the role of STS methods and sensibilities in International Relations - the different ‘regional’ impacts of science, technology and art on International Relations and, especially, the role of technologies and infrastructures in post-colonial contexts - the role of science, technology and art in the rise of non-Western countries and in global power shifts - the ways in which perspectives of science and technology studies (STS) on contemporary developments in science, technology and art challenge traditional modes and practices of International Relations - debates on understanding and misunderstanding the global politics of emerging technologies (such as nano-tech, surveillance instruments and systems, hacking software etc) - indigenous and non-Western technologies and their impact on contemporary global politics - exploring and critiquing the diversity of techno-fetishisms in international affairs - the role STS debates and concepts can play to reframe core notions of IR (including sovereignty, power, anarchy and governance) and to challenge normative assumptions in International Relations - innovative panels and roundtables that explore the possibility of a jointly ‘global’ and ‘interdisciplinary’ International Relations Theory. *Section Programme Chairs:* Michele Acuto, University College London – m.acuto@ucl.ac.uk Maximilian Mayer, University of Bonn – maximilian.mayer@uni-bonn.de For more info on STAIR & ISA visit: http://www.isanet.org/ISA/Sections/STAIR You can find out more about special elements (including career courses, workshops, innovative panels etc) of ISA’s program under "Special Convention Programs<http://www.isanet.org/Conferences/SpecialConventionPrograms.aspx>" area. Dr. Madeline Carr Lecturer in International Politics and the Cyber Dimension Department of International Politics Aberystwyth University Penglais, Aberystwyth SY23 3FE Wales desk: +44 01970 621955 mobile: +44 (0)752 867 2088 email: madeline.carr@aber.ac.uk twitter: @MadelineCarr 2013 Teaching Through Technology Award 2014 Blackboard Exemplary Course Award