Thank you for your interest in writing for WFM/IGP. Please send all submissions to submissions@wfm-igp.org in the form of a Word document. We encourage contributors from around the globe and target a global audience, so we accept and publish submissions in English, Arabic, French and Spanish. To the extent possible, we will provide for translations into/from those languages at WFM/IGP’s expense.
Cross-posting and exclusivity. WFM/IGP strives to amplify the voices of contributors from our global civil society and policymaking network and will consider cross-posting relevant, timely submissions that further conversations around global governance and world federalism. If your piece has been published or is under consideration elsewhere, please note which outlets it appears or may appear in when you send your submission to us. Please confirm that those outlets are not exclusive before sending the piece to us.
Prior to writing or submitting a piece, please read our style guide below.
STYLE AND AUDIENCE
WFM/IGP publishes concise, explanatory and analytic pieces geared toward a broad civil society and policymaking audience in the areas of global governance; transitional justice, including international justice; conflict and atrocity prevention; gender equality, especially in relation to Women, Peace and Security; and environmental justice. Our articles are meant to inform global actors while encouraging action and engagement in the global polity. While individual authors may advocate for various positions that are not representative of the World Federalist Movement as a whole, we seek articles that will engage with issues relevant to the Movement, in the areas mentioned above. WFM/IGP believes that by publishing a diverse range of views, the global conversation is enriched and the goals of World Federalism are advanced: namely, a democratic world government based on active contributions from civil society.
Our audience is broad and global, so please do not (over)use specialized jargon. Your readers may include diplomats, lawyers, policymakers, human rights advocates, journalists, grassroots activists, development professionals and academics all over the world, so specialized concepts should be briefly defined on first use. Because of our global reach, please refrain from using “we,” “our” or “us” to refer to your country, organization or movement; rather, just refer to the name of the country or entity you wish to discuss.
Style and tone should always be accessible and clear. Avoid long sentences and paragraphs and please use 3–4 subheadings, as applicable, to prioritize and clearly highlight key takeaways. This will increase the impact of your piece by allowing busy international professionals in a wide range of roles to quickly understand the aspects of your argument which are most relevant to them.
ARTICLE TYPES
WFM/IGP publishes articles in four main formats:
(1) Analytical opinion pieces that take a position in a current debate and recommend a specific course of action. These pieces should strive to identify an overlooked angle about a current topic in the public debate. They should be written in a concise and engaging manner that makes them both accessible and enjoyable to read. They should be in the range of 750 to 1,200 words to ensure meaningful engagement with the topic at hand without taking too much time from an overworked professional audience. The title should underscore the principle lens, conclusion or recommendation of the article. Hypothetical example titles might include:
- “Social Media Platforms’ Responses to Atrocities Show the Need for Updated Human Rights Frameworks”;
- “Three Trends in Gendered Violence Point to Heightened Atrocity Risks in Sudan”; or
- “Vetting the U.N. Secretary-General: Five Critical Questions from a Human Rights Perspective”.
(2) “Debate and Discuss” posts consisting of two or more authors presenting divergent viewpoints and analysis related to an ongoing legal or policy debate. We will share a call for submissions at least 8 weeks before each “Debate and Discuss” forum. Each author’s contribution should be less than 500 words. Please choose a title for your contribution that serves to summarize your position. For example, a forum discussion on “How Should Climate and Security Issues be Handled in the Context of Mali’s Peace Negotiations?” might feature the following contributions:
- “Mediators Should Demand an Inclusive Process for Diverse Climate Stakeholders in Mali”;
- “The International Community Must Avoid the Over-securitization of Climate Issues”; and
- “For Farmers in the Sahel, Conflict and Climate are Already Deeply Linked”.
(3) In-depth, analytical pieces examining the nuances of a particular legal or policy issue. These pieces may use more technical language in order to address a specialized topic with broad implications for a public debate, and may be between 1,000 and 1,200 words in order to delve more deeply into necessary details. An example of such an article might be: “Four Misguided Precedents that the ICC Must Address in Order to Fix Its Legitimacy Crisis”.
(4) Interviews with civil society actors, policymakers, or other leaders on high-profile issues of international legal and policy import. Interviews focus on the professional work, accomplishments and perspectives of interviewees. If you would like to suggest a specific person for WFM/IGP to interview, please send an email to submissions@wfm-igp.org with a summary of the person’s professional background (e.g., an up-to-date professional bio, LinkedIn profile, or CV) and a short paragraph explaining the relevance of this person’s current work to WFM/IGP’s focus issues. You may suggest yourself for an interview by following the same process.
Author Disclosures
Please include a short biography (50–100 words) including relevant work and ongoing projects. For full transparency, if you are actively involved in an ongoing legal or advocacy matter, please disclose that directly in the text of the piece. as well as in an author’s note at the end of the piece and/or in your bio that appears on the WFM/IGP site. Please also disclose such connections in your submissions email as well.
STYLE CONVENTIONS
WFM/IGP follows a modified version of Associated Press (AP) Style. Our more particular style conventions are outlined below.
References
To cite sources, please primarily use in-text hyperlinks. Limited footnotes (5–10) may be used for non-digital sources (such as interviews conducted by the author or archival research) to maintain detail and precision. As much as possible, our main audience should be able to easily access your sources.
Punctuation and Symbols
Please avoid the “Oxford” or serial comma, except where needed for grammatical clarity.
Abbreviations
Please spell out “United Nations,” “European Union,” “United States,” “United Kingdom” and similar names when used as nouns. When appearing as an adjective, abbreviations with periods (e.g., U.N., E.U., U.S. and U.K.) should be used (e.g., “The U.S. delegation and U.N. leaders departed the United Kingdom immediately following the conference in London.”).
When using acronyms, please spell out the official name of what the acronym stands for on the first reference, and utilize the acronym for all following references. Where official titles of entities or officials are especially long and elaborate, we encourage the use of common shorter titles in place of longer, official titles (e.g., refer to Britain’s “Foreign Office” as opposed to “the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office”). Likewise, for countries with long official names, use their shorter, more common names (e.g., “Syria” as opposed to “the Syrian Arab Republic” or “Sri Lanka” as opposed to “the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka”).
Legal accuracy and human rights–compliant terminology
WFM/IGP supports compliance with international laws and standards, including human rights law, as a fundamental aspect of its commitment to global governance. Choice of terminology should therefore adhere to international legal standards, including human rights standards.
At times, phenomena or organizations may be commonly referred to in terms that improperly characterize their legal or ethical status. So, for example, when referring to “Islamic State,” please precede it with “self-styled” and follow it with “militant group” or “armed group.” (Authors may use “ISIS,” “ISIL,” or “Daesh” as preferred.) Crimes referred to in exculpatory terms, such as “honor killings,” should be prefaced with “so-called” or described more accurately (e.g., as “femicide”).
International justice discussions should likewise respect fair trial standards. For example, accused perpetrators should be referred to as such until they have been duly convicted, and crimes are “alleged” until a conviction is secured.
For quickly evolving terms implicated in human rights and social justice issues, we defer to the AP Style as a baseline. For example, please reference their policies on gendered language and on the capitalization of Black and Indigenous, but not of “white” when used in an ethnic, racial or cultural sense. Likewise, please follow AP Style on transliterations of non-Roman alphabets, such as in the case of “Uyghurs.”