Call for Papers for the Special Issue "Board of Peace: Might Makes Right, Again? – Inquiries in the Current Shaping of Global Governance"

2026-07-21

On 17 November 2025, the UN Security Council adopted Res. 2801, marking a turning point in the “governance of peace”. In addition to laying the groundwork for the implementation of the peace plan for the Gaza Strip (as agreed on 13 October 2025), the Resolution established the foundations for the creation of the “Board of Peace” (BoP).

The BoP appears to be an entity endowed with international legal personality, tasked with the reconstruction of Gaza in accordance with the “Comprehensive Plan” of peace (Gaza Action Plan, GAP). As President Trump declared during the BoP’s first meeting, “this Board has the chance to be one of the most consequential bodies ever created in the history of the world”. Although the full impact of this body has yet to emerge, its establishment has already raised important questions concerning its role in global governance and its implications for contemporary approaches to peace-making.

Indeed, the creation of this new entity constitutes a watershed in the international legal order established after the Second World War and raises fundamental questions that we should address. Building on the issues explored during our Webinar Series, this Special Issue seeks to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue among scholars from different fields.

 

Scope of the Call for Papers

The Special Issue aims to provide a broad analysis of the Board of Peace as a phenomenon within the international order from legal, political, historical and philosophical perspectives. Beyond these preliminary reflections, the BoP may represent a controversial model of global peace governance alongside, and potentially beyond, the institutional framework of the United Nations.

Among the many issues that may be explored, we particularly welcome contributions addressing one or more of the following topics:

  • The characteristics of the BoP in light of the traditional conception of international organisations and from different perspectives (e.g., is it an international organization in the traditional sense, or does it represent a novel or hybrid institutional model?);
  • The BoP’s internal institutional framework, its decision-making process and its funding;
  • The nature of the BoP as a means to solve international disputes, namely diplomatic ones;
  • The BoP as an alternative actor to the UN Security Council in the governance of international peace and security;
  • The interaction between the BoP and the broader system of global governance of peace and security;
  • The BoP and emerging models of global governance of peace and security, particularly those involving private or non-state actors;
  • Constitutional and public law issues arising from participation in the BoP;
  • The role of the BoP in establishing peacekeeping and peace-enforcement operations under the GAP;
  • The legal and institutional conditions for implementing the GAP;
  • The participation of the Palestinian people in the creation and implementation of the GAP;
  • Economic development and reconstruction under the GAP;
  • The role of the European Union and other international actors in global governance through participation in the BoP and the implementation of the GAP;
  • The principles of EU external action in relation to the BoP and the GAP;
  • The future of the BoP and the evolution of the global governance of peace and security.

 

How to Submit Your Proposal and Papers

Before submitting a manuscript to the Review, interested Authors should contact the Editors of the Special Issue with a proposal outlining their intended topic. Proposals should be sent by email to athena@unibo.it, indicating “BoP Special Issue – Proposal” in the subject line.

If a proposal is accepted, Authors must submit their manuscript by 7 December 2026 through the OJS submission system. Papers should be submitted via the following link: https://athena.unibo.it/about/submissions.

Manuscripts must comply with the Author’s Guidelines and should be between 6,000 and 15,000 words in length.

The Editors of the Special Issue will conduct a preliminary editorial assessment of all submitted papers by 18 December 2026.

Revised manuscripts must be submitted no later than 8 January 2027. All manuscripts will subsequently undergo anonymous peer review, and publication will be subject to a successful outcome of that process.

 

The Special Issue will be published by March-April 2027.

 

Scientific Committee: Aytekin Kaan Kurtul, Micol Pignataro, Luigi Sammartino, Martino Tognocchi.