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The ongoing reconfiguration of the world order has spurred heated debates across disciplines over the nature and durability of the changing global system. Key features of this reconfiguration include the global diffusion of economic power, technological innovations that not only offer opportunities for radical disruption by diverse actors but also entrench old cleavages between haves and have-nots, and revisionist ambitions by states vying for superpower status. This systemic transformation finds resonances at regional, national and local scales and involves non-state actors. It also demands reassessment of our theories and practices of international relations.

A number of frames have been proposed by analysts and commentators to make sense of our turbulent times. Some scholars routinely invoke the return of ‘multipolarity’, ‘spheres of influence’ and ‘great power rivalry’. Others highlight the resilience of the liberal international order even as they concede its fragmentation and highlight its co-existence with other worldviews. Yet others envisage the emergence of plural regional and sectoral orders. For some analysts, such pluralisation offers the scope for the expression of diverse lifeworlds whereas others worry that these exact same processes exacerbate inequalities, spawn resentment and provide fertile ground for autocrats and populists of various hues. Recognising the multiplicity and complexity of our times, a few scholars have begun to advocate the perspective of multiplexity to better understand the changing global system. GL01 invites scholars from across diverse traditions in the study of international relations to critically reflect on prevailing perspectives and advance new ideas that can contribute to scholarly understanding of our transforming world.