Special Issue: Peaceful Change, Democracy, and Power in the Global South: Comparative Perspectives from Latin America
The Revista Andina de Estudios Políticos (RAEP) announces a call for original articles to be included in Volume 16, Issue 2 (2026), scheduled for publication on December 30th, 2026. This special issue seeks to provide a forum for critical and pluralistic reflection on peaceful change in International Relations while addressing the challenges facing democracy in Latin America. It will consider both recent developments in the region and long-term historical processes in other parts of the world. Against an international backdrop marked by hegemonic transitions, polarization, democratic crises, distributive conflicts, and growing contestation of the global order, we invite analyses of how states and societies manage profound transformations without resorting to violence, as well as the conditions that enable, constrain, or reverse such processes.
We welcome theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions concerning Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania, with particular interest in comparative studies across countries or regions. Articles may address democratic transitions, changes of government, institutional reforms, negotiations between elites and social movements, transitional justice, conflict prevention, regional integration, foreign policy, South–South cooperation, resource disputes, transformations of the economic order, and responses to the rise or decline of major powers.
This special issue seeks to move beyond approaches that equate peaceful change with the mere absence of war or democracy with the holding of elections. We are particularly interested in understanding how authority, material capabilities, recognition, and access to decision-making are redistributed; which actors promote or obstruct these transformations; and the extent to which experiences from Global South challenge theories developed primarily in the Global North.
We particularly welcome papers featuring rigorous comparative research designs, interdisciplinary dialogue, and the use of original sources. This call aims to bring together diverse perspectives capable of explaining the possibilities, tensions, and limits of peaceful change in democracies characterized by profound power asymmetries, drawing on critical, pluralistic, and situated approaches.
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