Karl Polanyi International Conferences
Theme: The Role of the State in the post-COVID 21st Century
Venue: Concordia University, Montreal
Date: April 22-24, 2021
Organizer: Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
Theme: The Great Transformation & Contemporary Crises
Venue: Karl Polanyi Institute Asia (KPIA), Seoul, South Korea
Date: October 12-14, 2017
Organizers: Karl Polanyi Institute Asia, Seoul, South Korea in collaboration of the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
Theme: The Intellectual Legacy of Karl Polanyi
Venue: Concordia University, Montreal
Date: November 6-8, 2014
Organizer: Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
Issues discussed:
- The “disembedded economy”
- The “double movement” and agency in social transformation
- The “economistic fallacy”
- Freedom in a complex society
Watch video recordings of conference plenary sessions
Theme: Karl Polanyi and Latin America
Venue: Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date: November 8-10, 2012
Organizers: José Luís Coraggio, Conurbano Institute, Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento in collaboration of the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
Issues discussed:
- New theoretical perspectives in the social sciences
- Neoliberalism, globalization and the current crisis
- Public policy and resistance
- Fictitious commodities and the social and solidarity economy in the South and in the North
The conference was also the occasion for the launching of the volume Textos escogidos. Karl Polanyi, edited by José Luís Coraggio (Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento / CLACSO, 2012), a collection of published and unpublished works by Karl Polanyi in the Spanish language.
Theme: The Relevance of Karl Polanyi for the 21st Century
Venue: Concordia University, Montreal
Date: December 9-11, 2008
Organizer: Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
Issues discussed:
- The significance of Polanyi to contemporary theoretical debates in the social sciences and the humanities in the search for new paradigms and conceptual frameworks relevant to the realities of the 21st century
- Polanyi’s concepts of reciprocity, fictitious commodities, and double movements to the development of critical approaches in theory, action, and policy at the beginning of the 21st century
- Polanyi’s relevance to national contexts and international cooperation
- Polanyi’s social, economic and political thought compared to important social thinkers such as Marx, Gramsci, Arendt, Hayek, among others
- The social economy as an alternative socio-economic model and a means for social transformation
Theme: Protecting Society and Nature from the Commodity Fiction
Venue: Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
Date: October 13-16, 2005
Organizer: Ayşe Buğra, Social Policy Forum, Kuzey Kampus, Bogazici University
Issues discussed:
- Work, Poverty and Social Exclusion
- Land and Nature as Fictitious Commodities
- Knowledge as a Fictitious Commodity
- Entitlements for Social Participation
- Responsibility, Agency and the Future of Social Policy
- Contributions on the work of Karl Polanyi
Theme: Co-Existence
Venue: Concordia University, Montreal
Date: November 12-16, 2003
Organizer: Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
Issues discussed:
- Security of the West/ Security of the Rest
- Globalizaton / Anti-Globalizaton
- Universal Human Rights / Self Determination of Nations and Peoples
- Multilateralism/ Regionalism
- Public Interest and Public Goods / Private Accumulation
- Issues of Secular and Religious Authority
- Cultural Pluralism
- Issues of Population, Health, and Environment
Theme: Economy and Democracy
Venue: Univesidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico
Date: November 14-16, 2001
Organizer: Larissa Lomnitz, IIMAS, UNAM in collaboration with the Polanyi Institute in collaboration of the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
Issues discussed:
- Globalization and counter-movements
- The role of social movements and civil society in building a new international order
- Women and economic democracy
- The environment and distributive justice on a global scale
- The rights of the South to development
- Free Trade Area in the Americas - an extension of the American empire, or an American Union like the European?
- The rise of populism and right-wing religious fundamentalism
- Community-based economic development
- The role of civil disobedience
- The social economy as an alternative paradigm
Theme: Re-Thinking Human Needs
Venue: Centre Auguste et Léon Walras, Université Lyon, France
Date: May 26-28, 1999
Organizer: Jean-Louis Laville, Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, France in collaboration with the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
Issues discussed:
- Social/solidarity economy and alternative economic strategies in light of the decline of the welfare state
- The social dimension of globalization
- Evolutionary economics and economic sociology
- Fictitious commodities
- Politics of recognition
- The global financial crisis
Theme: Reciprocity, Redistribution and Exchange: Re-Embedding the Economy in Culture and in Nature
Venue: Concordia University, Montreal
Date: November 7-10, 1996
Organizer: Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
Issues discussed
- Ecology, economy and society
- Urban social movements, the social economy and local development within the context of globalization
- The commodification of labour and culture
- Social and cultural dislocation in economies in transition
The Institute published three volumes, selected papers from this conference:
- Economy and Society. Money, Capitalism and Transition, P. Devine and F. Adaman, editors, 2001
- Prehistory and History. Ethnicity, Class and Political Economy, D. Tandy, editor, 2001
- Social Economy. International Debates and Perspectives, E. Shragge and J.-M. Fontan, editors, 2000
Theme: Re-Reading The Great Transformation: Freedom in a Complex Society
Venue: Dr. Karl Renner Institute, Vienna, Austria
Date: November 10-13, 1994
Organizer: Egon Matzner, Austrian Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy
Issues discussed:
- International political economy, with emphasis on the implications of the globalization of finance
- The micro-economic issues and macro-economic problems of countries in transition and their integration into the European system
- The role of social movements and informal economic initiatives
- The future of socialism
- Identity, ethnicity and nationalism
- The relevance of Polanyi’s work to the sustainability debate
The Institute published a volume of selected papers from this conference:
- Karl Polanyi in Vienna. The Contemporary Significance of “The Great Transformation," K. McRobbie and K. Polanyi Levitt, editors, 2000
Theme: Beyond Market and State: Survival Strategy or Autonomous Development?
Venue: Concordia University, Montreal
Date: November 11-14, 1992
Issues discussed
- Globalization
- Socio-economic restructuring and emergent responses to the economic and social crisis at national, regional and local levels, and their capacities to transform the communities they addressed
- The informal sector in developing economies
The Institute published four volumes of selected papers from this conference:
- Europe. Central and East, M. Mendell and K. Nielsen, editors, 1995
- Artful Practices. The Political Economy of Everyday Life, H. Lustiger-Thaler and D. Salée, editors, 1994
- From Political Economy to Anthropology. Situating Economic Life in Past Societies, C. Duncan and D. Tandy, editors, 1994
- Humanity, Society, and Commitment. On Karl Polanyi, K. McRobbie,editor, 1994
Theme: The Seductive Market and the Future of Socialism
Venue: Facoltá di Scienze Politiche, Universitá degli Studi, Milan, Italy,
Date: November 1990
Organizer: Alfredo Salsano, Editoriale Bollati Boringhieri, Italy in collaboration with the Karl Polanyi Institute
Issues discussed
- Socialism as social transformation
- Ideological and Political Contradictions of Capitalism
- Constructing a new economic paradigm
- Ecological Economics
The Institute published a volume of selected papers from this conference:
- Milano Papers. Essays in Societal Alternatives, M. Cangiani, editor, 1996
Theme: Market, State and Society at the End of the 20th Century
Venue: Concordia University, Montreal
Date: November 10-13, 1988
Participats at this conference explored the interplay between market, state and society in broad terms, theoretically and from comparative perspectives, and discussed Polanyi-inspired alternatives for social reconstruction.
The Institute published a volume of selected papers from this conference:
- The Legacy of Karl Polanyi. Market, State and Society at the End of the Twentieth Century, M. Mendell and D. Salée, editors, St-Martin’s Press, 1991
Theme: Karl Polanyi Centenary
Venue: Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
Date: November 1988
Organizer: The Hungarian Academy of Sciences in collaboration with professors Kari Polanyi Levitt and Marguerite Mendell
Issues discussed
- Polanyi and Hungarian intellectual life
- Polanyi’s model of functional socialism
- Issues relating to The Great Transformation
- Comparative economic anthropology
- Comparative political and economic thought
- The reception of Polanyi’s work within a comparative perspective
The Institute published a volume of selected papers from this conference:
- The Life and Work of Karl Polanyi, K. Polanyi-Levitt, editor, 1990
Our international meetings
The Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy hosts international conferences alternating between host countries and Montreal. Previous host countries include Hungary, Italy, Austria, France, Mexico, Turkey, Argentina, and Korea. The objectives of these international meetings are to provide a dynamic and inter-disciplinary forum for debate, dialogue and scholarly exchange among scholars, researchers, and students on contemporary social, political and economic issues from theoretical and empirical perspectives; to deepen the understanding and importance of Karl Polanyi's world of thought; to contribute to Polanyi scholarship by encouraging new research and new research collaborations inspired by his intellectual legacy; and to expand the already existing international Polanyi network.
Poster of the Eleventh International Karl Polanyi conference "The Relevance of Karl Polanyi for the 21st Century"