Call for Papers Surveillance, Security and State Institutions

Call for papers
Surveillance, Security and State Institutions
9-11 June 2022, Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca (Romania)

The conference is intended to take place in person / face to face. Depending on the COVID-19 regulations, we may host it in a hybrid or completely on-line format.

The importance of surveillance, security and state institutions lie at the core of key debates in the academia, politics, journalism and in various professional fields. The multiplication of criminal activities, political crises or terror attacks determined the state institutions to use intensively surveillance as an instrument for thwarting security threats. This reality along with the technological evolutions stimulated the emergence of surveillance societies in which surveillance is used in every social sector and individuals cannot escape it. These evolutions generated multiple controversies and raised questions such as: How can security be defined today? What is the meaning of contemporary surveillance? Is surveillance conducted to achieve security objectives? Are the state institutions that perform surveillance upright? Why does contemporary surveillance affect the privacy of the individuals? The relevance of these questions increased significantly especially during the COVID-19 pandemics when most of the world’s governments increased the number of surveillance policies and practices for combating the spread of the virus.

This conference aims to bring together works addressing any of these questions and some other points that relate to surveillance, security and state institutions. The contributions could include but not be limited to contemporary approaches of surveillance and security, the linkage between surveillance, security and state institutions, the dangers of surveillance, the uprightness of state institutions and the individuals’ attitudes towards surveillance. Papers can cover any country or region of the world, there are no limitations in terms of geographical focus.

Depending on the quality, and scope of works, the organizers have in mind either a special issue in an international peer-reviewed journal or an edited volume with a high-profile publisher.

Application procedures and costs
Authors should fill in the application form until 10 April 2022. Early submissions are encouraged because the selection committee will assess them on a rolling basis. There is no conference fee. The organizers will provide accommodation and meals for the entire duration of the conference. In case of co-authored works, the organizers will cover the costs for one author.

Further details, the application form and contact information are available at: https://gps.centre.ubbcluj.ro/en/gis-2022/