INVITATION TO 

THE FIFTEENTH FORUM OF THE WORLD ASSOCIATION FOR POLITICAL ECONOMY

RETHINKING ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: 

PERSPECTIVE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

The 15^th WAPE Forum will be held on 18-19 December 2021, at Shanghai International Studies University, China. International participants will attend online due to COVID epidemic. This forum will be co-organized by World Association for Political Economy, Greek Association of Political Economy, and Shanghai International Studies University. To join the forum, please register here at https://www.bagevent.com/event/7913235.

The broad theme of the conference focuses on the controversy between the two main alternative traditions in economic analysis, Political Economy and Economics. Economics (with their myopic understanding of the economy as simply market relations, neglect of social and political factors and class struggle and their almost overt support for capital against labour) has been historically proved incapable of grasping how economies work and forecast and confront competently economic crises. On the other hand, Political Economy (offering a social understanding of the economy, focusing on the sphere of production, linking economic analysis to social and political factors and to class struggle) has been more successful in comprehending the actual workings of the economy and in analyzing economic crises. However, despite their long-standing failures, Economics continue to dominate academia and policy-making centers, especially in the West. Even after the last global economic crisis and its blatant failure to foresee and to resolve it, its dominance remains unwavered as it is supported by strong vested class interests. Nevertheless, there is growing unrest within both the academia and the society with this failed dominance. Political Economy is the main approach towards which all those dissatisfied with Economics turn.

This conference aims to juxtapose Political Economy and Economics and contrast their positions on the various fields and areas of economic analysis. Within its broad theme, WAPE 2021 invites all contributions that enrich the perspective of Political Economy and expand the ground for further discussion. Indicatively but not exclusively, proposed papers can touch upon the following issues:

1. Curriculum reform in Economics: How Political Economy can challenge Economics’ dominance of university curricula

2. Contemporary controversies in Macroeconomics: Neoclassicism, Keynesianism and Marxism

• Neoliberalism and the New Macroeconomic Consensus

• Marxism and Macro-economic modelling

• How to evaluate US mainstream economics with Marxist Political Economy 

3. History of Political Economy

4. New developments of Marxist Political Economy in contemporary China

5. Economic History

6. Theory of stages and periodization of capitalism

7. Theories and analyses of economic crisis

8. Profitability, crises and economic cycles

9. Race, class and gender

10. Methodology of economic analysis

11. Trends and challenges in contemporary economic policy

• Neoconservative economic policies

• Economic planning, fiscal and monetary policies reconsidered

• A return of industrial policy?

12. Marxism and the Political Economy of money and finance

13. Labour process, markets and the Political Economy of Work

• Labour movement and Trade Unions

• Flexible employment and unemployment 

• The current state of Labour Process Theory

14. The Political Economy of poverty and inequality

• Austerity and the welfare system

• The current state of social policy

15. Political Economy of education

16. Political Economy of health and health policies

17. Environmental Political Economy

18. Urban and regional economics

19. Law and Political Economy

20. World economy: globalization or imperialism?

• International conflicts and imperialism

• The retreat of US hegemony and the emergence of a multi-polar world system

• Political Economy of capital flows

• BRICS, the newly emerging economies and the world economy

• Global value chains and transnational corporations

• Political Economy of foreign direct investment (FDI)

• International Political Economy

21. Political Economy of European integration and the Eurozone crisis

22. Development studies at an impasse

• Developmental state after the Post-Washington Consensus

• Role and policies of international organizations (IMF, WB, WHO, UNHCR, UN etc.)

23. Country case studies

Both individual papers and complete panels on the main theme and proposed topics are welcome. Papers on any topic related to political economy are also welcome. There is also the option to apply to attend the forum without a paper. 

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE. The official language of the Forum is Chinese and English with simultaneous translation of English, Russian, German, French, Spanish, and Japanese for plenary meetings and simultaneous translation of English for parallel sessions.

HOW TO REGISTER? Submit your paper abstract (within 500 words) and full curriculum vitae in English at https://www.bagevent.com/event/7913235   by 30 November 2021. Confirmation of acceptance will be sent out by 5 December 2021. Full papers must be submitted by 10 December 2021.

You  can Modify Attendee Informtion and upload your full paper and PowerPoints for presentation after your registration is confirmed. If you have any problem with registration, please contact wapemember@vip.163.com.

PUBLICATION POSSIBILITIES. All accepted full papers will be considered for publication in the World Review of Political Economy  http://www.plutojournals.com/wrpe/ and the International Critical Thought                https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rict20 after passing the peer refereeing process.

WAPE. The World Association for Political Economy, registered in Paris, is an international academic organization founded by Marxist economists and related groups around the world. The mission of WAPE is to utilize modern Marxist economics to analyze and study the world economy, reveal its laws of development, and offer policies to promote economic and social progress on the national and global levels. The last fourteen WAPE forums were successively held in Shanghai (China), Shimane (Japan), Beijing (China), Paris (France), Suzhou (China), Amherst (USA), Mexico City (Mexico), Florianopolis (Brazil) and Hanoi (Vietnam), Johannesburg (South Africa), Patiala (India), Moscow (Russia), Berlin (Germany) and Winnipeg (Canada) annually between 2006 and 2019. Participants in past WAPE forums have come from over 50 countries across Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, and North and South America.  

WAPE AWARDS. The Distinguished Achievement Award of World Political Economy of the 21st Century, established by WAPE, has been granted annually since 2009 to recognize outstanding books and articles in political economy published since the year of 2001. It is intended to promote research of modern political economy around the world by granting this award to those who have made important innovations in the theories or methodology of political economy. The Marxian Economics Award, established by WAPE in 2011, is given to recognize an outstanding lifetime record of achievement in political economy. Its purpose is to promote the development of research of Marxist economics around the world by granting this award to those who have made important innovations in the research of theories, methodology, and application of Marxist economics. The 2020 WAPE Awards will be granted at the opening ceremony of the 15th WAPE Forum. Nominations and applications can be sent to  wapemember@vip.163.com.

WRPE. The World Review of Political Economy is a peer-reviewed quarterly journal of Marxist Political Economy sponsored by WAPE and published by Pluto Journals. For more information including types of submissions that will be considered, please go to  http://www.plutojournals.com/wrpe/  and submit your articles to WRPE via WRPE ScholarOne Manuscripts site  https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/wrpe.

Application: Nomination Form (MEA).doc

Application: Nomination Form (DAA).doc

WAPEWEB.ORG  WAPE Secretariat is working with a team from its long-term partner Pluto Journals, publisher of WRPE, to launch its new version of WAPE website with WAPE Membership system. The team will contact our members for registration or renewal of membership with approval from and on behalf of WAPE Secretariat. 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF JOINING WAPE? WAPE has decided to develop itself as a membership organization in order to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, new thought and research across the divide of languages and geography, and offer its members access to certain benefits. To register for the 15th WAPE Forum, you are recommended to become a WAPE member first. 

Standard Membership. The membership fee for Standard Members is US$30 per year.The benefits to be a Standard Member include:

• Free digital copies of the organization’s peer reviewed academic journal, World Review of Political Economy (WRPE), which is published four times a year.

• Publishing of members’ selected articles on our websites.

• Translating selected books and articles into Chinese and publishing them in China.

• Invitations to attend a variety of conferences in China.

• Scholars who are members may be invited to China on a lecture tour.

• Members will be invited to join panels, which WAPE will organize for various international conferences held in different countries.

Council Membership. The membership fee for Council Members is US$100 per year.Council Members have the priority over all the benefits offered by WAPE for Standard Members. Besides, you will get both free digital copies and hard copies of the World Review of Political Economy(WRPE). Council Members are required to submit one paper to or call for one paper for WRPE, and review one paper for WRPE per year. 

Low-income Membership. Low-income Membership is a discretionary rate of US$10 for students, retired and unemployed people, and part-time workers on reduced income.

Marxist economists from all over the world are welcome to join WAPE and attend WAPE forums. WAPE aims to encourage cooperation among Marxist economists and to enlarge and strengthen the influence of Marxist economics in the world.

The WAPE Secretariat

November 2021