Call for Papers: NRIS Special Issue on Energy, Technology, and Climate

Energy, technology, and climate policies have become more deeply interconnected than ever in international politics. Recent geopolitical developments have triggered a global energy shock with far‑reaching consequences. While the effects in Europe are asymmetrical, countries with high dependencies on imported oil and gas remain particularly vulnerable. At the same time, the crisis has once again exposed the European Union’s structural reliance on fossil fuels and intensified efforts to construct a domestic European energy infrastructure based on renewable sources. These developments have the potential to reinvigorate the EU’s Green Deal, even as it has faced considerable political resistance and backsliding. 

For the Nordic countries, these dynamics pose a distinctive set of political and societal questions. The Nordics are often portrayed as frontrunners in climate governance and green transition, yet they are simultaneously embedded in global energy markets, transatlantic technology ecosystems, and European security structures. The acceleration of the green transition interacts with Nordic models of welfare, industrial policy, and democratic governance, raising questions about legitimacy, distributional effects, and political contestation. Decision‑makers are confronted with increasingly acute trade‑offs between short‑term energy security and long‑term climate commitments, with uneven social and regional consequences.

Energy politics are also inseparable from technological power. Contemporary geopolitical competition is less concerned with territorial control over resources than with control over critical technologies, infrastructures, data, and standards. In this context, the EU and the Nordic countries within it face structural dependencies on US and Chinese technologies, alongside renewed security threats emanating from Russia. Calls for technological sovereignty have become central to European policy debates, yet they coexist uneasily with the need for alliance‑building and interdependence, particularly in light of growing political uncertainty within transatlantic relations. The narrowing circle of like‑minded partners raises urgent questions about autonomy, solidarity, and strategic alignment in an increasingly fragmented international order.

The Nordic Review of International Studies invites contributions to a special issue on Energy, Technology, and Climate. We particularly welcome submissions that engage explicitly with Nordic countries, Nordic cooperation, or the Nordic region in comparative or theoretical perspective, and that speak to broader debates in political science and international relations.

Contributions may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Nordic energy security, green transition, and/or climate governance in a transformed geopolitical environment
• The politics of the EU Green Deal and its implications for Nordic political economies
• Energy shocks, crisis governance, and democratic legitimacy in Nordic and European contexts
• Technological sovereignty, strategic autonomy, and dependency in energy and climate technologies
• Alliance‑building, transatlantic relations, and Nordic positioning between the US, EU, China, and Russia
• Distributional conflicts, welfare states, and social consent in the green transition
• The role of the state, markets, and public–private partnerships in Nordic climate and technology policy
• Security, resilience, and critical infrastructure in energy and digital systems
• Comparative and theoretical perspectives on sovereignty, interdependence, and climate politics
• Normative and critical political theory approaches to energy, technology, and climate governance

The special issue welcomes theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions from across political science and related disciplines, including international relations, comparative politics, political economy, political theory, and security studies.

Please submit your article abstract of 750 words no later than 15 May 2026. The final manuscripts are due in September 2026.