The 67th Annual Conference of the Japan Society of Political Economy (JSPE)
The Limit of Capitalism and Alternatives
October 19 (Saturday) and 20 (Sunday) 2019
Komazawa University, 1-23-1 Komazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 154-0012, JAPAN
The Japan Society of Political Economy will celebrate its 60th anniversary this year. Over the decades of its existence, the JSPE has endeavored to expand the scope of its explorations from study of the basic theory of capitalism to the analysis of contemporary capitalism. Throughout its life, the JSPE has deeply imbibed the spirit of criticism against capitalism and mainstream economic theories and directs its theoretical investigations to elucidating the various problems of capitalism. Today, Marxian economics and other schools of critical political economy are exerting ever more influence in building analytical frameworks to address real-world issues in contemporary capitalism such as “financial crisis,” “globalization,” and class and inequality analysis. The JSPE annual conference this year intends to develop our understanding of various economic problems in recent years which show how economic “deadlocks” signal the limit of capitalism. Therefore, the limit of capitalism and potential alternatives to it constitutes our conference theme. We expect the accumulated achievements of our society over the past 60 years will provide an ample basis for the discussions. Capitalism, historically, has been driven by prospects of economic growth and profit maximization on a global scale. However, under current economic conditions the tortured eking out of profits and economic growth has led to a situation where what economic growth is to be had exacerbates the deterioration of people’s lives and foments obscene inequalities and social conflicts. Looking at US President Trump, Brexit, political conflicts in France, and the US-China trade “war,” it seems that the big turning of the global order is beginning. Capitalism is indeed at a crossroads today. What does the dire state of the world economy mean for critical political economic analyses? How can the ideas and theories of Karl Marx be developed to deal with the malaise and show pathways out of it to a progressive future for humanity? Is there a way for humankind to utilize the productive forces it has developed over the centuries in ecologically sustainable ways? Answering such questions is the responsibility of us who experienced the East Japan Great Earthquake and the disastrous accident of Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in the midst of the serious global financial and economic crisis. We have shared the strenuous efforts by the desperate victims to overcome the “dual disaster”. In other words, there is a need for further discussions about alternatives to capitalism. In this regards, the JSPE is in the very good position to develop our approaches from our perspective of the intrinsic contradiction and future prospect of capitalism.
Invited speaker: Professor Diane Elson (The University of Essex), the 2018 JSPE-Routledge Book Prize winner. The JSPE-Routledge Book Prize honors the work that promotes the study of heterodox economics throughout the world and challenges the dominant position of orthodox neo-liberal economics among economists and policy-makers.
Proposals: JSPE invites proposals for its English sessions — topics relating to the plenary session and reflecting the tradition and analytical perspective of JSPE which includes: (a) Critical accounts of the current situations of “deadlocks” of capitalism: neoliberal globalization, the global financial crisis, economic development, inequality, socialism, gender, environment, and global climate change; (b) The future of the capitalist system and alternatives to the capitalism: major conceptual challenges for critical political economy (c) Critical analysis of current political economic problems and policy challenges, (d) Basic theories of political economy *Proposals of other topics are also welcome
Submission Procedures and the Deadline: Proposals should reach the JSPE International Committee by May 21, 2019 at the latest (extended): (i) by e-mail to: Jspecice2014(at)jspe.gr.jp or (ii) by our Web page: https://jspeenglish2019.jimdofree.com/paper-submission/
When submitting your proposal, please include: (a) The title of the proposed paper; (b) Your name and academic affiliation; (c) Your e-mail and postal address; (d) An abstract (up to 500 words). Notification of acceptance will be sent by 30 June.
Deadline for the full paper: The full paper and the extended abstract (A4, 1 page) in Word format must be submitted by September2, 2019.
