Call for papers

International session(s) of the he 69th Annual Conference of the Japan Society of Political Economy (JSPE) 

General Theme of the Annual Conference: 

Date: October 16-17, 2021
Venue: Hokusei Gakuen University, 2-3-1, Ohyachi-Nishi, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo 004-8631,Japan

  The Japan Society of Political Economy will celebrate its 60th anniversary two years ago. 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 conferences in these years intend 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 has constituted our conference themes. We expect the accumulated achievements of our society over the past 60 years will provide an ample basis for the discussions. 
  This year JSPE Board of Directors decided a general theme “COVID-19 Global Pandemic and The Modern Capitalism” for the 69 th Annual Conference. The ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19 has exerted severe impacts on the global economy, politics, society, and even cultures as well. Although its impacts have not been fully elucidated yet, the pandemic has aggravated in the number of deaths and infections, and science-based social control has come to be required. Lockdown of cities and national border, coupled with strong self-restraint measures, have been taken in all of the affected countries, including avoidance of "Three Cs" and restrictions on movement of people. The ongoing of social transformation on a global scale has had great impacts on the economy, politics, society, and even cultures. The sudden and large-scale impacts would affect even social consciousness, and even if the pandemic ends, the impacts will have to remain. 
  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. The COVID-19 global pandemic is even exacerbating the situation globally. 
  What does the current 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 a decade ago. We have shared the strenuous efforts by the desperate victims to overcome the “dual disaster”. All of these questions need for further discussions about alternatives to capitalism. In this regard, the JSPE is in the very good position to develop our approaches from our perspective of the intrinsic contradiction and future prospect of capitalism. 

Submission Procedures and the Deadline 

 Proposals should reach the JSPE International Committee by May 7, 2021 at the latest :
  (i) by e-mail to: jspeintl(at)googlegroups.com
  or
  (ii) by our Web page: https://jspeenglish2021.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).
  (e) Desired language other than English, if any.

  * 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 September 2, 2021.