WINIR Symposium 2019

Call for Papers

After the fall of the Soviet Bloc in 1991 a number of prominent researchers explored the diverse forms of capitalism and their evolution. Much of this literature countered both mainstream and orthodox Marxist views that capitalism would tend to gravitate towards one form, such as the Western liberal-market model. But some arguments in support of the idea of ‘varieties of capitalism’ were strongly criticized. It  was also suggested that the tendency of different capitalisms to converge had been under-estimated. Global policy reactions after the Great Financial Crash of 2008 seemed to reinforce this thesis. Some saw in the widespread imposition of so-called ‘neoliberal’ austerity policies evidence of intended and actual convergence.

But was this too an over-reaction? Do diverse forms of capitalism still persist, aided by historical path-dependence and enduring institutional complementarities? Can capitalisms escape their own cultures and histories? Although welfare states continue to be  attacked, is there evidence that they remain better-developed in some countries? What is the latest evidence of convergence of financial systems or of corporate forms? What enduring divergencies can be found in systems of regulation? Is the extent of     inequality within countries diverging or converging?

The Fourth WINIR Symposium, hosted by the Institute for International Management at Loughborough University London, will explore these and other closely related questions.

Keynotes lectures will be given by:

Ruth Aguilera (Northeastern University)

Kathleen Thelen (MIT)

Gregory Jackson (Free University of Berlin)

Jonas Pontusson (University of Geneva)

The symposium will open on the afternoon of Monday 16 December and end in the afternoon of Wednesday 18 December.

Submissions must be made online and directly address the symposium theme and also be about institutions or institutional thought, in line with WINIR's aims and research priorities. Contributions from any academic discipline, theoretical approach or methodology are welcome.

Submission are evaluated by the WINIR Scientific Quality Committee, comprising: Bas Van Bavel (Utrecht, history), Geoff Hodgson (Loughborough, economics), Uskali Mäki (Helsinki, philosophy), Katharina Pistor (Columbia, law), Sven Steinmo (EUI, Politics), Linda Weiss (Sydney, politics). 

Generous support for the WINIR Symposium on Global Capitalism and its National Varieties in an Era of Crisis is provided by Cambridge University Press.