Special Forum ‘Ritual Action in World Politics’ published in the Global Studies Quarterly (OUP)

The team of ERC Ritual Deterrence and the extended academic family of the project have published a Special Forum entitled ‘Ritual Action in World Politics’ in vol 6, no. 1 (January issue) of the International Studies Association’s fully open access journal Global Studies Quarterly, published by Oxford University Press. The forum was guest edited by Maria Mälksoo.

The Special Forum comprises of 13 articles:

  1. Maria Mälksoo (University of Copenhagen): The Logic of Ritual Action in International Relations, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag014
  2. Jorg Kustermans (University of Antwerp): Is Ritual a Useful Resource? Instrumental and Non-Instrumental Interpretations of Ritual Action, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag013
  3. Kjølv Egeland (NORSAR): Rituals in Nuclear Statecraft: Conjuring Conformity, Cohesion, and Cooperation, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag017
  4. Cameron Hunter (University of Copenhagen): Ritualized Coordination in the PLA Rocket Force: Nuclear Deterrence, Control, and Sacrifice, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag018
  5. Mariia Vladymyrova (University of Copenhagen): A Show of Force: The Ritualization of Russian Strategic Posturing in the Baltic Sea, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag012
  6. Amir Lupovici (Tel Aviv University): The War in Ukraine: Deterrence, Rituals, and Ontological Security, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag016
  7. Andrew R. Hom (University of Edinburgh): Ritual Wartiming in Russia’s Three-day Special Military Operation, 2022-2025: “Everyone Must Feel Mobilized”, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag020
  8. Vanessa F. Newby (Monash University) and Chiara Ruffa (Sciences Po, Paris): Rituals without Rapprochement? Managing Hostility at the Tripartite Meetings in the United Nations Mission in Lebanon, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag019
  9. Juha A. Vuori (University of Turku): Review as Ritual: Maintaining and Disrupting Nuclear Deterrence through the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Review Process, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag021
  10. Thierry Balzacq (Sciences Po, Paris): Diplomatic Order: The Problem of Ritual Efficacy in International Relations, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag023
  11. Thomas Fraise (University of Copenhagen): The Magicians of Nuclear Strategy: Ritualized Knowledge Production and the Origins of Strategic Nuclear Thought, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag015
  12. Christian Bueger (University of Copenhagen): Sites of Ritualized Practice: Observations from Multi-National Military Gatherings and Naval Symposiums, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag022
  13. Dorothy Noyes (Ohio State University): Ritual and the Life of International Orders, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag024

RITUAL DETERRENCE team at the ISA 2026 in Columbus, Ohio, USA, 22-25 March 2026

The RITUAL DETERRENCE team attended the International Studies Association’s 67th Annual Convention in Columbus, Ohio, USA in 22-25 March 2026. In the project-convened panel “The Ritual Politics of Deterrence”, Maria Mälksoo, Cameron Hunter and Thomas Fraise presented their work in progress.

Maria Mälksoo also served as a discussant for two panels (“Constructing Enemies and Allies: Identity, Discourse, and Strategic Relationships”; “Ontological Security and Identity in Fragmented Societies”) and represented the Review of International Studies at the panel dedicated to RIS’s latest Special Issue “International Politics of Cultural Heritage” alongside the session on “Publishing in Leading Journals: Meet the Editors”.

Cameron Hunter served as a discussant for the panel “Nuclear Strategy: Theory and Practice” and further presented a paper on “Ideologies of Utopian Nuclear Managerialism and the Prospect of Emancipation”.

Cameron Hunter and Thomas Fraise convened, chaired and discussed the panel “Political Theory by Default: An Exploration of the Ideology-Technology Nexus in the 21st Century”. Thomas further presented a paper “The nukes made me do it: nuclear threat making and the production of unaccountability”.

The team also held a workshop to discuss the work in progress with the project international advisory board members at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University on 24 March 2026, with Profs Dorothy Noyes, Jennifer Mitzen, Tarak Barkawi, and Jared Rabinowitz in attendance.

 

 

RITUAL DETERRENCE Mershon Workshop, 24 March 2026

Ritual Deterrence Mershon Workshop

Conclusion to Critical Perspectives on NATO: Feminist Insights (Bristol UP, 2026)

Russian Fisheries in the High North: Deterrence in the Grey Zone

Maria Mälksoo’s Book Scrub, 16 March 2026

Ritual Deterrence book scrub agenda

A Show of Force: The Ritualization of Russian Strategic Posturing in the Baltic Sea

Rituals in Nuclear Statecraft: Conjuring Conformity, Cohesion, and Cooperation

Ritualized Coordination in the PLA Rocket Force: Nuclear Deterrence, Control, and Sacrifice