The Cluster of Excellence SCRIPTS (Contestations of the Liberal Script) is convening two open panels at the 30th Congress of the German Political Science Association (Deutsche Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft, DVPW), taking place at Leipzig University from 7 to 10 September 2027.

We invite paper proposals for the panels “What Makes Liberal Democracy Resilient?” (Panel 986) and “A World (Order) Without the US?” (Panel 1014), which address two central challenges to the liberal script: the resilience of liberal democracy and the changing international order.

What Makes Liberal Democracy Resilient?

Liberal democracies worldwide are facing increasing pressure, both from the outside and, increasingly, from within. Authoritarian powers, as well as extremist, populist, and ultra-religious forces, equally contest core liberal principles, such as individual freedoms, minority rights, the rule of law, and the separation of powers.

While such contestations have multiplied and intensified, polarization and radicalization do not necessarily result in democratic erosion, democratic backsliding, or even democratic breakdown. Since 2006, we have observed a global trend of democratic regression, which, however, is less driven by the retrenchment of liberal democracies than the collapse of electoral democracies as well as the entrenchment of autocracies.

Polarizing and radicalizing contestations often evolve around liberal principles that safeguard democratic integrity. This makes liberal democracies more likely targets. At the same time, liberal democracies have, on the whole, managed to constrain and mitigate the effects of deepening contestations, so far escaping severe democratic backsliding and persistent breakdown.

These observations raise two questions, we invite papers to address:

1. Why are liberal democracies more resilient than electoral democracies?
2. Why are some liberal democracies more resilient than others?

We are particularly interested in the role of institutional factors (e.g., voting systems), as compared to societal (e.g., interpersonal trust), socio-economic (e.g., wealth, inequality), cultural (e.g., shared values) and international (e.g., membership in regional organizations) conditions of resilience.

Panel convenors: Nicole Bolleyer (nicole.bolleyer@gsi.uni-muenchen.de) and Tanja A. Börzel (tanja.boerzel@fu-berlin.de)

A World (Order) Without the US

The retreat of the Trump Administration from more than 65 International Organizations (IOs), its trade wars against allies, violations of international law, and self-inflicted decline in influence have led many to conclude that the liberal or rules-based international order (LIO) is either dead or at least “under destruction.” Agreed-upon global rules are being challenged or disregarded, deterrence is weakening as armed conflicts increase, and the US loss of credibility is providing an opportunity for other actors to expand influence. However, evidence for the end of the post-World War II liberal order or the emergence of something else is scant.

This panel addresses two interrelated questions:

1. What has been the role of the US in the post-WWII international order? How can we (empirically and theoretically) assess competing claims of the US’ role ranging from benign liberal hegemony to neo-colonial imperialism? Or should we reassess the significance of the US’s role altogether, as more confined and less relevant than usually assumed? What is the empirical evidence for these assessments?
2. What will a future world (dis-)order look like in which the US plays a much lesser role? How can we assess arguments that variously predict brutish Hobbesian geopolitics, a division into new spheres of influence, or the emergence of multiple orders? What empirical indicators do we have to assess the likely trajectories of the LIO and/or its alternatives?

We invite theory-guided and evidence-based papers addressing one or both of these questions, including by authors from outside German-speaking countries.

Panel convenors: Thomas Risse (thomas.risse@fu-berlin.de) and Lora Viola (lviola@zedat.fu-berlin.de)

Submission Instructions

Paper proposals should be submitted through the DVPW submission portal. The submission deadline is 31 October 2026. Applicants will be informed about the outcome by the end of November 2026 at the latest.

For questions concerning the individual panels, please contact the respective panel convenors.