Introduction: Decentring Global Challenges

What does it mean to think about contemporary global challenges from a decentring perspective? International studies scholarship has become increasingly more interdisciplinary and multifocal, especially as the escalation of systemic ecological and economic crises, as well as social, and political challenges in the 21st century have required comprehensive ways of thinking and taking stock of existing ontological and epistemic limitations. Yet, how do “we” know these global challenges? We follow Nayak and Selbin’s approach to decentring when questioning who is (and who is not) in “our we.” This book advances an interdisciplinary conversation on the necessity of decentring how we approach contemporary global challenges. A decentring approach is essential to understand how the interdependent relationships among states, societies, regions, and the globe shape modernity and its global expressions during an era of persistent crises. This chapter introduces our edited volume and develops a decentring analysis of global challenges, by questioning what constitutes a challenge, how, and why, today and globally.