We live in a different globalized world than 20 years ago. Social media has created new kinds of global communication platforms, and digital technology, big data, algorithms and AI have penetrated our everyday lives. These developments also shape and influence what we think, what we do, and how we make politics. We face enormous global challenges including climate change, pandemics, weak states, migrations, and digital wars. Where does organization figure in all of this? How can we understand these developments through organizational lenses?

Organization is a key concept for understanding global order. Despite the fact that there is no overarching world organization such as a world state, there are a number of organizations trying to organize others. Organization comes in different forms, being it as standards or sanctions spanning the borders of formal organizations, hybrid organizations combining different features, metaorganizations bringing other organizations together, formal organizations or fluid communicative constitutions. Yet, the global may also pose challenges for organization, leading to new forms of governance posing new questions.

In 2005, Score (Stockholm centre for organizational research) organized a conference on Organizing the World. As Score is now turning 30 years old, we invite you to explore Organizing the World 2.0. We invite papers dealing with attempts and practices of organizing the world in the new global order, at different levels and by different means, connected to one or more of the following, broadly formulated, themes:

Organizing Knowledge – For this theme, we invite papers broadly dealing with knowledge production in relation to organization. How is knowledge produced, challenged, categorized, evaluated, legitimized and/or applied?

Organizing Markets – Markets are often understood as governed by economic logics, when they are in fact often organized. We invite papers dealing with the ways in which organizations attempt to organize markets and how they work.

Democracy, Legitimacy and Power – How is politics and policy power formed and legitimized by organization? What are the democratic consequences of this?

Rule-setting and Rule-following – How does the expansion of different forms of rules affect the organization of the world? How are regulatory systems created, organized, and adopted by, within and among organizations?

We are particularly interested in papers that challenge conventional theories concerning organization, regulation and governance. Empirical as well as theoretical papers are welcome – priority is placed on presentations and discussions, not that all participants have to submit full papers beforehand. We welcome researchers from disciplines such as sociology, political science, management, law, history, economics, and social anthropology addressing these themes, and we also hope for many papers incorporating interdisciplinary research.

The conference will take place at Score in Stockholm, Sweden 6–7 October, 2022. Please submit your abstract (max. 300 words) to organizingtheworld2022@score.su.se by 1 March, 2022. Decisions on participation will be made by 1 April 2022.

(Participation in the conference is free.)

Welcome to Stockholm in October 2022!