2021 Annual Conference (Online)

IIPPE calls for general submissions for the Conference, and particularly welcomes those on its core theme on the pandemic and the state and future of capitalism. Proposals for presentations will as always be considered on all aspects of political economy. New participants committed to political economy, interdisciplinarity, history of political and economic thought, critique of mainstream politics and economics, and/or their application to policy analysis and activism are especially encouraged to submit an abstract.

Cancelled – 2020 Annual Conference (Ferrara)

IIPPE calls for submissions to the 2020 annual Conference. We particularly welcome papers directly related to the core themes of “moving beyond neoliberalism and populism”, and “building progressive policies and alliances for our societies and economies”. As always, presentations on all aspects of political economy are also welcome. New participants committed to political economy, interdisciplinarity, history of economic thought, critique of mainstream economics, and/or their application to policy analysis and activism are strongly encouraged to submit an abstract.

2019 Annual Conference (Lille)

Following the Global Financial Crisis and a decade or more of uneven but sluggish economic performance, the signs are that both economic prospects and the prospects for mainstream economics remain bleak even if the latter has strengthened its hold over the discipline despite what are at most token changes to address its sorely exposed methodological, theoretical and applied deficiencies. As a result, this Conference focuses upon how to pursue a better “economics”, a better economy and the relationship between the two.

2018 Annual Conference (Pula)

IIPPE calls for general submissions for the Conference, and particularly welcomes those on its core themes the state of capitalism and the state of political economy, which will be the focus for the plenary sessions. Proposals for presentations will, however, be considered on all aspects of political economy. New participants committed to political economy, interdisciplinarity, history of political and economic thought, critique of mainstream politics and economics, and/or their application to policy analysis and activism are encouraged to submit an abstract.

2017 Annual Conference (Berlin)

IIPPE, CPERN and IPE call for general submissions for the Conference but particularly welcome those on its core themes of inequalities and instabilities, which will be the focus for the plenary sessions. Proposals for presentations will, however, be considered on all aspects of political economy. New participants committed to political economy, interdisciplinarity, history of economic thought, critique of mainstream economics, and/or their application to policy analysis and activism are encouraged to submit an abstract.

2016 Annual Conference (Lisbon)

The economic crisis that has been unfolding since 2007 has had a severely asymmetric impact both within and between countries. There can be no dispute that the cost of the crisis has been especially high for the peripheral countries and for the world’s poor, women, the old, the young, and the disabled: the crisis itself, and the recovery strategies implemented in most countries, have tended to reinforce the hierarchies of privilege under neoliberal capitalism. The main schools of political economy have examined the crisis and its implications in detail. Those studies have offered valuable insights supporting further academic analyses and, most importantly, informing political action to undermine the reproduction of neoliberalism. The Seventh Annual Conference in Political Economy will review the development of political economy in response to the crisis, and the emergence and renewal of political economy in different countries and regions.

2015 Annual Conference (Leeds)

Mainstream economics is broadly discredited, with even some voices from some of its major bastions calling for its rejuvenation. But heterodox economics appears as theoretically and institutionally splintered as before the crisis, with its only solid point of agreement being the rejection of the dominant mainstream. Hence it continues to be unable to offer any positive alternative that can command broad acceptance even among heterodox economists, not to speak of making inroads into the orthodox teaching, researching and popularization of economics. Similarly, heterodox economists have made little new progress since the crisis toward their long held goal of linking to progressive forces in sociology, geography, political science, and other social disciplines. The Sixth Annual Conference in Political Economy aims at fostering a reflection on positive alternatives to the mainstream by examining political economy from the complementary angles of pluralism, interdisciplinarity and activism.

2014 Annual Conference (Naples)

The economic crisis that started in 2007 has become the deepest global contraction since the Great Depression, and the economic recovery has been the slowest and weakest on record. The costs of the crisis include a wave of unemployment that may take another decade or longer to clear, and higher taxes and reduced public services for working people, such as healthcare and education, in order to bail out wealthy bankers and bondholders. A whole generation, especially the youth, has been blighted by the crisis, which has had devastating consequences for hundreds of millions of people across the world. Protests and violent conflicts have flared up on several continents, in particular in Southern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which may develop into larger scale conflicts. From the viewpoint of political economy, the current strategy of ‘adjustment within neoliberalism’ is economically inconsistent, socially dysfunctional and politically intolerable. The Fifth Annual Conference in Political Economy will examine the global crisis from the complementary angles of scholarship, policies, conflicts and alternatives.

2013 Annual Conference (The Hague)

The ongoing economic and political crises place two related questions on history’s agenda. In the face of the dismal failure of the continuing, mostly overt neoliberal policies to resolve the deep problems, what alternative economic strategies should be pursued? And a more radical form of that same question, are alternative economic structures and an entirely different system of economic structures and practices necessary? The second question is concerns the sorts of actions that must be engaged to move the political process on to a path of alternative outcomes, from mild reforms to major transformation (and the connection between the two). The 2013 Annual Conference of IIPPE will focus on these questions.

2012 Annual Conference (Paris)

The collapse of Lehman Brothers on 16 September 2008 has opened a new stage of economic history, ushering in the world’s worst recession since WWII. The trajectory of global capitalism has been diverse but, after three years of deep crisis, protracted economic problems persist and are even intensifying, notwithstanding accelerated growth in a number of large developing countries. Taking pluralism as the means for bringing together the community of critical economists, this joint conference, called by two major international and one of the largest national networks of political economy and social scientists, will breathe fresh air into an otherwise moribund intellectual atmosphere. It is a major event that will bring together scholars from all strands of political economy and heterodox economics in order to discuss their future and the recent developments in the global economy and in economic science following the global economic crisis. Submissions of individual abstract or panel proposals along the following non-exclusive themes are welcomed.

2011 Annual Conference (Istanbul)

The global crisis of the last years of the “noughties” has cruelly exposed the deficiencies not only of mainstream economics but also of broader strands of political economy from across the social sciences more generally that have promoted neoliberalism. This conference will probe much deeper into the multiple crises of economic science, informed by the perspectives of political economy that have long been ignored and marginalised by the mainstream, whether deriving from critical political economy and heterodox economics or from the treatment of the economy from across the social sciences as a whole. The ultimate aim is to explore new avenues in promoting and developing critical political economy in view of recent developments. As well as engagements with economics and the economic, we are seeking individual contributions and proposals for panels that address Neoliberalism and the Crises of Economic Science.

2010 Annual Conference (Crete)

The First International Conference in Political Economy co-organised by the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) and the Greek Scientific Association of Political Economy was a huge success. It proved to be a very interesting and stimulating experience in all respects and for all involved. The numbers well exceeded our expectations with 140 papers presented. Almost one hundred of these have been uploaded on our website. There were representatives from more than 20 countries, mostly from Europe but also from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Japan, South Korea, India, Turkey, Kenya and South Africa. About 40 papers were directly related to the theme of the conference.

Third IIPPE International Research Workshop (Ankara)

Around 60 IIPPE members from more than a dozen countries gathered on September 14-15 at the Middle Eastern Technical University in Ankara (Turkey) for IIPPE’s 3rd. International Research Workshop. In the wake of the success of the previous two editions in Crete and Procida, this event was proof of IIPPE’s continuing growth in terms of both geographic and thematic scope. The Workshop, which was co-organised by the Turkish Social Sciences Association, counted in particular with the participation of a large number of Turkish heterodox and Marxist researchers — a majority of whom research students —, in a remarkable display of the vitality of political economy in this country.

Second IIPPE International Research Workshop (Naples)

The Second International IIPPE research workshop was held in Italy in September 2008. This was organised by L’Orientale University of Naples and brought together more than 70 participants from over 10 countries. Over 40 papers were presented, including 30 by research students and other young colleagues. 12 parallel sessions were held, of which six were closely associated with longer standing IIPPE Working Groups (three for finance, two for neoliberalism, and one for commodity studies) and three were related to newly formed Working Groups (developmental state, heterodoxy, and labour).