[CfP] Conference 2016 – China Working Group

7th Annual IIPPE Conference

Lisbon 7-9 September 2016

The current international crisis of capitalism that began in 2007/2008 has led to a new rise of the left, but also strengthen the far-rightwing movements in Europe, with parallels to the 1930s.

The struggle to maintain/challenge dollar hegemony is a central issue of the conflict between the US and other major world powers, especially China. New economic and military alliances are being formed, and US hegemony is being challenged to an extent that tensions between great powers are developing into armed conflicts in some regions of the world, such as in Ukraine, West Asia, and South Sudan. NATO is expanding towards the borderlands of Russia, and the US Government is building up its military capacities around China and in Africa, in combination with an expansion of soft power strategies in selected countries, by facilitating civil uprising.

The Chinese economy has continued growing during this crisis, albeit at a slower rate. Chinese plans for the new Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, recently manifested by the arrival of trains from China to Madrid and Tehran, is likely to have a significant impact on the future global political economy.

China’s development model is significantly different from the neoliberal free market approach, with long term state planning. The state’s response to the recent stock market tumble, policies on climate change, the 2025 objectives and the 2049 goals, give an insight into what the Chinese planners might mean by the term “market socialism”, “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, and preliminary stages on the long path to socialism. However, many questions remain open, such as:

Is China’s “going out” part and parcel of neoliberalism, or is it rather a countervailing force to global neoliberalisation?

• What has been China’s policy and political-economic response to the Great Recession, and how does the response impact world development?
• How will the new Silk Roads shape the future of the global political economy?
• What are the response of the US Government to the rise of China as a global power?
• How does the Chinese Government respond to US covert and overt operations in and around China?
• Are tensions between China and the US developing into direct armed confrontations or wars by proxies?
• What are the modalities of information warfare – who shapes the mainstream perception of China outside China, and how are civil society movements funded and mobilised inside China?

These are just a few of the big questions that this Working Group are exploring, and we welcome papers that can contribute to the understanding of the historical and contemporary political economy of China.

The submission deadline for abstracts is 1 April 2016. Submissions must be done via this website electronic application forms to IIPPE.

In case you cannot access the submission forms, or have any questions concerning your paper submission, please contact the China Working Group coordinators Sam-Kee Cheng (214533@soas.ac.uk) and Niels Hahn (nsc.hahn@gmail.com).

For further information, please visit IIPPE website http://iippe.org.

IIPPE China Working Group