The forum will feature a range of activities, including plenary discussions, a world café, sessions in different format on key themes in international development studies, research pitches in a bar, a film screening and ample time for conversations over drinks and bites. More information and location will be announced soon.

The means and meanings of (in)justice

Development interventions and processes have always been deeply intertwined with issues of justice. Critical social scientists have long been confronted with the unjust implications of an international development agenda, that seeks to impose external values, technologies and forms of governance. And the resulting (re)production of inequalities and vulnerabilities.

Echoing activists leading social and environmental justice on the ground, such critical voices argue that to be just, development projects must be more closely aligned with contextual specificities. Including asymmetrical power relations and persistent knowledge hierarchies. 

More recent contributions expand those considerations, to question the notion of development altogether. And to question the means and meanings of justice also in high-income regions, and to examine how injustice works and spreads across different geographic contexts.

Forum Topics

We invite contributions that disentangle, deepen and propose new pathways for just international development. We welcome session proposals that explore topics including, but not limited to:

• Historical Approaches and Evolving Theories
• Contextualised Successes and Persistent Obstacles
• Counter-Hegemonic and Indigenous Epistemologies
• Innovative and Emancipatory Methodologies
• Activist Engagements
• Contemporary and Pluralist Visions

Important dates

• Session proposals submission by 23rd of January 2023, 10:00 am CET.
• Decision by 30th of January at the latest.
• Final session description by 13th of February 2023, 10:00 am CET.

About GID

Governance and Inclusive Development (GID) scrutinizes development dynamics at various geographical, jurisdictional and temporal scales, realizing that these are situated in different but interconnected multi-level processes. GID analyses and rethinks dominant development paradigms, and engages with international, national and local development practices, policies and debates to identify viable and socially just alternatives.