Invitation – SPERI Annual Conference

Appel à communication sur « the Global contours of Growth and Development beyond the Crisis » July 2014
Halifax Hall, University of Sheffield 30 June – 2 July 2014*

The 2014 SPERI conference seeks to take discussion of the political economy of the crisis beyond its British and European contexts to focus centrally
on the dynamics and patterns of the distribution of growth and development across the entire global political economy.

One view presumes that the contemporary economic and financial crisis is an appropriate lens through which to consider the global political economy and all of its constituent parts, placing emphasis on the integrated nature of global capitalism and the `global imbalances´ that draw all regions and countries into a measure of responsibility for the structural roots of crisis and recession. An alternative view argues that the implications of the crisis have been much more uneven and localised, mediated by differing types of political economy, growth models and development strategies.
Meanwhile, the uncertainty surrounding the changing roles of the `rising powers´ or `BRICS´ economies, the continual flux and increasing ambiguity of categories such as `low-income´ and `middle-income´ countries, and signs of a weakening of the hold of established `orthodox´ ideologies of development all suggest that fresh thinking is needed about the nature of future growth and development in all parts of the global political economy, whether conventionally regarded as `developed´ or `developing´.

The conference will approach these debates by focusing on a range of questions:

·         Is this a `global´ economic crisis, and can we adequately understand the global distribution of growth through this lens?

·         What kinds of patterns and dynamics of growth are in evidence across the global economy?

·         How can we explain and understand the emergence of new patterns of high and low growth in diverse regions and countries?

·         How should we understand the relationship between growth and development across the global political economy?

·         What are the social foundations of growth models and the social and developmental consequences of the dynamics of growth?

·         What are the global political consequences of changing patterns of growth and development?

·         What types of growth and development have alleviated vulnerability or sustained resilience to crisis, and what types of strategies have emerged to deal with the repercussions of crisis?

·         What do current patterns of growth and development tell us about `what works where´ in relation to economic strategy and policy?

·         What specifically can be learnt about all or any of these questions from studies of growth and development within particular countries?

Speakers already committed to address plenary sessions of the conference include: Linda Weiss (University of Sydney), Tony Payne (University of
Sheffield), Greg Chin (York University, Toronto), Wang Dong (Peking University), John Mathews (Macquarie University, Sydney), Craig Murphy
(University of Massachusetts, Boston), Andy Sumner (King´s College, London) and Raphael Kaplinsky (Open University, UK).

We now invite papers and proposals for other panels and round-tables that address the topics identified earlier from a wide range of theoretical
perspectives and approaches.  We wish also to draw on empirical insights from a wide range of regions, countries, localities and societies across
the world.  Papers can thus be broad and sweeping in their remit, addressing issues at a global or macro-regional level, or focused and specific, addressing particular national or local examples of the success or failure of growth and development.

Please send abstracts (of no more than a page in length) of proposed papers/panels to Sarah Boswell by emailing speri@sheffield.ac.uk by no
later than *Friday 31 January 2014*.