TY  - JOUR
A1  - Holthaus, Leonie
A1  - Stockmann, Nils
T1  - Who makes the world?
BT  - Academics and (un)cancelling the future
JF  - New perspectives
N2  - In this essay, we consider the role of academics as change-makers. There is a long line of reflection about academics' sociopolitical role(s) in international relations (IR). Yet, our attempt differs from available considerations in two regards. First, we emphasize that academics are not a homogenous group. While some keep their distance from policymakers, others frequently provide policy advice. Hence, positions and possibilities of influence differ. Second, our argument is not oriented towards the past but the future. That is, we develop our reflections on academics as change-makers by outlining the vision of a 'FutureLab', an innovative, future forum that brings together different world-makers who are united in their attempt to improve 'the world'. Our vision accounts for current, perhaps alarming trends in academia, such as debates about the (in)ability to confront post-truth politics. Still, it is a (critically) optimistic one and can be read as an invitation for experimentation. Finally, we sympathize with voices demanding the democratization of academia and find that further cross-disciplinary dialogues within academia and dialogues between different academics, civil society activists and policymakers may help in finding creditable solutions to problems such as climate change and populism.
KW  - multiplicity
KW  - policy
KW  - scholar-practitioners
KW  - transdisciplinarity
KW  - un-cancelling the future
KW  - world-makers
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X20935246
SN  - 2336-825X
SN  - 2336-8268
VL  - 28
IS  - 3
SP  - 413
EP  - 427
PB  - Sage Publications
CY  - Thousand Oaks, CA
ER  -