Call for Papers: A Special Issue on gender-based violence in and beyond Central and Eastern Europe

CJIR is pleased to announce a call for papers for a special issue, titled “Deciphering Gender-Based Violence: Feminist, Postsocialist and Postcolonial Perspectives from Central and Eastern Europe,” to be published as part of its first issue of 2026 (April). The issue is edited by Julia Sachseder (CEU) and Maryna Shevtsova (KU Leuven).

Gender-based violence (GBV) has historically been reduced to the misconduct of individual men, often framed as an isolated or even pathological phenomenon. However, feminist scholarship has been pivotal in challenging these biologistic and individualizing assumptions. Instead, they showed how GBV is a structural issue deeply embedded within gendered and racialized power relations, global political-economic hierarchies, and cultural norms (Anthias 2014; Sachseder 2020, 2023; Touquet and Schulz 2020). 

Over recent decades, feminist scholars have explored GBV across different contexts, from everyday violence and institutionalized discrimination to radicalization, gender-based extremism, transnational anti-gender movements, and conflict-related violence (Brown 2017; Pearson et al. 2020; Sosa 2021; Wright 2022). These bodies of work have highlighted the role of social norms, gendered ideologies, and gender narratives in shaping and perpetuating GBV (Bradley et al. 2022; Oparinde et al. 2020; Gqola 2007), and attended to how gender intersects with other relations of power, i.e. race, class, and sexuality (Bograd 1999; Christoffersen and Emejulu 2023; Sachseder 2023) across different settings. Crucially, feminists introduced the concept of the “continuum” to disrupt the private/public divide and to illustrate how violence operates across all social, economic, and political spheres (Boesten 2014; Cockburn 2004; Eriksson Baaz and Stern 2013; Gray and Stern 2019; Sachseder 2023). While much feminist theory centers on the violence women face, it also emphasizes women’s resilience and agency in resisting violence, challenging power structures, creating networks of solidarity, and working toward justice and protection. 

Building on these insights, GBV has been theorized and empirically analyzed as reinforcing or contesting power structures, from state-led repression and nationalist mobilizations to transnational networks of hate speech and anti-gender discourse (Boesten 2010; Cohn 2012; Enloe 2007; Gwiazda and Minkova 2022; Krizsán at al. 2024; Meger 2016; Nordstrom 2004).

While existing scholarship has offered important insights into the dynamics of GBV, much of this work has been predominantly shaped by Western-centric epistemologies and methodologies, leaving the contributions of scholars from and within Central and Eastern Europe underexplored (see Hendl et al. 2023; Sereda and Mikheieva 2025; Sonevytsky 2022). This special issue aims to address this gap by anchoring GBV in the distinctive socio-political, economic, and cultural contexts of the region. In doing so, it invites scholars to engage with, contest, and/or advance feminist, postsocialist, and de/postcolonial theoretical frameworks rooted in and reflective of Central and Eastern European perspectives.

Aim and Scope

This special issue seeks to explore how the unique histories, social structures, and political relations of power of Central and Eastern Europe intersect with, complement or contest existing understandings of GBV. It invites scholars to re-examine and expand these understandings, both during armed conflict and in so-called “peaceful” settings. By doing so, the issue hopes to contribute to a more nuanced and contextually grounded understanding of GBV to inform broader debates on gender-based violence, peace, and conflict. Additionally, the issue aims to explore how the transnational transmission of anti-gender narratives and extremist discourses shapes GBV in the region, as well as how intersections of gender, security, and political economy contribute to both its perpetuation and resistance. By incorporating comparative perspectives and analyzing the cross-border dynamics of radicalization and violence, it seeks to uncover broader structural and normative processes underpinning GBV across diverse contexts.

Focus Areas

We welcome interdisciplinary contributions that engage with the following themes:

• Feminist, post-socialist and de/postcolonial critiques of existing approaches to GBV, focusing on local experiences and resistances in Central and Eastern Europe
• Analyses of GBV in post-conflict transitions, including peacebuilding, state-building, and democratization processes in the region
• Exploration of how intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality shape the production and perpetuation of GBV in Central and Eastern Europe
• Feminist conceptualizations of “violence as a  continuum” and their applicability to historical and contemporary contexts in the region
• The role of toxic/hegemonic masculinities, racialized hierarchies, and political economy in shaping GBV
• Critiques of international legal frameworks addressing GBV, with a focus on issues of impunity and justice for survivors
• Feminist methodologies for studying GBV, particularly approaches that center marginalized voices and lived experiences in and from Central and Eastern Europe
• (Comparative) analyses of radicalization, gender-based extremism, and violence, through a focus on cross-border dynamics and the circulation of extremist discourses in and beyond Central and Eastern Europe
• Examination of the transmission of anti-gender narratives across borders, including their interaction with social norms, digital platforms, and populist political agendas in the region
• Cross-cutting studies on the intersections of gender, security, and social deviance to address how radicalization processes exploit or reinforce existing inequalities and vulnerabilities

This special issue aims to foster a dialogue that transcends geographic and theoretical boundaries, connecting insights from Central and Eastern Europe with broader feminist and de/postcolonial debates. By doing so, we seek to expand our understanding of GBV as a deeply political, economic, and structural phenomenon and to explore pathways toward transformative justice.

Submission Guidelines:

Abstracts of 250–500 words should be submitted by mid-March, outlining the scope of the proposed contribution and its relevance to the special issue’s themes. Each submission must include the author’s name, affiliation, and a brief bio (up to 200 words). Full manuscripts of up to 10 thousand words excluding the list of references will be due by the end of September 2025. All submissions will undergo a double-blind peer review process.

We encourage submissions from scholars at all career stages, particularly those from, or working on, Central and Eastern Europe.

Important Dates:

• Abstract submission deadline: 16.03.2025
• Notification of acceptance: 01.04.2025
• Full manuscript submission deadline: 30.09.2025

All submissions should be sent directly to the CJIR editor-in-chief Michal Kolmaš at michal.kolmas@mup.cz.

The Czech Journal of International Relations (CJIR) is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes scholarly work in International Relations (IR), and other related disciplines. The journal’s scope is not theoretically or geographically limited, yet it aspires to promote research that is pertinent to Central Europe (broadly conceived). In 2024, CJIR was attributed an Impact Factor of 0.6 by Clarivate's Web of Science and was placed within the 3rd Quartile for International Relations.