[At-Large] senior and postdoc fellowships on global internet governance 2021

[Joanna Kulesza]

Dear all,

please kindly see below and attached. The deadline for applications has 
been extended to July 1st. Do feel free to contact hosts directly with 
any questions or queries.

Thanks and best,

Joanna Kulesza

-----------------------

Research Fellowships 2021/2022

Open Call for Applications
Postdoctoral and Senior Researchers
The Käte Hamburger Kolleg/Centre for Global Cooperation Research 
(KHK/GCR21) invites applications for Research Fellowships with duration 
of 12 months starting between February and September 2021. Proposals are 
especially welcome regarding: (1) critique, justification and legitimacy 
in global cooperation; and (2) global cooperation and competing 
conceptions of world order. The fully funded fellowships are available 
to both senior and postdoctoral researchers across the humanities and 
social sciences. Deadline for applications is 1st June 2020.
We are aware that this call comes at a time of high uncertainty around 
COVID-19. We are monitoring closely the evolving situation and hope that 
circumstances will allow the advertised fellowships to start as planned 
from February 2021 onwards. We therefore urge you to apply if you are 
interested but still uncertain about the practicability of the fellowship!
The KHK/GCR21
The Centre for Global Cooperation Research at the University of 
Duisburg-Essen is one of ten Käte Hamburger Kollegs sponsored by the 
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Established in 2012, 
the Centre is an interdisciplinary and international learning community 
that seeks to enhance understanding of the possibilities and limits of 
global cooperation and to explore new options for global public policy. 
The working language at the Centre is English.
In its second funding period (2018-2023), the Centre’s research and 
fellowships are organized around four broad themes: pathways and 
mechanisms of global cooperation; global cooperation and polycentric 
governance; critique, justification and legitimacy in global 
cooperation; and global cooperation and competing conceptions of world 
order. Empirical research on these themes focuses especially on the 
governance of climate change, the internet, migration, and 
peacebuilding. The Centre will issue thematic calls for application on 
an annual basis.
Fellowships 2021-2022
For next year we invite fellowship applications from across the 
humanities and social sciences (including also psychology, law and 
economics) in relation to the second two main themes, as detailed below. 
We particularly encourage female researchers and scholars from the 
Global South to apply. Applications from scholars at risk are welcome.
Benefits to Fellows
 An intellectually stimulating and vibrant interdisciplinary learning 
community
 Excellent infrastructure with fully equipped offices, library 
facilities, and administrative support (also with finding accommodation)
 Funds to organize workshops (subject to approval, with preference 
especially to workshops that emerge from an interdisciplinary exchange 
with other researchers at the Centre)
 Either a monthly stipend commensurate with experience or financing of 
a teaching replacement at the home institution
Expectations from Fellows
 A completed PhD
 Personal research and publication in the Centre’s thematic areas
 A contribution to the Centre’s own publications
 Regular active participation in seminars and other Centre events
 Collaboration with other fellows in interdisciplinary exchange
 Work in residence at the Centre in Duisburg, Germany
Themes 2021-2022
The Centre’s work in the period of 2021-2022 will focus on the themes 
‘Critique, Justification and Legitimacy in Global Cooperation’ and 
‘Global Cooperation and Competing Conceptions of World Order’. We 
especially invite fellowship applications that address these themes, as 
described below. In addition, preference will be given to applications 
with an empirical focus on the governance of climate change, the 
internet, migration, and peacebuilding.
Critique, Justification and Legitimacy in Global Cooperation
Legitimacy – and its contestation – is a vital question for global 
cooperation. Legitimacy refers to the belief and perception that a 
governing force has rightful authority and exercises it appropriately. 
Legitimacy can be both normative (i.e. determined by moral judgement) 
and sociological (i.e. observed in political behaviour).
Scholarship from various disciplines has usually examined legitimacy in 
relation to the state, but more recent scholarship understands 
legitimacy as a fragile, politicized, and contested phenomenon that 
involves a wider range of political forces, including multilateral 
institutions, private global governance, and transnational social movements.
This processual notion of legitimacy – the interplay between critique 
and justification – leads to many conceptual, theoretical, and 
methodological challenges. It implies considering politicization 
processes and power relations across scales (at local, national and 
transnational levels), a broad spectrum of political actors in their 
complex relationships, and
new forms of resistance against formal authorities (e.g. by 
whistleblowers, young climate activists, right-wing networks). Sites of 
resistance include – but are not limited to – civil society 
associations, social movements, and everyday practices of ordinary 
citizens. De-legitimation can come from ‘left-wing’ and ‘right-wing’ 
angles, from communitarians as well as cosmopolitans.
If legitimacy is also created by civil society actors, new protest 
movements, and ‘ordinary citizens’, research questions emerge on how to 
conceptualize and study contested ‘legitimation work’ (Raymond Geuss) 
around multiple sites of global cooperation. We welcome projects that 
help us gain a better understanding of global cooperation and ‘politics 
of (de)legitimation’. Proposals are welcomed across a range of 
issue-areas, especially – though not limited to – climate change, 
Internet, migration, and peacebuilding.
Questions for this research stream may include, though are not limited to:
 Who are the protagonists who cooperate in legitimation and 
de-legitimation (or resistance) struggles (e.g. civil society 
organizations, social movements, indigenous groups)? How and why do 
these struggles emerge and develop? How does the global rise of populism 
play into such practices of cooperation?
 What forms of trans-scalar cooperation can we distinguish in politics 
of (de-)legitimation (e.g. shared textual and visual narratives, 
performances, academic schools of thought)? For example, do young 
climate activists cooperate differently than right-wing networks?
 How can we best study new protagonists and complex new forms of 
resistance against formal authorities, for instance as 
exercised/practiced by whistleblowers, feminist activists, artists, 
sportspeople and critical comedians?
 How do certain concerns gain legitimacy as a “global” problem in need 
of “cooperation” (e.g. peace, climate change)?
Global Cooperation and Competing Conceptions of World Order
The broad question concerning competing conceptions of world order is a 
very traditional issue of global politics, which has operated on the 
basis of both systemic assumptions and more actor-focused concepts. Yet, 
under current polycentric conditions, these issues have taken many 
different forms and can be studied from a variety of perspectives, 
particularly with regard to their impact on global cooperation.
Research projects in this stream are invited to explore the 
commonalities and differences between various conceptions of world 
order, as well as relationships between them in practices of global 
cooperation and non-cooperation. We welcome projects that help us to 
gain a better understanding of how different and often contested 
conceptions of world order shape, change or obstruct global cooperation. 
This includes abstract considerations about epistemological and 
anthropological foundations of world-order conceptions, as well as a 
focus on material conditions and repercussions. Also welcome are 
proposals that deepen understanding of populism and anti-global protest, 
the fight for global equality or the self-legitimation of organizations.
Themes we are particularly interested in for the coming fellowship 
period include:
How can we understand geopolitics (i.e. the strategic struggle for 
spheres of influence), beyond its form as classic theme of international 
politics? Can it result in new constellations of global cooperation? Or 
will we see a return of interstate conflict that seemed to have become 
obsolete? We invite research on perceptions, narratives and discourses 
to explore grand geopolitical/economic schemes in their conception in 
different regions or circles and also address new 
conflicting/cooperative areas.
Can conceptions of world order based on the unity of humankind be 
imagined without relying on essentialist and simplifying anthropologies; 
and what are the implications of such ‘new cosmopolitanisms’ for global 
cooperation? What can be expected of approaches which substitute the 
focus on human rationality with the emphasis on other human capacities, 
such as empathy or awareness of common vulnerability? What is the role 
of different conceptions of time and historical directionality?
How have conflicts between largely irreconcilable conceptions of world 
orders (and political agendas) impacted on global cooperation? For 
instance, while economic growth is seen as instrumental for improving 
the lives of people particularly in the Global South, a contrary 
position would hold that sustainable human life is only possible under 
conditions of reduced growth and consumption, respect for nature, clean 
energies etc. Can such guiding principles or even ideologies also pave 
the way for new ways in global cooperation, such as new alliances and 
forms or will these competing views generate future conflicts?
How to Apply
Applications (in English only) should include:
 cover letter
 concise research proposal (3-5 pages)
 CV
 list of publications
 text of one relevant publication
Please submit applications at 
http://www.gcr21.org/en/fellows/how-to-become-a-fellow/fellowships/. 
Deadline for receipt of applications is 1st June 2020. Please indicate 
in the cover letter your preferred start and end date of the fellowship.
If you have any questions, please contact Matthias Schuler at 
<schuler at gcr21.uni-due.de>.
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