What's New

 ・JSPE organizing committee is calling for papers for the 67th annual conference of JSPE. The deadline for submission is 31 May 2019 (extended). You can submit to English session from the format of this site. To submit to Japanese session, please visit Japanese site.

・Deadline for the full-paper: The full paper (A4, 20 pages) and the extended abstract (A4, 1 page) in Word format must be submitted to the arrangements committee by 2 September 2019.

・Participants are highly recommended to make early reservation for accommodation.

 

 

Call For papers for the 67th annual conference of the Japan society of political economy

October 19 (Saturday) and 20 (Sunday) 2019

Komazawa University, 1-23-1 Komazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 154-8525, JAPAN

Access: https://www.komazawa-u.ac.jp/english/access/

The Limit of Capitalism and Alternatives

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.