[CfP] Conference 2016 – Marxist Political Economy Working Group

International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE)
7th International Conference in Political Economy
‘Political Economy: International Trends and National Differences’

School of Economics & Management, University of Lisbon, Portugal
September 7-9, 2016

From 2007 onwards, the world economy is undergoing the most severe and prolonged period of crises and depression in the post-war era, but mainstream economics only reveals its incapability of analysing what is going on, not to mention proposing effective policy prescriptions and alternatives. While Marxist political economy duly attracts much attention in this situation, recent developments of the world economy require a reconsideration of the conventional ways of conceptualising the economy not just of mainstream economics but of Marxist political economy as well. We need to examine what we already have in our stock, and think about how they are to be developed or renewed in the face of the new phenomena. In this process, it would also be of great importance to gather and share a variety of theoretical and empirical researches based upon nationally differentiated experiences, which would in turn contribute to enriching our knowledge of how the world capitalist economy works in its entirety.

In this sense, the Marxist Political Economy Working Group of IIPPE seeks for contributions which can shed light on the following topics. You can submit individual papers, or suggest panels that would be composed of a few papers.

• Contending explanations of the meanings and the roles of money and finance in the reproduction of contemporary capitalism; how Marxist approaches differ from other heterodox ones.
• Causes and effects of the economic crisis; their application to a historical/empirical analysis.
• Quantitative approaches to the capitalist economy using Marxist categories.
• The relationship between the national and the global in the development of the world capitalist economy.
• The viability of Marxist theories of imperialism; how they can be deployed in the age of G2.
• The place of Karl Marx’s Capital, or his political economy in general, in the history of economic and other social sciences.
• The way Marxist political economy has been introduced and developed in particular nations, and its comparison between different national contexts.
• Historical instances of policymaking based upon Marxist understanding of the economy.
• Labour as the substance of value, and labour process in the age of automation and artificial intelligence (AI).
• Marxist political economy for an alternative society.
• Critical engagement with the recent debate on economic inequality.

These are but a few general topics which are deemed to come under the umbrella of Marxist political economy, and we welcome any papers and panels that can contribute to extending and deepening our understanding of Marxist political economy, or of the real world based upon it.

The deadline for submitting abstracts is 1 April 2016. Submissions must be made online through the Electronic Proposal Form which can be found at http://iippe.org/wp/?page_id=2723.

If you have a problem in accessing the webpage, or have any other questions, please contact Gong Hoe Gimm (ghgimm@gmail.com) who is the coordinator for the Marxist Political Economy Working Group.

For further information about the conference or IIPPE, please visit http://iippe.org.

IIPPE Marxist Political Economy Working Group