Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research, in collaboration with the Feltrinelli Foundation, invites submissions of critical papers and panel proposals for its upcoming conference and journal issue: Capitalism, Crisis, and Global Reordering.Organizing Committee: Carlo Fanelli, York University; Salvatore Prinzi, National Research Council; Spartaco Puttini, Feltrinelli Foundation; Heather Whiteside, University of Waterloo
When: June 23-24, 2026 Where: Feltrinelli Foundation, Viale Pasubio 5, Milan, Italy
We are living through a time of profound transformation—an era in which the only constant is change and instability. From economic malaise and international uncertainty to political unpredictability, war, genocide, and hunger, volatility now shapes all spheres of social life. As Marx and Engels long ago observed, “All fixed, fast-frozen relations… are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify.” Today, the logic of capital continues to unravel the social fabric, remaking the world at an ever-increasing pace.
Industrial production is being reshaped by artificial intelligence and automation, demanding new raw materials and reorganized global value chains. Free trade orthodoxy is eroding, giving way to a resurgence of tariffs, protectionism, and nationalist economic policy. The geopolitical landscape is shifting rapidly, marked by trade wars, real wars, and a renewed scramble for space— territorial and in orbit. These upheavals are accelerating climate change, fuelling displacements, and sparking new forms of popular resistance – struggles not only for justice but for the survival of all life systems on earth.
- Transformations in capitalist production and accumulation
- Emerging industrial forms and value chains
- Labor struggles, platform economies, and the impact of artificial intelligence
- Shifts in the global political order
- Global power relations and international realignments
- Imperialism, neocolonialism, protectionism, and economic nationalism
- Trade wars, military conflicts, and geopolitical competition
- The evolving roles of the nation-state and supranational organizations
- Popular resistance and social movements