[Commlist] Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Third World Quarterly

*Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Third World Quarterly*

**

*Technological Dependency and Non-Alignment in a Multipolar World*

Control over and access to strategic technologies such as 
semiconductors, cloud infrastructure, and critical communications have 
always been politically contested. But a decade of increasingly 
stringent US policies rejecting Chinese digital technologies and 
hampering China's technological development has confronted emerging 
powers with a choice between aligning with a Western- or China-centric 
digital ecosystem*.* At the same time, the global system is not rigidly 
bipolar, but rather characterised by increasing multipolarity. This 
evolving configuration does not eliminate technological asymmetries, but 
reconfigures them, creating differentiated forms of dependency and 
shaping the strategic options available to states. For instance, the EU, 
India, Russia, and South Africa aspire to become pivotal powers, and 
some Latin American countries want to constitute a separate geopolitical 
bloc through regional integration. In these circumstances, many rising 
powers opt for strategies aimed at avoiding exclusive alignment, 
balancing between different blocs, and maintaining room for manoeuvre 
through diverse forms of hedging.  These strategies are often framed as 
varieties of non- or multi-alignment, understood as modes of political 
positioning vis-à-vis competing technological powers. Here, India, 
Indonesia, or Latin American countries draw on historical and 
contemporary repertoires of non-alignment. However, similar patterns of 
selective alignment and autonomy-seeking can also be observed in other 
actors, including the EU, as it cannot afford to stop trade and 
cooperation with China on all levels.

While emerging powers necessarily refer back to the Non-Aligned Movement 
(NAM), digital and technological policy and the emergence of the 
so-called Second Cold War are new phenomena affecting the practice of 
non- or multi-alignment. Contemporary forms of non-alignment differ from 
their Cold War predecessor in that they are less about strict neutrality 
between ideological blocs and more about flexible, issue-specific 
positioning across interdependent technological and economic networks. 
Rather than abstaining from alignment altogether, “contemporary” 
non-alignment often entails selective engagement with multiple partners 
to maximise strategic autonomy under conditions of deep structural 
interdependence. Our special issue explores those novel features.

The special issue addresses the following questions by bringing 
multipolarity, technological dependency, and non-alignment into a common 
analytical framework:

  * How does the transformation of the world order towards increased
    multipolarity affect emerging powers’ technological dependency and
    their digital policies?
  * In a context of deepening and reconfiguring technological
    dependencies, how do states navigate structural constraints while
    pursuing autonomy in the digital domain?
  * How far can emerging powers pursue digital sovereignty and strategic
    autonomy when they remain structurally dependent on foreign
    hardware, software, and cloud infrastructures?
  * To what extent do strategies of political positioning, including
    non-alignment, enable rising powers to navigate technological
    dependency?
  * What role does digital industrial policy play for these responses?

The special issue invites theoretical and empirical contributions – 
abstracts of 250 words – that address these questions. We particularly 
welcome contributions dealing with the Global South countries.

*Guest editors:*

Dr. Ewa Dąbrowska, /Freie Universität Berlin/
(ewa.dabrowska /at/ fu-berlin.de) <mailto:(ewa.dabrowska /at/ fu-berlin.de)>

Prof. Jean-Marie Chenou, /Universidad de los Andes/
(jeanmarie.chenou /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(jeanmarie.chenou /at/ gmail.com)>

Prof. Katharina Bluhm, /Freie Universität Berlin/
(katharina.bluhm /at/ fu-berlin.de) <mailto:(katharina.bluhm /at/ fu-berlin.de)>

**

*Submission Instructions:*

The guest editors request interested authors to please send their 
abstracts to (nonalignedtech /at/ gmail.com) by the 15th of June 2026. Authors 
will be notified if their paper has been selected for the special issue 
after the deadline. The envisaged deadline for submission of full 
manuscripts is the 1st of September 2026.

The special issue proposal is under consideration by Third World 
Quarterly. The journal actively encourages contributions from scholars 
currently based in the Global South.

*No APC Statement:*

Third World Quarterly does not charge any Article Processing Charges 
(APC). Submission and publication are free of charge for authors.**


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