SSRI-IGC 2026 Joint Symposium

A Time of Monsters?

Religion, Nationalism, and the International Order in the Interregnum.

Abstract

"The old world is dying, the new world struggles to be born. This age of ambiguity is the time of monsters."(Il vecchio mondo sta morendo. Quello nuovo tarda a comparire. E in questo chiaroscuro nascono i mostri).This is how Antonio Gramsci understood the interregnum between the old and new orders over a century ago and will be the theme of the 46th international symposium jointly hosted by the ICUSSRI and Sophia University Institute of Global Concern. The interregnum refers to the period between the old order and the birth of the new. In our times, the old order is represented by the Liberal Hegemonic International Order (Ikenberry 2024) characterised by a post-war consensus on human rights, the free market, international law and liberal democracy. Following the War on Terror, Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the US-Israeli "unlawful war" (Falk 2026) against Iran this order --which has been the subject of a previous SSRI-IGC symposium-- is now dying. However, it is yet unclear what will take its place. A new authoritarian, populist nationalism has emerged to fill this vacuum. Represented by President Donald J Trump in the US, President Valdimir Putin in Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and, arguably Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae in Japan, it is characterised by a growing national assertiveness internationally and increased authoritarianism domestically.  Is this the time of 'monsters' as Gramsci predicted? How resilient are democratic institutions? Can they constrain the 'new nationalism'? 

The symposium will be followed by a workshop co-sponsored by the RC43 Religion and Politics of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) which will explicitly examine the role which religion plays in the articulation of populist nationalism in global politics. The workshops papers will form the basis for an edited volume for a potential IPSA Book Series and will be based on a selection of papers presented online at the IPSA Work in Progress Session (WiPS) in July. It is expected that these papers will be developed for the workshop and presented in person. The symposium speakers will be asked to act as discussants. An additional funding request will be made to the Japan ICU Foundation to subsidize the travel costs of overseas participants. Routledge has already expressed an interest in publishing the workshop proceeding in an edited volume on Religion and Nationalism. However, our preference would be to publish in an IPSA Book Series for Religion and Politics. We have indicated interest in submitting a proposal if the series is approved. Furthermore, a selection of articles may be published in a special section of the ICU Journal of Social Science.

Registration

Date & Time: 09:30-18:00 JST, Thursday, December 10th, 2026

Venue: International Conference Room, Kiyoshi Togasaki Memorial Dialogue House 2F, International Christian University

Access and Campus Map

In-Person Participation Registration Form

Online Participation Registration Form

Schedule

(The following schedule is tentative and subject to change)

December 10:（Day1: Symposium) International Conference Room, 2F Dialogue House

December 11: （Day 2: Closed Workshop) Conference Room 203 & 204, 2F Dialogue House