The Role of the State in the post-COVID 21st Century

The conference will host keynote addresses by four renowned scholars:

• Robert Kuttner (Brandeis University and Co-Editor, The American Prospect, USA)
• Quinn Slobodian (Wellesley College, USA)
• Ann Pettifor (Prime. Policy Research in Macroeconomics, UK)
• Sheila Foster (Georgetown University Law Center, USA)

They will speak to the role of existing institutions and civil society, and how they may transform in a post-COVID world.

The conference program includes over 70 presentations (in plenaries and panels) by scholars, students and independent researchers from 22 countries. Presenters will reflect on the contemporary significance of Karl Polanyi’s writings by discussing themes including:

• the role of the state as an actor of transformation (socio-economic and social-ecological) in a post-covid world
• the rise of neo-fascism
• the prospects of post-neoliberal democracy
• the decommodification of labour, housing and gentrification
• livelihood and income in a post-covid era
• the challenges of risk governance
• the role of social and solidarity economies
• the fate of care work
• the global climate emergency in a post-pandemic era