FOUNDING SYMPOSIUM Unpacking Global Governance Dimensions of Law and Politics in Context

The department Global Governance was founded at the Institute of the Foundations
of Law of the University of Graz at the end of 2020, pooling expertise on law, political and
social sciences, humanities and cultural sciences. Many concepts fit under the umbrella
of ‘global governance’. For us, this term encompasses research, teaching and practice
along the lines of institutional and systemic settings of human and minority rights; peacebuilding
and conflict transition; as well as legal and political frameworks transcending
State-centric approaches to regional integration and governance.
The Founding Symposium bears the title “Unpacking Global Governance: Dimensions of Law and
Politics in Context”, so as to highlight the phenomena of multilevel system-building in law, politics and
culture along the fault lines of State-centric approaches and outlooks transcending traditional boundaries
and jurisdictions.
The panels will engage the concept of ‘global governance’ from three perspectives: the relationship of
State vis-à-vis individual in contexts of human rights, migration and cultural pluralism; peacebuilding in
light of identity and religion as amplifiers of contemporary conflicts; and the trends of legal governance
and legitimacy-building in contexts of regional integration in Europe and Eurasia.
The Symposium will, thus, aim to deconstruct the legal, political and cultural phenomena that not only
transcend national boundaries but also resist neat categorization within the scholarly disciplines, as illustrated
by the notions of global citizenship, the freedom of speech in the era of digitalization, or the rise
of multipolarity in the Eurasian landmass.
As the organizers plan to publish the proceedings of this scholarly conference, participants are kindly
invited to share and exchange ideas at a ‘business breakfast’ on the venue and setting most suited for
publishing these very contributions.