Organised by:
International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) and
Greek Scientific Association of Political Economy

"Beyond the Crisis"

Preamble: Following its three previous highly successful international research workshops for students in Crete, Naples and Ankara, the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) is now holding its FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, co-organised with the Greek Scientific Association of Political Economy, and open to application from all engaged in political economy. Summaries of papers for consideration for inclusion (maximum 1000 words) should be submitted by 31st of March 2010 to iippe@soas.ac.uk with subject heading IIPPE CONFERENCE 2010. Full papers are required to be made available by 30 June 2010 for pre-circulation to Conference participants. It will be possible to attend the Conference without submitting a paper but numbers will be limited. There will be some funding available for those who are unable to rely upon institutional support for participation, with special provision for research students.

Themes: Following the global crisis, the prospects of, and need for, progressive political economy are stronger than for many decades. Orthodox economics is in disarray, but with only a smattering of its own practitioners accepting this, generally by demanding more realism and the incorporation of a few more or less arbitrary behavioural principles. After the collapse of the post-war boom, the recession and slowdown that followed gave birth to extreme forms of monetarism followed by a mild reaction in terms of reliance upon market and institutional imperfections and weakened Keynesianism. The prospects for a radical rethink within orthodoxy and of tolerance to heterodoxy remain bleak. But it is still crucial to sustain critical commentary on orthodoxy’s continuing principles and innovations as a new generation of students and researchers are caught between conforming to its reduced and flawed content and the economic realities of the world around them. Political economy has begun to prosper in the wake of the crisis, not least with the rising popularity of Minsky for example. It is imperative that the strengths and weaknesses of the diverse, often insightful, analyses of the nature, causes and consequences of the financial crisis be debated and fully engaged across competing paradigms and emphases. Nor is the crisis confined to economic effects and causes alone. Interdisciplinary approaches are essential to address the nature of, and prospects for, neo-liberalism, the shifting character of the “new world order”, US hegemony and the rise of China, and the economic and the social and cultural restructuring that have both preceded and will follow upon the crisis. This offers opportunities to engage with activists in understanding the impact and incidence of the crisis and in formulating alternatives and strategies in response to it.

The Conference welcomes proposals for papers that address one or more of these issues or any other issue within political economy. IIPPE working groups are entitled to organise a panel. But we also welcome proposals for panels independently of working groups on well-defined themes, with three or four contributions and contributors specified in advance. These must be submitted, ideally with paper summaries by March 31st, 2010, although earlier submissions have greater chance of acceptance as the Conference programme is filled out.

Our Website: www.iippe.org

December 12, 2009.