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UPCOMING EVENTS

What is Capitalism? Reading & Discussion Group

Friday Oct. 25, 2024 at 3 pm EDT (UTC-5) / noon Pacific; 1pm US Mountain Time, 8pm/20:00 UK

All are welcome to join us for our informal online discussions!

David Ciepley will present his article Democracy and the Corporation: The Long View, Annual Review of Political Science 26:489–517 (2023). Comments by James J. Varellas, UC Berkeley. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

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.

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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NYC Workshop

Heterodox Economics Meets Law and Political Economy:

Examining Liberal Authoritarianism

Saturday October 26, 2024

9:00am – 5:30 pm ET

John Jay College

524 W 59th St New York, NY 10019 United States

Program below.

*Registered participants: see participatory session materials below to prepare for the workshop.

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 be lecturing on 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

Facilitated by: 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.

Heterodox Economics Meets Law and Political Economy:

Examining Liberal Authoritarianism

Participatory Discussion

Thinking Together: Defining Liberal Authoritarianism

Facilitated by Discussion Leaders: 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

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?

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?

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.