Forum: Crisis and contestation – Boundary work for a future yet to come

The concepts of crisis and contestation have become ubiquitous in International Relations (IR) and beyond. Indeed, crisis and contestation are theoretical terms that crystallize the current challenges to global governance and international orders. At the same time, not only the definition of each term individually but also especially of their relationship remains opaque and has not yet encouraged cross-disciplinary debates within and beyond IR. This is not only unfortunate but also potentially clouds researchers’ understanding of these challenges as well as policy-makers’ efforts to manage the present crisis, upsetting global governance, as this forum illustrates. By discussing the relationship, but also the boundaries of these two concepts, across a wide variety of empirical situations, the contributions to this forum illustrate how approaching a situation as a crisis or a contestation influences its understanding. Moreover, the forum highlights four dimensions that structure the relationship and influence scholarly understanding of these challenges in a future yet to come.