Neoliberalism – understood both as a political philosophy and as an actually-existing model of governing capitalism – appears to be in terminal decline. The renewed acceptability of industrial policy, the successes of Chinese state capitalism, and the decline of neo/liberal constitutionalism and legalism have all been cited as evidence of such decline. In the midst of this hegemonic crisis, the question of what will replace neoliberal capitalism becomes urgent and inescapable. Far-right projects for remaking societies and laws have in this moment become increasingly elaborate as well as electorally successful. But the left too has a long history of ‘world-making’ – one that has involved varying degrees of specificity and different levels of interest in law. At this crucial juncture, then, we are interested in exploring contemporary and historical examples of ‘world-making’ in both their progressive and reactionary iterations and understanding what role law may have played in these experiments.
For many on the contemporary right – from One Nation in Australia to India’s Modi government to ‘traditional’ conservatives within Trump’s political coalition – law serves as a central motor of reactionary world-making. This is evident in the tendency for right-wing movements to support harsh and exclusionary migration rules, an expansion and deepening of criminal provisions, the intensification of police powers, and restrictive laws concerning the family, abortion, and broader gender equality, to name a few. For others, such as the reactionaries, libertarians and neo-royalists affiliated with Big Tech, the forms of democratic rule and executive accountability traditionally embedded in liberal public law ought to be fully replaced by contract, corporate law and algorithmic governance. Finally, leading figures on the contemporary far-right appear to adopt a fundamentally anti-legalistic posture concerning the international economic and political order. Trump’s informal ‘trade deals’, the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ in Venezuela and Cuba, and the ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza are bold experiments in world-making insofar as they embrace personalism, denormalization, and openly non-reciprocal and corrupt arrangements.
Law has played varying roles in left-wing experiments in world-building. Many left-wing movements have dreamt of the end of law, or the abolition of specific legal fields, practices or institutions. In the context of ecological collapse, scholars have called for new modes of world-breaking: for ending forms of law and social relations in ways that can open up to the work of repair. Other movements have embraced or sought to harness law as an integral part of efforts to reconfigure domestic and international orders. More recently, concepts such as prefigurative legality and non-reformist reforms have emerged within progressive legal academia to describe the role of law in left-leaning world-making. However, the (understandable and necessary) defensive posture of progressives at the current juncture means that world-making has sometimes taken a back seat to political and legal work that focuses on the defence of existing power, rights and relationships in light of deteriorating economic conditions, environmental collapse and authoritarian onslaught. 2
The 2026 Conference of Australian Progressive Legal Studies – to be held on 3–4 December 2026 at RMIT in Melbourne – seeks to better understand the role of law in world-making experiments: progressive, radical and reactionary.
We invite submissions that seek to further our understanding of how law features – if at all – in world-making projects of all political orientations as well as more normative contributions that propose new ways for progressives to think about law in our world-building. We want to imagine left world-making in the current time in a pluralistic and diverse manner, inviting all kinds of approaches to this crucial task, such as Indigenous, queer, Marxist, abolitionist, and prefigurative perspectives, among many others. There is an undeniable urgency for progressive legal scholars to contribute to this world-making project, especially as reactionary, fascist, and far-right movements have been able to use a broad range of legal imaginaries to enunciate their own political projects.
Although law’s role in world-making is our primary interest, this conference is open to any paper with a law and political economy focus, especially if it seeks to respond to the current global situation with requisite urgency and critical clarity. Possible topics include:
- The role of law in left-leaning world-making experiments, past and present;
- How law has been utilised by right-wing and reactionary projects in their own world-making endeavours;
- The role of law in the resurgence of eliminationist rhetoric and practice in Gaza and beyond;
- The changing role of the state and multilateral institutions in global capitalism;
- Resistance and revolutionary activity today, and the place of law within them;
- Reactionary and authoritarian legal responses to progressive movements in notionally liberal democracies; and
- The roles of lawyers, legal academics and legal education in projects of both progressive and reactionary world-making.
Abstracts are due by Friday 7 August 2026. They should be no more than 250 words and be accompanied by a brief bio of no more than 150 words. Abstracts should be sent to Coel Kirkby (coel.kirkby@sydney.edu.au).
This will be primarily an in-person event, though online participation may be available for presenters unable to attend in person.
We will be able to offer some limited financial support for the travel costs of participants without institutional funding. In allocating funding, we will prioritise precariously employed workers and PhD candidates.