Call for papers LETONICA's special issue "Freedom and/or security?"

We are pleased to announce an open call for papers for the special issue of LETONICA ̶ a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal dedicated to studying society and culture in Latvia and the Baltic region. The topic of the special issue FREEDOM AND/OR SECURITY? is linked to the theme discussed in this year's PLACES conference organized in the framework of the Research Week 2025 by the Faculty of Social Sciences of Riga Stradins University, but is not limited to scope with topics and papers presented in the conference.

The guest editors of the special issue are Michał Głowacki (University of Warsaw) and Ilva Skulte (Riga Stradins University)

We believe the balance between perceived and exercised freedom and security as a necessity for human life and welfare is the basis of contemporary social, political, and legal debate. After more than a decade marked by the continuous rapid transformation of all sectors of life based on digitization and by the sequence of crises (including global warming, the financial crisis of 2008, the migration crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine), security is a growing concern both on social and political agenda. At the same time, measures taken to ensure safety and security in society shrink the limits of freedom. At the beginning of the 21st century, Zygmunt Bauman wrote the following in his book Community: Seeking Safety in an Insecure World (2001:4): "Security and freedom are two equally precious and coveted values which could be better or worse balanced, but hardly ever fully reconciled and without friction."

Today, this conceptualization is more important than ever, as the sense of insecurity is spreading among societies, and social scientists are challenged by the need to rethink the value orientations of their work.

How should freedom and security be balanced when engaging society and strengthening solidarity to ensure that groups can mobilize to respond to emerging threats rapidly? Whose freedom and whose security are enhanced, and whose are restrained in these processes? How the level of trust and mutual support can be increased and supported? What is the role of particular societal groups and actors? What politics and policies are to be developed to ensure balance? What are the administrative and legal challenges? Lastly, what is the responsibility of academia and researchers to ensure this balance?We invite you to submit theoretical and research papers dealing with those issues and contribute to answering those questions for this special issue.

Submissions are welcome in English. Submitted abstracts (up to 500 words with a meaningful title and keywords) outlining the paper's problem, research design, results, and conclusions will be reviewed by editors. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit full papers (from 5000 to 9000 words, including title, abstract, tables, figures, and bibliography, see the guidelines here: https://lulfmi.lv/en/page/view?link=journal-letonica/about). All full papers will be subjected to a double-blind peer review and revision if needed. No editing or administrative charge is foreseen.

Important dates and details:

Submission of abstracts: June 2, 2025

Acceptance letter: June 16, 2025

Submission of full papers: August 30, 2025

Publication of the issue: May, 2026

Please send submissions by email: letonica@lulfmi.lv

Last time modified: 07.05.2025 12:32:16