The contemporary phase of globalisation has brought far-reaching changes in production, trade, technology and labour relations. While global integration has contributed to growth and created new opportunities in some sectors, it has also been accompanied by persistent informality, employment insecurity, wage stagnation and widening inequalities, particularly in the Global South. Recent economic, technological, geopolitical and climate-related disruptions have further exposed the fragility of existing development pathways and the uneven distribution of gains from globalisation.

In many developing economies, including India, rapid GDP growth has not been matched by commensurate growth in decent and secure employment. The post-liberalisation period has seen mixed labour market outcomes: poverty has declined, but informal employment continues to dominate; employment generation has remained uneven; wage growth has often been weak; and the share of labour in national income has come under pressure. Even where new forms of work have emerged, they are frequently marked by contractualisation, low wages, inadequate social protection and limited bargaining power.

The restructuring of production through global value chains, production networks and outsourcing has reshaped employment relations across sectors. At the same time, technological change, automation and digital platforms are transforming work organisation, skill requirements and labour control. These shifts have opened new possibilities, but they have also intensified precarity in the absence of strong labour regulation, redistributive policies and universal systems of social protection.

Many countries in the Global South are also experiencing premature deindustrialisation, with workers moving from agriculture not into formal, high-productivity manufacturing, but into fragmented and low-productivity services. Such transitions raise important questions about the future of work, the quality of employment, and the role of the state, institutions and collective action in shaping labour outcomes.

The idea of 'beyond globalisation' does not suggest the end of international economic linkages. Rather, it calls for a critical rethinking of the rules, institutions and policies governing globalisation so that economic integration serves labour as well as capital. It invites reflection on alternative development pathways that place decent work, equity, social protection and sustainability at the centre of economic policy.

Prospective contributors may examine how work and employment are being reshaped in a changing global order. Papers may focus on India, the Global South, cross-country experiences, sectoral studies, occupational groups, or broader questions of labour, development and social justice. Indicative sub-themes include:

• Economic growth and employment: Patterns of job creation.jobless or job-poor growth and implications for decent work.
• Employment quality and wages: Wage growth, earnings, job security, working conditions and inequalities across formal and informal sectors.
• Informality and labour market segmentation: Forms, persistence and reproduction of informal work across sectors, regions and social groups.
• Global value chains and production networks: Implications of global production systems for wages, labour rights, working conditions and labour share.
• Deglobalisation and regionalisation: Changing employment patterns amid re-shoring, near-shoring, trade fragmentation and regional production systems.
• Offshoring and outsourcing: The changing geography of production, services, employment relations and worker bargaining power.
• Premature deindustrialisation: Consequences of limited formal manufacturing absorption for structural transformation and secure employment in the Global South.
• Sectoral transitions: Movement of workers from agriculture to services, construction and other low-productivity sectors and its implications for job quality.
• Vulnerable employment: Composition, drivers and lived experiences of self-employment, casual labour, unpaid work and other insecure forms of work
• Labour share and distribution: Links between growth, productivity, wage stagnation, inequality and the declining share of labour in national income.
• Technology, automation and Al: Effects of technological change on tasks, skills, labour demand, displacement, productivity and regulation.
• Digital platforms and gig work: New forms of labour arrangement, algorithmic management, flexibility,precarity and worker rights in platform-based work.
• Informal, migrant and platform workers: Intersections among informality, mobility and platformisation, including vulnerabilities and strategies for protection.
• Gender and social inequalities: Gender, class, region, age, ethnicity, disability and migration as axes shaping labour market access and outcomes.
• Climate change and labour markets: Climate-induced migration, livelihood disruption, occupational shifts and the future of work under environmental stress.
• Social protection and income security: Universal and targeted measures, including basic income, social insurance and labour-centred welfare systems.
• Labour laws and reforms: Balancing flexibility, security, rights and enforcement in changing national and global labour regimes.
• Institutions and collective bargaining: Role of the state, trade unions, workers' organisations and employers in shaping employment relations.
• Labour politics and resistance: Worker mobilisation, organising strategies, social movements and their influence on development and welfare outcomes.
• Alternative development pathways: Labour-centred strategies for decent work, inclusive growth, sustainability, social justice and equitable globalization.

Submissions are encouraged to critically interrogate how globalisation can be reoriented towards decent work, equity and social protection through theoretical, empirical and policy-oriented research. Papers proposing labour-centred pathways for inclusive and sustainable development are especially welcome.

The guidelines on the conference themes are suggestive only. The prospective paper writers may contribute on other relevant subthemes as well. Apart from contributions on India, papers relating to other regions and countries are also welcome. Papers can be from different theoretical perspectives, as can be the use of different empirical methodologies (e.g. quantitative, qualitative, case-oriented or mixed). Submission of original work that contributes to the advancement of existing knowledge and debates on the topic are encouraged.