Rebooting Global International Society: Disorder and Contestation Podcast

Academic experts in international relations have convened to discuss the concepts of disorder, contestation, and the potential for restructuring the global international society. In an episode of the Thinking Global podcast released on April 6, 2026, Professor Trine Flockhart, Dr. Aaron C. McKeil, and Dr. Zachary Paikin examined the dynamics of global (dis)order and the resilience of international institutions.

Revisiting Global International Society

Professor Trine Flockhart and Dr. Zachary Paikin used the discussion to revisit their 2022 edited volume titled Rebooting Global International Society: Change, Contestation and Resilience. The work focuses on the processes of transformation and the challenges facing the liberal international order.

Professor Flockhart, who holds the Chair in Security Studies at the Florence School of Transnational Governance within the European University Institute, specializes in ontological security, constructivism, and English School theory. Her research examines the crisis of the liberal international order, as well as NATO and transatlantic relations.

Dr. Paikin serves as the research fellow in the Grand Strategy Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and is the deputy director of the Better Order Project.

Analysis of International Disorder

The discussion also featured Dr. Aaron C. McKeil, who explored themes of disorder based on his recent academic work. This included a focus on his 2025 publication, Cosmopolitan Imaginaries and International Disorder.

Dr. McKeil is the Academic Director, Programme Convenor, and Course Tutor for the MSc International Strategy and Diplomacy programme at LSE IDEAS, a part of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The conversation with host Kieran focused on the intersection of disorder and contestation, analyzing how these forces influence the project of rebooting the international society. The discourse connects theoretical frameworks, such as the English School, with the practical realities of global institutions and their current state of stability or instability.