Event Date: December 3, 2024 - 11:30am to 1:00pm
Location: FSS 5028, 120 University Private, University of Ottawa

Presented by CIPS and the International Political Economy Network (IPEN)

The work of Karl Polanyi has figured prominently over the past two decades in critical IPE scholarship that attempts to understand the changing foundations of the world economy. Especially important have been the concepts of ‘embedded’ versus ‘disembedded’ economies and the double movement, which were embraced by John Ruggie in his pathbreaking effort to harness Polanyi to better understand changes in the Bretton Woods era during the 1980s. Most IPE scholarship follows Ruggie’s use of Polanyi, which we argue does not fully exploit the depth and scale of his usefulness. We extend the applicability of Polanyi’s ideas for IPE by considering two under-appreciated facets of his thought: his focus on the state as the most critical site of contestation through which world market is established and organized, and his concern for controlling the speed by which change unfolds in society. Both facets are underpinned in turn by Polanyi’s deeply historical account of global change and transformation. By shifting the parameters of IPE’s principal engagement with Polanyi’s core ideas, we can extend the utility of his ideas to understand contemporary developments such as technological change and the resurgence of nationalism and populism, which are the well-springs of the next great transformation.

Speakers:

Randall Germain is Professor of Political Science at Carleton University, Canada. He is the author of The International Organization of Credit (CUP, 1997) and Global Politics and Financial Governance (Palgrave, 2010), and most recently he edited Susan Strange and the Future of Global Political Economy (Routledge 2016). His current research explores how the idea of history has informed disciplinary debates in IPE.

Ilirjan Shehu is a PhD Student and Contract Instructor at Carleton University. His teaching and research interests include issues of international organization, the role of technology and questions of power and distribution in political economy. His thesis is titled “Restructuring Society Through Technological Automation: A Philosophical and Empirical Study of Technological Automation as a Power Process.”

Moderator:

Jacqueline Best is a Full Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her research is at the intersection of international relations, political economy and social theory. Her current research examines the role of exceptionalism, failure, and ignorance in economic policy, tracing their evolution from the early days of neoliberalism to today.