5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

The decline of US dominance and rise of multipolar powers like China and India reshuffles global capitalism, but doesn’t guarantee social progress. The Anthropocene and authoritarian resurgence further complicate the matter. Moving beyond dominant International Relations approaches focusing on state leaders and political elites, this session champions a sociological perspective that pay sufficient attention to a broader range of social actors. Inspired by Malešević (2010), we seek papers that delve into the social and environmental factors shaping modern warfare in various forms from full-scale armed conflicts to information warfare. And building on Aron (1962), we encourage a dialogue between sociology, political science, and history. We aim to critically examine discourses and studies on war that perpetuate neo-imperial expansionism, colonialism and culturalism, including war casualties in the Global South (such as Syria, Palestine or Ethiopia) or military threats or aggressions from resurgent autocracies (like Russia’s war against Ukraine, or China’s bullying and hybrid warfare against Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries). This session therefore welcomes diverse empirical studies and theoretical approaches that explore how war is perceived and experienced within different societies in this reshuffled multipolar world. We value research that considers variables like political orientation, class, gender, social identity, and economic background.