Rodrigo Acuña (Macquarie University), 'Venezuelan Foreign Policy and Latin American Unification'

This is the third seminar in the Semester 1 series of 2016 organised by the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney.

Date and Location:

7 April 2016, Darlington Centre Boardroom, 4:00pm – 5.30pm

All welcome!

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

Call for Papers

‘The Political Economy of EU: the common home of European people or an imperialist integration?’

The European integration has been a long-standing and very ambitious project. It began in the post-WW II era in very different from today economic, social and geopolitical circumstances and has evolved till today. During its course it passed through several internal crises as well as major global crises (the 1974 and the 2007-8 ones being the more significant). From its very beginning was a matter of controversy both in general and within Political Economy and the Left. Two major camps emerged (and several sub-divisions). The first camp argues that the European integration project is an imperialist one, pushed forward by the dominant capitals of the Western European countries and aiming to exploit weaker economies and, in its course, to challenge US global supremacy. Thus, it is argued that the European integration is internally divided in at least two groups of countries: a dominant euro-centre and a dominated euro-periphery. Consequently, the task of the Left is to dismantle this reactionary project. The second camp argues that, despite any conservative hegemonies and later neoliberal foundations, the European integration is an inherently progressive process as it sets aside national conflicts and leads to a unified social and economic space in which the European working class has to struggle with the European capital for hegemony. Therefore, this camp supports pan-European initiatives for democratising and/or socialising the European integration.

The 2007-8 global capitalist crisis brought to the fore with invigorated force this controversy. After some initial mainstream musing about decoupling between the US and the European Union (EU) economies, the latter were engulfed in an ongoing crisis centred on the European Monetary Union (EMU) but also spread to the whole of the European integration. The division between euro-core and euro-periphery became more pronounced, brutal austerity programmes were imposed on many euro-periphery countries under the auspices of troikas (EU-IMF-ECB) and social and national tensions erupted. Questions like leaving the EMU (like Grexit) or leaving the EU (like the Brexit) came to the fore and are hotly debated both generally and within Political Economy and the Left.

This panel aims to study this issue. It aspires to gather contributions analyzing subjects like:

• The economic, social and political nature of the European integration
• Theories and approaches studying it (e.g. uneven and combined development, convergence)
• Specific economic mechanisms (e.g. EMU, current account and trade imbalances)
• Comparisons between EU economies
• Geopolitical issues

Abstracts should be submitted by April 1, 2016. To submit your abstract, please go to the Electronic Proposal Form and carefully follow the instructions there. (All deadlines are listed at the link.)

For more general information about IIPPE, the working groups and the conference, please visit our website. For details on the panel, you can contact Stavros Mavroudeas (smavro@uom.gr).

Call for Papers: Neoliberalism Working Group

Since 2008 neoliberalism has been in crisis across the globe. Signs of this ongoing crisis are evident in the recurrent volatility of global markets, stagnant economic growth and the growing popularity of explicitly anti-neoliberal politicians, parties and movements, all while governments continue to fall back upon traditional staples of neoliberal policies even as they turn to increasingly elaborate measures to reflate the economy. It is in this context that we welcome papers that reflect upon:

• Neoliberalism and crisis

• Alternatives to neoliberalism

• Strategies for resisting neoliberalism

• Neoliberalism and austerity

• Neoliberalism and market volatility

• The uneven development of neoliberalism and crisis

• The role of neoliberal ideology.

Papers and proposals can be submitted on iippe.org by 1 April 2016. Alternatively, please contact the Neoliberalism Working Group convenors:

Kean Birch (kean@yorku.ca)

Damien Cahill (damien.cahill@sydney.edu.au)

Alfredo Saad-Filho (as59@soas.ac.uk)

Basic Income (BI) has been in the news lately. The Swiss are set to vote on a proposal that would pay all citizens US$2,800 a month, trials of the policy in several Dutch cities have commenced, and a major nationwide study has been announced in Finland. We’ve also seen the launch of a new group – Basic Income Australia – pushing for BI Down Under by 2025.

From July 7-9 the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) will hold its 16th biennial Congress in Seoul, South Korea, under the banner of “Social and Ecological Transformation and Basic Income.”

BIEN defines Basic Income as:

A Basic Income is an income unconditionally granted to all on an individual basis, without means test of work requirement.

This is the first time the Congress will be held in Asia, providing a great opportunity for Australia-based scholars to participate.

BIEN invites scholars and activists to submit abstracts for papers on the following themes:

♦ Economic models of post neoliberalism and the position and role of basic income in them

♦ The role of basic income in pursuit of expanding democracy in the political arena and in society as a whole

♦ The role of basic income in the transition to an ecological society and the accompanying cultural society

♦ The role of basic income in the transformation from the work-based society, presuming it as an element of the de-commodification of labor force

♦ The era of the precariat and basic income

♦ The role of basic income in enhancing gender equality

♦ Basic income as a tool for the resolution of the youth unemployment problem

♦ Evaluation and prospect of various pilot projects

♦ Post-human prospects and basic income

Keynote speakers include: Louise Haagh (York University, England), Yamamori Toru (Doshisha University, Japan), Jan Otto Andersson (ÅboAkademi University, Finland), SarathDavala (India), Minister and Bishop ZephaniaKameeta (Namibia), Zhiyuan Cui (Tsinghua University, China), Gonzalo Hernandez Licona (Mexico), Evelyn L. Forget (Canada), Philippe Van Parijs (Belgium), Nam Hoon Kang (South Korea) and Katja Kipping (Germany).

The deadline for submissions is February 29 2016 and abstracts should be sent to bien2016.callforpapers@gmail.com

For more information see HERE