Call for proposals 2026
The Political Economy (POE) Section invites the submission of abstracts for its 2026 conference, to be held from 28 June to 2 July 2026 in Galway, Ireland, hosted by the University of Galway.
The deadline for submission is 3 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC.
Download this call for papers as a PDF file
Theme
IAMCR conferences cover a wide range of topics defined by our thematic Sections and Working Groups (S/WG). Each year, a central theme invites participants to engage in shared reflection across these diverse areas, fostering dialogue and collaboration.
The 2026 central theme, Peripheries and Connections: Media, Communication, and Transformation, addresses the complexities of contemporary media systems in a polarised and interconnected world. By interrogating the tensions between centrality and marginality—whether geographical, cultural, political, or conceptual—this theme aligns with IAMCR’s commitment to fostering critical and inclusive dialogues across diverse perspectives.
Consult a detailed description of the main theme
The IAMCR Political Economy Section hopes you will agree that the conference themes are highly topical under current political, economic and ecological conditions. Political economists of communication have long leaned on critical scholarship – including Marxist, feminist, and critical race theorists, among others – to examine power relations under capitalism with a specific focus on the struggle for control of communication resources. These analyses may focus on the centres of capitalist power, the peripheries of power, or the dialectical relationship between them. This includes analyses of the ongoing mergers, acquisitions, and the consolidation of power among large capitalist firms as well as analyses of counterhegemonic movements that seek alternatives to capitalist value production and the struggle for a more just and equitable future.
We therefore invite papers and panel proposals that investigate the central conference theme from a political-economic perspective. We are interested in submissions that critically interrogate the power relations that underpin the structure and direction of current global transformations and evolutions, which are driven, amplified, and complicated by media, communication, and technology. We are particularly interested in papers that examine the impact that communication has on the material world as well as papers that examine the power relations between the centres and peripheries of global power. We also encourage scholars to continue engaging with enduring political economic questions by examining these emerging and pressing issues or those that suggest new ways forward for this tradition of scholarship.
We encourage participants to critically examine the ways that governments, corporations, institutions (or other structures and social formations) impede or facilitate struggles for environmental justice, human dignity, survival, and a common future. In what political-economic logics, ideological structures, and social imaginaries are people reshaping or adapting to the environment? In what ways, and in what directions, are people struggling for equity and sustainability? What are the obscured communicative practices or emergent alternatives in a digitised world? And what opportunities do media, technology, or digital platforms provide to extend or resist these forces?
In addition to and /or in articulation with the conference sub-themes, the Political Economy Section also welcomes submissions on:
Political economy of:
- digital broadcasting, telecommunications, social media, and mobile communications
- audiences
- journalism
- AI, AR/VR, Big Data, and surveillance
- the media and climate change/Anthropocene
- cultural industries, cultural economy, and cultural diversity
- urban ecosystem and its relationship to rural and surrounding territories
Critiques of media/communication informed by:
- feminist political economic
- critical race theory
- intersectionality
- critical disability studies
- queer theories
Relationship between media and finance capital:
- Media, capital, and financialisation of corporate media
- Communication/mediation of markets and finance
Labor, social movements, and activism
- Civil society, participatory democracy, media activism
- Cultural and creative labor in the context of digitisation and global capitalism
- Communication experiences of the social media activism around the world
- Work, labor, and value
- Academic freedom and labor in the context of the corporatisation of education
Policy and laws; democracy and citizenship
- Media/communication politics, policy, laws, and regulation
- Media, citizenship, cultural rights and democracy
- Free trade agreements, copyright and communication, and cultural policies
Spatialities/temporalities and capital
- Continuities and crises (financial, ecological, moral, others)
- Global capital and media power spatialities/temporalities
- Smart city and sustainable cities
Rethinking the economy
- Moral economies, gift economies, public goods, and free culture/free economics
- De-commodification, de-growth, de-marketisation, or de-convergence in communication
Guidelines for abstracts
Abstracts for papers to be presented in person at one of the Political Economy (POE) Section’s conference sessions should be between 500 and 1000 words. They must be submitted exclusively through IAMCR’s submission system from 28 November 2025 through 3 February 2026 at 23:59 UTC. Abstracts submitted by email will not be considered.
It is expected that each person will submit only one abstract. However, no author’s name should appear on more than two abstracts, either individually or as part of any group of authors and authors should not submit more than one abstract to any single section or working group. The same abstract, or a version with minor variations in title or content, must not be submitted to more than one Section or Working Group. Such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be rejected. Authors submitting the same work to multiple Sections or Working Groups may be removed entirely from the conference programme.
Proposals are accepted for both single Papers and for Panels with several papers (in which you propose multiple papers that address a single theme).
Evaluation criteria
Submitted abstracts will generally be evaluated on the basis of:
- Relevance to the section (How appropriate is this submission for the section or working group? Does the paper directly engage with political economy literature?)
- Use of or contribution to theory (Does the paper make good use of theory? Will it contribute to it?)
- Originality / Significance (Will attendees learn something that they didn't already know from this submission? How original, significant, or thought-provoking is it?)
- Technical Merit (How solid is the presented work? Is the evaluation methodology appropriate? Does the data seem accurate? Are there any fatal flaws in underlying assumptions?)
- Readability (How easy is it to understand the submission? Factors that can affect readability include writing style, organisation, grammar, spelling, and inappropriate submission length, among others. Minor grammatical and typographical errors can be disregarded and should not be a reason to give a low score.
Beyond the standard criteria for individual papers listed above, additional factors will be considered when determining which papers are ultimately invited for acceptance and participation in the annual conference. These factors include geographic diversity, gender diversity, ensuring a diverse mix of junior and senior scholars, and whether papers give voice to subaltern/under-represented groups/countries, or facilitate resistance/praxis.
Languages
The Political Economy Section accepts abstracts in English, French and Spanish but generally encourages the membership and participants to submit and present their papers in English.
Statement on use of AI tools
IAMCR does not encourage or condone the use of generative AI tools to prepare abstracts submitted for consideration for our conferences. IAMCR values originality, integrity, and transparency in academic work, and believes that human-authored contributions best support rigorous and innovative scholarship in media and communication research. Should an author choose to use a generative AI tool in the preparation of an abstract, we require that they include a clear statement within their submission disclosing the tool's use. This statement must specify: (1) the name of any AI tool used; (2) how the tool was used in preparing the abstract, and; (3) the reason for using the tool. Failure to disclose the use of generative AI in accordance with these guidelines may impact the evaluation and acceptance of the submission.
Intention to attend
Each abstract submitted to IAMCR represents a real cost to the Association and contributes to the workload of volunteer reviewers and organisers. As the number of submissions each year far exceeds the available presentation slots, we ask authors to submit only if they genuinely intend to attend and present their work at the conference if accepted.
Deadlines and key dates
The deadline to submit proposals is 3 February 2026, at 23:59 UTC. Other key dates. Dates are subject to change.
About the Political Economy Section
Learn more about the work and scope of the Political Economy Section.
Contact the Section
For questions about the section's themes, submissions and panels please contact:
Co-Chair: Ben Birkinbine, birkinbineb@uwosh.edu
Co-Chair: Gabriela Martínez, gmartine@uoregon.edu
Vice Chair: Mandy Tröger, mandytroeger.phd@gmail.com
Vice Chair: Micky Lee, plee@suffolk.edu
