Call For Papers: RLS North Africa, Economy Program

Analytical Papers: Actionable Decolonial, Pan-African, and Feminist Perspectives on North Africa’s Sovereign Development

1. Context & Objectives

North Africa (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, and Sudan) stands at a critical juncture where structural macroeconomic constraints are directly feeding into compounding social, ecological, and geopolitical crises.

Severe sovereign debt servicing—evidenced by Tunisia liquidating foreign reserves to repay major debt tranches while stalling IMF negotiations—continues to drain national budgets at the expense of social reproduction, healthcare, and infrastructure. Concurrently, catastrophic climate shocks (such as recurring wildfires, severe droughts, and water scarcity across the Maghreb) and regional destabilization (including the war in Sudan) are eroding local livelihoods. Underneath the so-called “migration crises” at the borders of Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, and along the Morocco-Spain frontier lie the structural violence of austerity, unequal ecological exchange, and the externalization of European border enforcement.

Diagnosing these systemic failures is no longer enough. We are inviting researchers, activist-scholars, and policy analysts to submit proposals for analytical papers that pair sharp political economy analyses with actionable, progressive policy solutions. Grounded in word system theory, Pan-African frameworks, decolonial theory, and decolonial feminist political economy, this initiative aims to chart concrete blueprints for sovereign economic transformation. Selected submissions will undergo peer review and edit, to be published on our RLS North Africa website and shared across regional policy networks.

2. Core Thematic Pillars & Policy Focus

Submissions should ground their analysis in one of the following thematic pillars, pairing a focused heterodox critique with concrete, actionable policy proposals

Thematic Pillar 1 : Debt Servicing, Fiscal Sovereignty & IFIs:

• Actionable legal and policy frameworks for sovereign debt repudiation, auditing, and restructuring outside creditor-dominated forums.
• Progressive domestic resource mobilization.
• Counter-strategies against IMF/World Bank conditionalities and the debt-climate trap.

Thematic Pillar 2 : Monetary Policy, Green Industrial Policy & Regional Integration:

• Reforming central bank mandates beyond orthodox inflation targeting toward sovereign development, green industrialization, and employment creation.
• Industrial policies targeting local value-addition, technology transfer, and ending raw material extractivism across North Africa.
• Subverting dependence on hard currencies, managing capital controls, and establishing sovereign credit architectures.
• Pan-African integration, regional industrial planning, joint resource management, and South-South economic integration.

Thematic Pillar 3  Climate Debt & Ecological Sovereignty, Decolonial Feminist Political Economy & Social Reproduction

• Assessing the economic toll of climate disasters (e.g., wildfires, severe droughts) on national budgets and rural economies.
• Formulating non-debt-creating climate finance models, climate reparations, and sovereign green development frameworks that resist extractivism and “green colonialism.”
• Agrarian justice, food sovereignty, and rural women’s labor rights as foundational pillars of regional climate resilience.
• Actionable policy models to value, compensate, and integrate social reproduction and care work into national economic accounting.
• Gender-responsive public investment, counter-cyclical budgeting, and dismantling the gendered harm of IFI-mandated austerity.
• Agrarian justice, food sovereignty, and rural women’s labor rights as core pillars of sovereign development.

Thematic pillar 4 : Political Economy of Migration & Border Regimes:

• Deconstructing the structural linkages between austerity, unequal ecological exchange, displacement, and externalized European border control.
• Policy frameworks protecting freedom of movement, labor rights, and social protection for migrant populations within North Africa.
• Alternatives to security-driven border management, advancing regional mobility agendas rooted in Pan-African solidarity.

3. Submission Guidelines & Formats

We welcome contributions from individual researchers as well as collaborative, co-authored proposals.

Accepted Formats (Phase 1):

1. Extended Abstract: 500 to 800 words detailing the main argument, policy relevance, methodology, and key recommendations.
2. Or First Draft: A full or partial manuscript (2,000 to 3,000 words).

Technical & Language Specifications:

• Languages Accepted:English, French, or Arabic (English, Français, العربية).
  • Final Deliverables: Analytical Papers: 3,000 to 5,000 words (deep structural analysis with concrete policy frameworks).

4. Selection Criteria & Honorarium

Submissions will be evaluated by an internal selection committee based on:

Regional Relevance: Assesses direct alignment with core themes—specifically economic and monetary sovereignty, industrial sovereign development, climate vulnerability, decolonial feminist frameworks, and the political economy of migration across North Africa.

Honorarium Notice: Authors of accepted final papers will receive financial compensation in accordance with our standard administrative procedures and general guidelines for scientific and research services.

5. Submission Procedure & Timeline

Please send your abstract or first draft along with a brief biography/CV of the author(s) directly to Procurement North Africa:

• Email: procurement.northafrica@rosalux.org
• Subject Line: Submission: Call for Proposals – NA Sov Dev– Thematic pillar Number –Author Last Name

For any inquiries regarding terms of reference or administrative procedures, please contact procurement.northafrica@rosalux.org.