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