CALL FOR PAPERS 

Presencing the Future of Democracy and Governance:

A Special Themed Issue of the Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change

Deadlines:

Submissions: November 30, 2025

Publication: May 31, 2026

The need to reimagine democracy and governance has never been more urgent. Yet discussions about their future often remain confined to worn-out debates and partisan divides. What if, instead of merely defending or critiquing democracy as an institution, we asked where the future of democracy and governance is already being enacted?

We live in a time marked by deep polarization, the resurgence of militarization, rising protectionism, and the ongoing crises of climate breakdown. These forces shape, constrain, and at times fracture democratic institutions. At the same time, forms of governance attuned to relationality, care, and ecological interdependence are emerging—often in the margins, in Indigenous and place-based traditions, and in community-led initiatives that reimagine democratic accountability beyond the nation-state. These innovations, however, remain underexplored in mainstream governance discourse.

In this themed issue, we seek to surface and connect such emerging practices. To govern is to make choices. With all the inherent complexities of human beings and being human, where can we see new forms of governance surfacing that attend to the social soil, or the relational quality of any social system?What can we learn from governance structures that foster relational accountability, where multiple knowledge systems are brought into conversation? How do communities navigate governance futures in ways that acknowledge and address historical power imbalances? What role do Indigenous governance traditions, regenerative practices, and non-Western democratic models play in reshaping governance landscapes and how can these brought into authentic dialogue with dominant frameworks for mutual learning and co-creation? How can we forge new conditions and embed new patterns?

We invite practice-based contributions offering insights into questions such as:

• How do non-state, grassroots, or Indigenous governance traditions challenge conventional democratic models? How might democratic futures be shaped by practices of governance that do not fit within dominant institutional logics?
• What forms of governance actively cultivate cultural, social, ecological, and intergenerational responsibility? What is needed to sustain these practices?
• How do governance innovations emerge under conditions of climate breakdown, economic instability, and shifting geopolitical orders? What tensions arise when governance is a site of adaptation, contestation and transformation?
• How can governance processes center historically excluded voices and ways of knowing? What methodological and ethical considerations arise when bridging different knowledge systems?
• What experimental governance models are developing within and beyond existing institutions? What scaffolding is needed to support governance transitions that are responsive, inclusive, and future-oriented?

The exploration of these questions is as important as finding the answers. What we, at JASC, can provide is the scaffolding for deep dives into these hotspots of governance innovation, a platform for surfacing and making visible the seeds of the future already present, and a space that allows for the emergence of a collective imagination for governance futures. 

We invite you to collaborate in shaping this themed issue. How can your work contribute to this unfolding conversation?

Submission Guidelines:

The length of peer-review papers is a maximum of 8000 words, excluding references. For full submission guidelines go to the Submissions page on the JASC website.

For more information about JASC, visit https://jabsc.org.