The seminar will ask whether the period since the world economic crisis of 2008-09 has been marked by an emerging new paradigm in global affairs beyond neoliberal and Atlantic-oriented globalization. Discussions will emphasize especially a conceptual history of the categories used to frame the past and present, and will stress critical inquiry into the concepts of globalization, governance and neoliberalism themselves.
For a summary of findings and further questions, go to globalstudies.dk
China in the World Economy – 17. February, 16:00
The period of spectacular growth in China appears to be ending. What implications, political and economic, will the normalization of Chinese GDP growth have for the PRC, the Pacific region, and the world economy, which has come to rely on China as the workshop of the world? Will a combination of high technology and low wages continue to serve the CCP well, or will popular discontent and economic stagnation destabilize the PRC leadership, and by extension contribute to already high geopolitical tensions with the US and its Western allies? How should the Belt and Road initiative be understood given this conjuncture?
Panelists:
Ho-fung Hung (Johns Hopkins University)
Dominic Sachsenmaier (University of Göttingen)
Victor Shih (University of California, San Diego)
Discussant: Zhu Yi (Heidelberg University)
Strategies of US Foreign Policy – 24. February, 15:00
Since the turn of the century, the US has been at war globally. To what end? Should this period be characterized as more than the result of the short-term priorities of US security and commercial imperatives? That is, is there a more deliberate, long-term strategy informing US foreign policy? What ideology, if any, defines US strategic thinking, and if it is a realism, what interests have been served, and what might the near and medium-term future bring: another extended period of war, or finally peace?
Panelists:
Bastiaan van Apeldoorn (Vrije University, Amsterdam)
Naná de Graaff (Vrije University, Amsterdam)
John J. Mearsheimer (University of Chicago)
Paweł Wargan (Progressive International)
New Media, Big Data, Civil Society – 15. March, 11:00
The historic changes in computing and communication technology of the last quarter century have had profound consequences for social relations, affecting the finance sector, the arts and the fundamental organization of civil society. Some have argued that advances in such technology now undermine the basis of capitalist production, that the global economy is on the cusp of a new regime of low-growth production based in rent-seeking – and dependent on coercion, ubiquitous surveillance, instantaneous communication, all made possible by artificial intelligence. Our panelists will examine some of the recent political-economic debates on so-called technological feudalism. They will also consider the undeniable qualitative changes in the lifeworld now taking place, irrespective of how they are classified.
Panelists:
Ryan Bishop (University of Southhampton)
Gavin Mueller (University of Amsterdam)
Timothy Erik Ström (Arena Online)
Global Economies, Regional Realities – 28. March, 16:00
Much has been written about the dawn of a "new cold war" as the defining fact of geopolitics today. The 2018 US National Defense Strategy, which designated so-called "revisionist powers" of Russia and China as its main geopolitical rivals, is one indication of this development. Yet simultaneously, internal political divisions have grown worldwide. Globally oriented educated populations and the professional politicians representing them face the pauperized working class of the hinterlands across Europe, the US, Latin America and Asia. What is the economic basis of this division, how does it interact with the recent diplomatic and military developments if at all, and what are the prospects for the emergence of a humane, rational politics which commands credibility with the new regional underclasses of the capitalist world?
Panelists:
Vladimir Pacheco Cueva (Aarhus University)
Wolfgang Streeck (Max Planck Institute, Cologne)
Angela Wigger (Radboud University)
Discussant: Christian Joerges (Hertie School)
New Claims on Global Order – 13. April, 16:00
A world after neoliberalism has been anticipated for some time now. What could such an international political economy look like, and what role will international law play in it? Will the US continue to operate as the undisputed world hegemon for the foreseeable future? Will it revert to a strategy based on more direct forms of coercion and domination, or will it cede limited ground to the rising powers it has designated as strategic rivals, to make way for a more or less peaceful transition to an epoch of true multipolarity, mediated by law? Our panelists will consider these questions and more.
Panelists:
Helmut Anheier (Hertie School)
Philip Cunliffe (University College London)
David Singh Grewal (University of California, Berkeley)
J.P. Singh (George Mason University)
International Law? – 20. April, 20:00
The term international law is often invoked as though its meaning is self-evident, yet there is limited agreement regarding its definition. The most powerful states routinely violate the basic principles set forth in the UN Charter and Geneva Conventions without consequence, and often remain steadfastly opposed to accepting the jurisdiction of international institutions such as the International Criminal Court. The concept of international law therefore requires critical examination. What indeed is the current state of international law? How international is it, and does it command the status of law, even partially, with a sovereign power capable of adjudication and enforcement? While responding to these questions, our panelists will present their views on the conceptualization of international law and outline prospects for the legal institutions which aim to operate internationally.
Panelists:
Martti Koskenniemi (University of Helsinki)
Claire Tixeire (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights)
Lars Viellechner (University of Bremen)
Technocracy or Economic Democracy? – 5. May, 16:00
Since 2008, successive economic crises have prompted governments worldwide to undertake emergency measures, allowing for little if any consultation with their respective polities. Yet such responses have failed to resolve the underlying contradictions which continue to plague the world economy. What might a comprehensive answer to mounting economic difficulties look like, and how can popular sovereignty and democratic participation be recovered, or perhaps even expanded? Our panelists will consider possible alternatives now taking shape: a globalized form of economic administration, incorporating a generally depoliticized population reduced to spectatorship, or a revival of popular democratic participation in economic affairs.
Panelists:
Jenny Andersson (Uppsala University)
James Quilligan (Economic Democracy Advocates)
Cornelia Woll (Hertie School)
An Economic-Ecological Regime? – 11. May, 16:00
What are the prospects for the novel – and apparently imminent – forms of economic-ecological regulation now under discussion and proposed to be applied globally? How should the politics of what promises to be a new global economic regime be characterized? Who are the key political actors involved, and who mainly stands to benefit from the new green policies? Our panelists will consider the question of democratic self-determination which accompanies possible technocratic fixes for environmental crises, and the implicit politics of any program which relies mainly on the judgment of experts and scientists.
Panelists:
Alyssa Battistoni (Barnard College)
Douglas Spencer (Iowa State University)
Simone Turchetti (University of Manchester)
Video of Douglas Spencer's presentation
European Neoliberalism – 24. May, 16:00
Public choice, often associated with the Virginia School in the US, has been a powerful branch of neoliberalism since the 1980s. Evidence suggests that within Europe too, the public choice theory of neoliberal management of governments has also proliferated, in many cases through connections built up across the liberal Atlas Network. Our panelists will examine the historical development of this influential school of economics, its political meaning, and evaluate its persistent effects on European Union institutions and policies.
Panelists:
Oddný Helgadóttir (Copenhagen Business School)
Dieter Plehwe (WZB Social Science Center Berlin)
