[URBANTH-L]two CONFs: Global Political Economy, Athens / Muslims and Globalization, Georgia

[bvergara at sfsu.edu]

Muslims' Experiences of Globalization
Location:	Georgia, United States
Conference Date:	2005-04-04 (in 28 days)

The goal of this conference is to explore, on the one hand, how Muslim majority
societies have been transformed by the processes of globalization, and how, on
the other hand, Muslims have conditioned and informed these processes by their
participation in or contestation of its institutions. The conference is also
informed by a view that conceives globalization as a world historical event
without a unidirectional flow and with paradoxical consequences. The main
premise of this conference is to analyze different dimensions of globalization
in the context of Muslims responses to it. More specifically, the conference
will explore the political economy of globalization, its cultural productions
and their dissemination through new technologies of networking, not as a
unidirectional transformative event from the West towards the Rest, but rather
as reciprocal and paradoxical processes of social change and cultural transitions.

The conference is free to public and there are no registration fees. Please
visit our website for the preliminary program.

	Prof. Behrooz Ghamari
Georgia State University
Department of Sociology

Email: bghamari at gsu.edu
Visit the website at http://www.cas.gsu.edu/units/default.aspx?unit=mec2

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GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE NEW CHALLENGES FOR DEVELOPMENT. SECOND
PAN-HELLENIC CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
Location:	Greece
Call for Papers Deadline:	2005-05-15

GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE NEW CHALLENGES FOR DEVELOPMENT

16-18 SEPTEMBER 2005
(Working Languages: Greek and English)

Venue: Harokopeion University of Athens
CALL FOR PAPERS
A number of studies claim that in an age of globalisation the variables that
determine development outcomes have increasingly shifted to the international
arena. In order to critically assess this claim we want to use the conference to
explore the impact of international factors on development using International
Political Economy perspectives. We welcome paper proposals that seek to
facilitate a dialogue on the following questions:

    * How is economic development defined and measured?
    * Which is the role of political institutions in the process of economic
development?
    * Does democracy lead to higher or lower growth rates of the economy?
    * Does economic development cause transitions to democracy?
    * Are political democracy and political stability related?
    * Do they have any consequence on growth or vice versa?
    * What are their impacts on investment, fiscal stabilisation, corruption,
education, immigration, inflation, economic freedom and income equality?
    * How changes at the international level affect developing countries'
national-level strategies for interaction with and integration into the global
economy through links of trade, investment, transnational production and finance
and how these linkages support or constrain development efforts?
    * Is underdevelopment inevitable for some countries?
    * How, if at all, contemporary changes in the structure of global production
- and globalisation more broadly - have shifted the developmental challenge?
    * How global economic governance is organised through multilateral economic
organisations (MEOs) ranging from the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO and various
regional development agencies and how it affects development?
    * How the interrelationship between (international) civil society and global
governance institutions influence the processes of development?
    * How contemporary debates concerning the relationship between global
inequality and the global financial order including issues such as the politics
of international debt, sovereign bankruptcy, capital flight, international
financial regulation and crises, politics of exchange rate regimes,
dollarisation and regional currency blocs affect development?
    * How foreign policies of key countries in the 'North' and changing
political and economic strategies of important business constituencies in the
developed countries perceive the issues of development?
    * Concerning foreign aid how much the developed countries should give and
how well does the system of international aid does work?
    * What is the relationship of inequalities in knowledge production and
inequalities across regions?
    * Do we have the tools to understand whether these inequalities are
irreversible? 

The Institute of International Economic Relations intends to publish a number of
selected Conference's papers in a special edited volume, while other papers will
be published in the Quarterly scientific journal of the Institute “Agora Without
Frontiers” and the website of the Institute after scholarly peer reviewed.
The Conference will focus on issues of development related to the levels of
analysis of the international political economy, presenting them under the prism
of a global perspective. The general topics of the Conference may include, but
are not limited to, the following:

    * Globalisation and International Political Economy for development
    * Theoretical perspectives on growth and development in the field of
International Political Economy
    * Global governance, global structures of multilateral economic
organisations and development
    * Regionalised and Inter-regionalised development
    * Rich and poor states in the world economy and global inequalities
    * The use and misuse of democratisation and economic liberalisation in the
process of economic development and growth
    * The political economy of North- South conflict and cooperation
    * Markets, international trade and development strategies
    * Multinational Corporations (MNC) policies and Foreign Direct Investment
impact on development
    * Dependent development, post-imperialism and the coalition of MNC
authoritarian state and local capital
    * Development, international debt and North –South relations
    * Developing countries and international financial system
    * The politics and the future of international development assistance
    * The International Political Economy of peace building in developing countries
    * The International Political Economy of food, hunger, sustainable
development, climate change and natural disasters
    * Economic security and the political economy of development
    * Demographic changes and socio-economic pressures on development
    * Global Political Economy, international development and human security
    * International civil society, global solidarity networks and the process of
economic globalisation : impact on the developing world
    * Economic diplomacy of the Great economic powers towards the developing
countries and foreign policy ethics
    * The influence of the EU foreign economic policy and Common Foreign and
Security Policy (CFSP) on the formulation of its development policy towards the
third states 

Interested persons should submit an abstract between 300 and 400 words by 15 May
2005, which should include: the argument of the paper, theoretical background,
conclusion and approaching methods of the topic. It is required from all
participants to attach to the abstract a separate file with their personal data:
Names, title, status, corresponding address, telephone number, fax and email and
the title of the paper. All proposals will be independently reviewed before
acceptance.
Authors will be informed about inclusion of their presentation in the conference
programme by the beginning of June 2005, and the deadline for the submission of
the paper in Greek or in English is 1st of September 2005.
Both abstracts and papers should be submitted to IIER by e-mail. Exceptionally,
abstracts and papers can be faxed or posted. Details also available at the
following web address.

CONFERENCE FEE AND PAYMENT
The conference fee is € 60 (euro). The fee is inclusive of refreshments,
documentation and two lunches.

	Ms Stella Milliotis
Institute of International Economic Relations
16, Panepistimiou Str
Athens
Greece
Phone: (0030) 210-3620274
Fax: (0030) 210- 3626610
Email: sae at hol.gr
Visit the website at http://www.idec.gr/iier