Call for papers 12 (2026)

When War Returns

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 set in motion a process that became strikingly evident with Donald Trump's return to the presidency of the United States and with the symbolically charged proposal to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War. What we are witnessing is the return of force-and of its ultimate political expression, war-as a primary means of resolving conflicts. The law of the strongest is once again gaining prominence after eighty years of painstaking efforts to build an international order aimed at outlawing war or, at the very least, denying it legitimacy even when it was employed in the global political arena. George W. Bush was compelled to justify before the United Nations-albeit through false claims-his intention to invade Iraq. Just over twenty years later, that model appears to belong to a distant past. It is the responsibility of the humanities and social sciences to engage in a profound reflection on the gravity of these developments and to contribute to understanding, critical analysis, and new perspectives in the face of this renewed affirmation of the right of the strongest. The questions raised by this historical turning point are manifold and call for dialogue across a wide range of disciplines.

1. History and Geopolitics. The first task is to understand contemporary developments from a historical perspective by looking back at the past eighty years: the moments of hope and rupture, the institutional architecture of the post-1945 international order (the United Nations, NATO, the Helsinki process, arms control treaties), and the events that paved the way for the present situation. How has the norm against wars of aggression gradually eroded? To what extent are the various global powers-including Western states-responsible for the progressive delegitimization of international law? What geopolitical scenarios are emerging, and what trajectories might they follow?

2. International Law and Its Crisis. The return of force is, above all, a crisis of international law and its institutions. Have the United Nations Charter, the Rome Statute, and the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice been adapted, circumvented, or simply ignored? How is the concept of sovereignty being redefined in an age in which force is once again legitimized as a political argument? Does ius cogens still exist as a normative framework capable of resisting the pressure of political realities?

3. Philosophy. These developments also challenge contemporary philosophy while inviting renewed engagement with its modern and premodern roots. What are the foundations of what Greco has called "war reason" (ragione bellica), and under what conditions can it be justified or delegitimized? What resources do contemporary philosophical traditions offer-from the just war theory (Walzer) to philosophies of peace, nonviolence, and communicative action (Habermas), from political realism (Schmitt) to critical theories of international relations? Is a Kantian cosmopolitan order still conceivable, or has the ideal of perpetual peace become an irretrievable utopia?

4. Literature. From a literary perspective, renewed attention should be devoted to texts that explore the relationship between individual existence, society, and war, both diachronically-from key moments in Greek antiquity (Thucydides, Aeschylus, Euripides) to modern authors (from Tolstoy and Remarque to Céline, Primo Levi, Joseph Heller, and Tim O'Brien)-and through contemporary literary production. How has literature interpreted, represented, legitimized, or contested force and war as governing principles of human relations? Which narratives are emerging today from Ukrainian, Russian, and Middle Eastern literature? What aesthetic and rhetorical strategies does writing employ to articulate the experience of a war that resists expression?

5. Visual and Performing Arts. The discussion should also encompass the visual arts, cinema, theatre, and music. How are these media representing this new historical turning point? What has been their historical relationship with war and violence-from history painting to war photography, from Brecht's epic theatre to Kubrick's cinema? Can art still perform a critical and resistant function in the face of the normalization of violence, or does it risk becoming an instrument for its aestheticization?

6. Psychology, Psychopathology, and Educational Processes. The return of force also has profound psychosocial implications. What kind of society becomes accustomed to war as a constant backdrop to everyday life, mediated through traditional and social media? What consequences does this renewed justification-or even glorification-of violence have for educational processes and the formation of younger generations? Does it contribute to contemporary psychological distress, growing aggression, and the erosion of trust and social bonds? How does clinical psychology, and psychotherapy in particular, respond to patients living in a context in which war is perceived as inevitable-or even desirable?

7. Historical and Religious Studies. The return of force is not religiously neutral. It intersects with sacred narratives, political theologies, and the instrumental use of religious symbolism by states and nationalist movements. Starting from the ways in which the major religious traditions-from Christianity and Islam to Judaism, as well as civil religions rooted in nationalism-have developed doctrines of just war, martyrdom, and holy war, contributors are invited to examine how these conceptual repertoires are being reactivated or manipulated today. At the same time, the comparative perspective of the history of religions offers an opportunity to highlight spiritual resources for resisting violence. The pacifist and prophetic traditions found within nearly every major religious corpus constitute a rich yet still largely untapped resource for contemporary public and political debate.

Abstracts (1,000 characters max) and essays (40,000 characters max) may be submitted in a language of your choice from Italian, English, French, Spanish and German.

Deadlines

• September 30, 2026: abstracts submission;
• October 10, 2026: notification of acceptance;
• January 15, 2027: Submission of full papers;
• February 15, 2027: Completion of the double-blind peer-review process;
• March 20, 2027: Submission of the final version of the paper after peer-review comments.

Abstracts and articles are to be sent to: segreteriasiculorumgymnasium@gmail.com