Who We Are

 

Since 2014, APPEAL has organized scholarly activities and educational programs encouraging new (and renewed) approaches to interrelated problems of law, economy, and politics.

Since 2024, APPEAL has been part of the LPE Collective  , a collaboration of membership organizations advancing LPE scholarship and community building.

Events:

 

What is Capitalism? Reading & Discussion Group

Friday November 15 at 3pm EST; noon Pacific; 8pm/20:00 UK Time.  Fernando Loayza Jordán will present his paper, on democracy and taxation, Contesting the Neoliberal Social Contract.  CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Friday December 6 at 3pm EST; noon Pacific, 8pm/20:00 UK Time Diana Reddy will present her forthcoming article, Transaction Benefits at Work: Regulating the Future of Work for the Future of Society, Columbia Law Review (2025).

Friday February 28, 2025 at 3pm EST; noon Pacific, 8pm/20:00 UK Time Kimberly Kracman will present her article (and related research), Code as Constitution: The Negotiation of a Uniform Accounting Code for U.S. Railway Corporations and the Moral Justification of Stakeholder Claims on Wealth, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 89 doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2021.102376 (2022).

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Fall 2024 NYC Workshop
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All are welcome to attend and participate actively in discussions.
Note: all those attending should prepare by reviewing the discussion materials below (at end of program).

For more information, email: appeal@politicaleconomylaw.org

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Heterodox Economics Meets Law and Political Economy: 

Examining Liberal Authoritarianism

 

Saturday October 26, 2024

9:00am-4:45pm ET

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

524 W 59th St, New York, NY 10019

 

Co-organizers and sponsors:

The Association for the Promotion of Political Economy and the Law (APPEAL)

John Jay College Economics Department, John Jay College Law and Political Economy Society, with New School for Social Research students and faculty

 

Program

 

9:00  am         Continental Breakfast, Coffee & Tea 

 

9:30  am         Welcome and Opening Remarks

 

9:35  am         First Keynote Speaker: Jamee Moudud

Professor of Economics at Sarah Lawrence, Professor Moudud will discuss chapters from his new book, Legal and Political Foundations of Capitalism: The End of Laissez Faire?
10:10 am        Second Keynote Speaker: Sanjay Reddy

Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research, Professor Reddy will be responding to Professor Moudud’s work and how heterodox economics should approach the topic of property rights and institutionalism.

 

10:30  am       Final Responses from Professor Moudud and Questions from the Audience

 

10:45  am       Break and Organizing Discussion groups

 

11:00  am       Participatory Discussion - Thinking Together: Defining Liberal Authoritarianism 
*See final section of program below for details on readings and discussion questions

Discussion Leaders: Lauren Johnston, Mohammad Berrada, Reshard Kolabhai, Zac Hale, Tais Penteado, Fernando Loayza Jordán, Harrison Karlewicz, Quinlan Wilson, Andy Carr, and Isaac Tasch

 

12:30 pm        Lunch

 

1:30   pm        Emerging Scholar Presentations Session One

Panel A

International Systems: Room 1.65 NB

Ahmed Hafezi: The Two Axes of US-Led Empire

 

Jacob Sandman: The Collapse of the USSR and the abandonment of Third World Liberation Struggles

 

Kevin Cashman: Undemocratic and Ideological: How Rich Countries Dictate Economic Practices to the Rest of the World

 

 

Panel B

State and Local Government Power and Democracy: Room 1.66NB

 

Emily Pisano: Fiscal Austerity and Municipal Bonds: Rebuilding Budgets for Social Capital

 

Jordan Cozby: Federalism's Exception: How Justice Blackmun Created an Unfettered Labor Law Preemption Doctrine

Andy Carr: 'The Old Order Passeth?' Segregation and Inequality through Municipal Mergers in Midcentury Virginia

 

 

Panel C

Labor: Room L2.85

 

Gabriel Slaughter: H-2A: Control & Subordination of Agricultural Guestworkers in the U.S.

 

Helen Zhao: Home as Employer's Premises

 

Michael Swerdlow: When Monopolist's Union Bust: Antitrust Standards for Predatory Labor Market Conduct

 

 

Panel D

Elite and State Formation: Room 1.67NB

 

Zainab Firdausi: Foundations of the Administrative State: Political Legitimacy and the Labor Movement

 

Hrishika Jain: Reclaiming the Constitution from constitutional law

 

Caleb Gruder: The Cynical Unconscious: the Logic of Capitalist Fantasy in Late Liberalism

 

 

2:45   pm        Break

 

3:00   pm        Emerging Scholar Presentations Session Two

 

 

Panel E

Monetary Issues: Room 1.67NB

 

Lauren Johnson: Case Study on Havana's Private Sector: the high costs of legality

 

Jan Hendricks: Monetary Imperialism and Money Form of Value: The Case of the 2022-2023 Ghanaian Sovereign Debt Crisis

 

Anna Pick: Conceptualizing Monetary Sovereignty: Three Faces

 

 

Panel F

Land, Water and Property: Room 1.65 NB

 

Mohamed Berrada: Historical Origins of Global Inequality: Persistent Wealth Extraction

 

Mehrdad Dariush: Searching for Global Neoliberalism at the Bottom of the Well

 

Gaya Sriskanthan: The role of imperialism and intra-elite struggle in shaping economic development in Venezuela

 

Panel G

Economic Development: Room 1.66NB

 

Kenneth Been: Economic development in Costa Rica and Honduras during the structuralist phase

 

Venkatram Gopal: Does Oil Nationalization Improve Economic Outcomes? A Case Study of Mexico in 1938

 

Gabriel Caldwell: Global Carbon Crystal Management - Diamonds, Cartels, and War Financing

 

 

4:15   pm        Reflections and Future Plans

 

4:45   pm        Off to the Bar!  Informal gathering nearby, details to be announced.

***

See below materials for Participatory Discussion session
To review in advance of workshop

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Heterodox Economics Meets Law and Political Economy:  

Examining Liberal Authoritarianism

Participatory Discussion 

Thinking Together: Defining Liberal Authoritarianism

Facilitated by: Lauren Johnston, Mohammad Berrada, Reshard Kolabhai, Zac Hale, Tais Penteado, Fernando Loayza Jordán, Harrison Karlewicz, Quinlan Wilson, Andy Carr, and Isaac Tasch

Session Description

This year’s workshop features a participatory session that will provide attendees the opportunity to develop a shared understanding of Liberal Authoritarianism through iterative and interactive discussions . Rather than simply listening to a panel of experts, participants will learn from each other as they work through open-ended questions informed by optional readings. Through this exercise we hope to demonstrate the strength of heterodox economics and LPE frameworks for analyzing and acting upon pressing issues of our time.

Session Schedule

11:00-11:15am: Attendees Organized into Groups

Facilitators will randomly assign each participant into one of 8-10 small groups. Each small group will have a designated seating area in the discussion room. Once the small groups are seated, Facilitators will orient participants to the session.

11:15am-12pm: Small Group Discussion

Each small group will be asked to consider Liberal Authoritarianism within the framework of three broad subtopics. For each question, discussion will begin in pairs before being expanded to the small group. Facilitators will take notes and reflect emergent themes back to the group. 

12:00-12:30pm: Large Group Reflection and Synthesis

Facilitators will initiate a discussion with the entire participant group by sharing some key emergent themes from each small group and then opening the floor for broader discussion and reflection.

 

Questions

1. Defining Liberal Authoritarianism

In one of the suggested readings, Hermann Heller suggests that Authoritarian Liberalism can be characterized as a “retreat of the ‘authoritarian’ state from social policy, liberalisation of the economy, and dictatorial control by the state of politico-intellectual functions.”

Jamee Moudud has described Liberal Authoritarianism as the legal construction of capitalism which makes it difficult for the demos to reverse socially regressive policies. 

Thinking about these and other potential definitions, how should we conceptualize Liberal Authoritarianism? What elements of “liberalism” and authoritarianism” are important for our shared definitions? 

1. Putting Heterodox Economics and LPE to Work

What ideas from heterodox economics and the lens of Law and Political Economy help us think through the issue of Liberal Authoritarianism? 

What are some strengths and weaknesses of these approaches?

1. The State of Exception: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives

According to Carl Schmitt, the state of exception is a sovereign's ability to transcend the rule of law in the name of the public good. How has the state of exception been wielded to maintain our current liberal state? Do we see the state of exception being used in new or novel ways?  What is the directional effect of the state of exception on American as well as global politics?

Works To Consider

The following works are suggested readings for those who have time, but discussion will be open to all and not exclusively focused on any particular reading material.

 

Heller, H. (2015). Authoritarian Liberalism? European Law Journal, 21(3), pp.295–301. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12125.

Kiely, R. (2016). From Authoritarian Liberalism to Economic Technocracy: Neoliberalism, Politics and ‘De-democratization’. Critical Sociology, 43(4-5), pp.725–745. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920516668386.

Streeck, W. (2015). Heller, Schmitt and the Euro. European Law Journal, 21(3), pp.361–370. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12134.

Eve Darian-Smith. (2022). Rising Authoritarianism and Worsening Climate Change Share a Fossil-Fueled Secret, The Conversation, April 27, 2022. https://theconversation.com/rising-authoritarianism-and-worsening-climate-change-share-a-fossil-fueled-secret-181012.