Call for Papers: 2nd Iraq Political Science Day (16 April 2026)

The first Iraq Political Science Day 2025 brought together political science departments from seven different universities in Baghdad, Erbil, and Sulemani. Additional speakers from other universities and international scholars were also represented. From the outset, it was clear that the success of bringing together students, researchers, and teachers from all parts of the country should be continued and hosted at various universities in Iraq in the following years. Following the first Iraq Political Science Day at the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH) in Erbil, the second Iraq Political Science Day will therefore take place this year at the American University of Iraq Baghdad, in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Once again, participants from all over Iraq, including Iraqi Kurdistan, and international scholars working on Iraq are invited to present their research.

The Iraqi Political Science Day aims to bring this fragmented academic landscape into greater exchange with one another. The Iraq Political Science Day is jointly organized by political science and international relations departments from different universities in Iraq. It aims at strengthening the exchange of students, researchers, and teachers. The format of an academic workshop allows BA, MA, and PhD students to present their theses and to discuss them with peers and faculty members. Researchers and students from other universities, including those outside Iraq, are also invited if they are working on Middle Eastern affairs in general and Iraqi topics in particular. Regarding students and researchers from Iraq, this thematic restriction is not given and we explicitly welcome all topics of Political Science, International Relations, Political Economy, and Political Theory including multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches. The invitation is aimed in particular at advanced BA students and furthermore MA and PhD students who are about to submit their work and wish to present it to a wider academic community for discussion. Current research projects by lecturers and researchers are also welcome.

Since not all Iraqis speak Arabic and English is becoming more and more important both as a language of instruction at Iraqi universities and as an international academic language in political science, the workshop will be held in English. Contributions in Arabic and Kurdish (Soranî) are also possible on request.

Submission should include a 300-400 word abstract and a short bio (max. 100 words) with contact information (e-mail) by e-mail to [email protected].

Deadline for Abstract submission: February 28, 2026

The Academic Committee, consisting of faculty members from all organizing universities, will then decide by March 15 and inform you whether your abstract has been accepted.

Selected participants are expected to submit a paper with 5,000-6,000 words by April 10th, This will be presented in a 15-minute session, followed by 20-minute discussion on April 16.

As an alternative to the lectures, there will also be the opportunity to submit posters and present them at the workshop. If you wish to present your work as a poster, please also submit an abstract and indicate that this is a submission for a poster and not for a talk.

There will be no automatic publication of the articles of this workshop, but there will be a possibility of getting in contact with scientific journals and we consider publishing the best contributions in a conference volume. If you want to get published in the conference volume, please follow the stylesheet of the sage journals for your paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/pnz#Manuscriptstyle

The Scientific Committee that will select the presentations consists of:

• Dr Ammar Taha (Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research)
• Dr Firas Abas (University of Basra)
• Dr Hesham (University of Baghdad)
• Dr Jalal Hasan Mistaffa (University of Sulaimani)
• Dr Khairullah Sabhan (University of Mosul)
• Dr Martin Beck ( University of Kurdistan Hewlêr)
• Dr Elizabeth Bishop (American University of Iraq – Baghdad)
• Dr Hisham Ezz El-Din (University of Baghdad)
• Dr Muslih Irwani (American University of Iraq – Baghdad)
• Dr Jalal Mistaffa (University of Sulaimani)
• Dr Beastun Omer Nuri (Salahaddin University – Erbil)
• Dr Mohammed Salih (Tishk University)
• Dr Muhammad Sharif Ebrahimi (Catholic University in Erbil)
• Dr Thomas Schmidinger (University of Kurdistan Hewlêr)
• Dr Hala S. Yousif (University of Baghdad)
• Dr Muthanna Faiq (Tikrit University)
• Dr Stam Saeed (University of Sulaimani)