WINTER SCHOOL PRE-CONFERENCE @8TH ANNUAL POLITICAL ECONOMY MEETING

POLITICAL ECONOMY OF A WORLD IN CRISIS

In a scenario marked by multiple and interconnected crises, which manifest at different spatial and temporal scales, the Portuguese Association of Political Economy invites and calls upon master’s and PhD students to reflect on the theoretical and practical challenges of building a just life.

After the End of History and the dominance of various forms of neoliberalism, contemporary society has been shaped by a social, political, and economic context that can only be described as one of polycrisis. The new millennium brought the Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 and the subsequent prolonged period of stagnation, fought against yet simultaneously exacerbated by austerity policies. The transition between the second and third decades of the millennium has been marked by a new global pandemic, new armed conflicts were added to others long ignored, political and economic threats to old and young democracies, profound climate changes, and the erosion of welfare regimes. In this scenario, it becomes inevitable that pessimism, grim forecasts, and demagogic political solutions set the tone for public debate and influence various segments of civil society. However, alongside these dynamics, new proposals for social organisation and political arrangements are also emerging, which, in the face of multifaceted challenges, insist on envisioning and reaffirming the possibilities of a dignified and just life. It falls upon all of us to engage in critical reflection on the origins of our discontent and its potential solutions – both in the political sphere and civil society, but also, and most importantly, in academia, which is currently under continuous attack.

Thus, the Winter School invites master’s and PhD students to share their research and contributions, reaffirming the role of academia in identifying and characterising the crises we are living through, but also in building responses and new possibilities for a fairer future. Master’s and PhD projects will be accepted in the broad field of Social Sciences (Anthropology, Political Science, Economics, Political Economy, Geography, Sociology), and related areas. Experts in the key topics will participate in the discussion of these projects.

Winter School Pre-Conference Schedule

For more details about the 8th Annual Meeting of Political Economy schedule, please visit the conference website at https://www.economiapolitica.pt/encontro-2025?lang=en

Submission of Proposals​

We welcome proposals on the following topics, among others:

• Theories of value and social justice
• Welfare state and fundamental systems of provision
• Political economy of care
• Workplace democracy and democratic planning
• Social economy, solidarity economy and other economies
• Political ecology: degrowth, climate justice, more-than-human economy
• Deglobalisation, protectionism and geopolitics
• Industrial policies and structural change
• Financialization and rentism
• Technological change and its normative implications.
• Political economy of the media
• Property regimes, labour relations and distributive justice
• Trade unionism, cooperativism and social movements
• Political economy, peripheries and coloniality
• Political economy, freedom, equality and happiness
• History and theories of political economy
• Methodological pluralism and teaching pedagogy

Proposals must be submitted in the language of the communications, with the option of Portuguese, Spanish or English.

Communications relating to doctoral thesis projects should be presented at the Winter School Pre-Conference.

For more details on submissions for the 8th Annual Political Economy Meeting, please visit the conference website.

Proposals must contain the following information:

1. Title;
2. Name, institutional affiliation and e-mail address of the proposer(s);
3. Abstract (max. 400 words) and 4 keywords.

Important Dates​:

October 31, 2024: Deadline for submitting proposals
November 20, 2024: Notification of acceptance of proposals
December 15, 2024: Registration for the Winter School and the Annual Meeting

Registration Fees:

Students: Until December 15, 2024: 20 euros
For other types of registration fees, please visit the conference website.

This fee includes participation in the entire event, the Winter School pre-conference and the Annual Meeting, and the dinner offered to YSI members on January 30th.
This fee does not include participation in the dinner organised by the 8th Annual Meeting of Political Economy, which will take place on January 31st. Registration for this dinner has an additional cost of 25 euros.