Founded in 2007, IPS: International Political Sociology is the fifth journal to be supported by the International Studies Association.

It responds to the need for greater collaboration among political sociologists, sociopolitical theorists and scholars concerned with international relations broadly conceived, and seeks to bring together researchers in all parts of the world who are interested in theoretical and empirical innovation in these fields. It is especially concerned with contemporary transformations of social and political orders that challenge statist conventions of scholarly analysis and the marginalization of social processes that has characterized prevailing forms of international relations theory. It thus seeks to draw upon established forms of historical, legal, economic and political sociology but also to respond to the broad recognition that an international political sociology demands not only greater interdisciplinary collaboration but also the elaboration of analytical strategies that are sensitive to innovative understandings of politics, society within an international/global order.

Topics for a special issue or running themes through the year
In response to this ambition, and to some specific suggestions from members of the IPS board, we have initiated a forum within the journal that might serve to suggest new analytical themes. In addition to those that have been suggested in this forum, we would now like to encourage both theoretical and empirical explorations of the following themes:

IR Theory and sociology of the disciplines
We would especially consider proposals considering the sociology of the discipline of international relations, its institutionalisation, its tradition of “great names” and of classification of traditional “schools”. The aim is to reach a better understanding of the discipline’s development in some part of the world and not in others, of the link between subjective ideas, values, behaviors and objective professional positions within academic institutions, of the relation between academics and political professionals, and furthermore why the self- understanding of the discipline seems to be in perpetual debate and crisis. Of particular interest is the analysis of the institutionalization of the concept of IR as a form of specific recruitment in a discipline or as a discipline, and/or from the spread of some "schools of thoughts" and the specific curricula required for courses, in each case trying not to limit the study to one national tradition. We may accept manuscript focusing on the sociology of the discipline of IR through the strategies of one of the founding fathers, but only if avoiding re-producing a general history of ideas and only if the argument includes the a consideration of the texts’ social capital and their own trajectory as well as their links with broader social structures and institutions in economy, law or security.

Major works of various sociologists and their impact on the study of IR
We welcome articles offering reflections upon major works of various sociologists as for example Bauman, Beck, Bourdieu, Foucault, Luhmann and Tilly and of their impact on society beyond the state, globalization and other processes of social change. Within this framework, we also accept proposals dealing with issues of methods and methodology employed within the field of international relations and political sociology, and reflections on the sociology of knowledge and reflexivity of the discipline (sociology of sociology).

Critical discussion of the notions of frontiers, boundaries and limits
We are interested in theoretical reflections on the notions of limits, lines, frontiers, boundaries, either through a geographical vision of state and society, analysing the relation to networks and mobility, or/and through a theoretical approach of the notion of classification, knowledge, and discipline.

International Political Anthropology of mobility, globalization and confinement zones
We want to promote detailed articles looking into transit-places: for example airports, ports, train station and their related confinement zones. In this respect, a particular focus on places of detention and practices of secrecy would be welcome. Encouraged topics are analysis of transit-places/traveling places as relevant sites for assessing freedom of movement, capitalist economies, security technologies and detention of foreigners. Of further interest are also airports and passengers, as viewed from a global society perspective, and also from a governmentality viewpoint; or from an international political economy or empirical sociology viewpoint; or from a sociology of migration or of policing viewpoint.

Prevention and precaution: securization/desecurization, emancipation, resistance and freedom practices
We want to encourage further debate concerning the deployment of scientific knowledge in an international context and its supporting claims about “new emergencies” and “new certainties” in the face of potential “catastrophes”. For example, how are the notions of prevention and precaution used in this context? How far is it possible to monitor perceived futures through simulation? Is it coherent to apply the same reasoning in relation to claims about the environment and to claims about defense issues? We would like to see further analysis comparing arguments concerning prevention, prediction, precaution, risk and so on. We are also interested in theoretical analysis of sites of resistance, emancipation or desecuritisation, and we are interested in cases where these forms of resistance have been exercised, either through laws or arts or counter technologies and not only through mass mobilisation.

Implementation of international law in a comparative perspective and impact of international law on the claims of sovereignty or primacy of national interests
We want strengthen the analysis of contemporary status of claims about states of emergency and states of exception, derogatory measures, and routinised technologies of surveillance and control. How great is the compliance of various states to international law and Human Rights norms? What are the relations between international, regional and national laws and courts? Do we have specific transnational actors structuring the reasoning within the field? We are interested also in the impact of international norms and practices into specific national or regional areas, and vice versa, and we are especially interested into the sociology of the emergent agencies and authorities which are giving voice to these claims.

Religion and secularism: the vision of the Enlightenment.
The post-colonial discussion and religious beliefs We are interested in research on xenophobia, discrimination, exclusion or/and profiling of groups by governments or other groups, and how religion is framed as an argument for or against these practices. We are also interested in the debates on secularism, multiculturalism, and postcolonial discussions concerning enlightenment.

These themes are not exclusive and other possibilities include works on global patterns of urbanization, international policing, military sociology, political opinion and communication, the sociology of culture, the sociology of political movements, and the transnational effects of the reshaping of national, cultural and religious identities. Beyond these suggestions IPS is open to receive any manuscript of quality, original, theoretically provocative and grounded in specific fieldwork. The style may be different from the traditional US academic approach, but has to be in a scholarly format.

Books and journals reviews
IPS is now opening a new section considering submissions of books and journals reviews, provided that it is specifically relevant for IPS, preferably discussing non English literature, and taking the form of an essay on a selection of books and/or journals or a state of the literature concerning a specific subject. Another possibility is a review of a specific journal by reviewing what has been done over a year or over several years, but only if it is journals not reviewed by the International Studies Review (ISR). Short Submission Guideline IPS is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Papers dealing with these issues or clearly related to international political sociology must be sent to BOTH didier.bigo(a)libertysecurity.org and ips(a)ceri-sciences-po.org

In order to help broaden the community engaging in international studies, the journal will facilitate the submission of articles in languages other than English. The possibilities currently under consideration are French, Spanish, Italian and German. Translation into English of the final version of the article should be taken care of by the author once it is selected for publication.