5th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC STUDIES (IESE)
Maputo, 19-21 September 2017

CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CRISIS

On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, IESE is announcing that its 5th international academic conference, on the theme “Challenges of social and economic research in times of crisis” will be held in Maputo, Mozambique, from 19 to 21 September 2017.

The inaugural conference of IESE, held on 19 September 2007, discussed the challenges of social and economic research in Mozambique, from the point of view of the theoretical, paradigmatic and methodological challenges to study, understand and respond to the dynamics and trends of political, economic and social transformation, and of the challenges of the insertion of research and its role in a political context forecast to become increasingly hostile and repressive.

Ten years later, the world is witnessing a multi-dimensional and international crisis. Although the crisis is global, it has regional and national expressions and specificities.

What does our research teach us? Where we are, what questions disturb us, what are we unable to understand and explain, or to change, and what do we not know? What contributions have we made, both to the social sciences and to knowledge, and to political, economic and social debates and to social struggles? What challenges are facing us, with regard both to the development of the social sciences and to their political insertion? Identifying, debating and responding to questions such as these are the objectives of this conference.

In particular, papers will be prioritised which deal with the following themes:

1) Crisis, challenges and advances in research and teaching in social and economic sciences:

a. Paradigms, models and challenges of heterodoxy in teaching and in research

b. Research and teaching networks in Africa and cooperation between African research centres

c. Funding of research

d. Political insertion and the social role of research.

2) Paradoxes and trends of the world/regional/national economy and critique of the modes of accumulation, patterns of growth and directions of economic and social transformation:

a. Modes and systems of accumulation and patterns of growth and transformation – the study and understanding of the socio-economic and political processes of the crisis and restructuring of capitalism and the paths for economic and social transformation

b. Public-private relations, private investment, productive structures;

c. Employment, dynamics of transformation and accumulation, inflation, poverty and social security;

d. Public indebtedness and other forms of “expropriation” of the State and the dynamics of accumulation;

e. Financial systems and their relationship with the productive and accumulation dynamics;

f. The financial framework and that of global; financialisation, African economies and models of accumulation;

g. Regional dynamics and options of industrialisation and challenges in the framework of a differentiated southern Africa undergoing transformation.

3) Dynamics, trends and challenges of the global demographic transition and of the incipient demographic transitions in various countries of sub-Saharan Africa:

a. Phases of the global demographic transition versus phases of great divergence and great convergence;

b. Demographic transition in sub-Saharan Africa: Myth or reality?

c. Nexus of paradoxical myths and alliances about: population growth and economic growth; population increase and population density; population and sustainable and unsustainable development; ageing and gerontogrowth; population and environment;

d. New economic dynamics, migratory movements, and rural-urban relations;

e. Population policy and demographic transition: performance, prospects and options;

f. Viability and sustainability of a universal old age pension in Africa and in the world.

4) Formation/Transformation of the State in sub-Saharan/southern Africa and the development of citizenship:

a. State, public interest, economic and social options, taxation and linkages between the State and citizens;

b. Challenges of southern Africa: liberation movements, “political credit”, political instability and crisis of legitimacy, democracy, decentralisation, political and electoral systems, development, cooperation, integration, and regional development prospects and tensions;

c. New social movements, their origins, trends, experiences and prospects.

5) New forces and old crisis in the international arena, with special stress on their implications for the African Continent, and particularly southern Africa:

a. Economic crisis in China and in Brazil and the repercussions in Africa;

b. BRICS and new paradigms and models of cooperation and development;

c. BRICS in Africa: opportunities, dilemmas and challenges;

d. South-South cooperation versus North-South cooperation.

Researchers interested in presenting papers at the conference are invited to send a summary of their themes (in Portuguese or in English) in no more than 500 words, to the following addresses: iese.conferencia5atiese.ac.mz; iese.conferencia5atgmail.com.

The proposals may be individual or collective (with more than one author). The summary should indicate, apart from the theme and the problematic, the complete name(s) of the candidate(s), their institutional position, and their contacts (email and another contact - telephone, Skype or another – are obligatory). Summaries with incomplete information will be excluded.

The candidates may submit proposals for individual papers or for panels containing several papers on a common theme. In cases where panels are proposed, the identification and contact of the panel coordinator(s), are required, in addition to the information mentioned above on each one of the papers and their authors. It is advisable to send, together with the summary of each paper that forms the panel, a brief summary (in not more than 750 words) of the rationale for the panel, and its insertion in the themes and problematics of the conference.

Although they can have a generic theoretical or methodological focus, or may be based on case studies about other countries or continents, the themes of the papers and panels should be relevant to the debates and challenges faced not only by Mozambique, but also by other African countries.

After the conference, all the papers presented will be published in the collection of “Comunicações de Conferências” (“Conference Papers”) of IESE, on its website (www.iese.ac.mz), as long as the authors have not explicitly requested that they not be published. Some of these papers will later be selected for publication as chapters in books or articles in scientific magazines, after they have been duly revised by their authors.

For any further information, please contact IESE at the electronic addresses mentioned above.

Important deadlines to be considered:

• The summaries of the proposed papers should be submitted to IESE by 15 January 2017;

• IESE shall inform the candidates about the approval of their proposals by 15 March 2017 (and the list will be published on the IESE website);

• The definitive texts of the papers approved for the conference shall be delivered to IESE by 31 August 2017;

• By 15 October 2017, IESE shall inform the authors of the papers selected for publication as book chapters or for submission to scientific magazines, as well as the deadlines for the authors to adjust or develop the papers, in accordance with what they may deem necessary.