World Association for Political Economy

World Association for Political Economy
Name	World Association for Political Economy
Formation	1990s
Type	International association
Headquarters	Beijing
Region served	Global
Membership	Academics, researchers, activists
Leader title	President
Leader name	Various

World Association for Political Economy is an international scholarly association that convenes scholars, policymakers, and activists concerned with Marxist and heterodox analyses of wealth, production, and class relations. The association links participants across universities, think tanks, trade unions, and political parties and maintains ties with research institutes and publishing houses in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Its network intersects with major intellectuals, political leaders, and institutions associated with socialist, communist, and leftist traditions.

History

The association traces roots to networks emerging after the collapse of the Soviet Union, linking scholars from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Renmin University of China, Harvard University, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, London School of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, University of Toronto, University of Buenos Aires, National University of Singapore, University of Cape Town, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Saint Petersburg State University, Humboldt University of Berlin, Free University of Berlin, Sorbonne University, University of Bologna, University of Barcelona, Complutense University of Madrid, University of São Paulo, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and University of Melbourne. Early convenings involved participants linked to Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Marxism–Leninism, Institute of Political Economy (Beijing), Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Institute for Advanced Study, Brookings Institution, and United Nations University. The association developed partnerships with Communist Party of China study circles and with leftist journals such as Monthly Review, New Left Review, Historical Materialism, Science & Society, Dissent (magazine), and Jacobin (magazine). Key formative meetings referenced figures associated with Deng Xiaoping, Mao Zedong Thought, Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Rosa Luxemburg, Antonio Gramsci, Rudolf Hilferding, Nikolai Bukharin, Immanuel Wallerstein, Samir Amin, David Harvey, and Erik Olin Wright.

Objectives and Activities

The association articulates objectives in coordination with universities and policy bodies including World Bank, International Labour Organization, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and European Commission. Its activities include organizing seminars on themes linked to Marxism, Leninism, Marxist economics, Dependency theory, World-systems theory, Imperialism (Lenin), Labor theory of value, Capital (Marx), Das Kapital, The Communist Manifesto, and History of the Russian Revolution. The association sponsors joint research with International Monetary Fund-affiliated scholars, collaborates with Trade unions and Labour Party-linked centers, and hosts workshops involving delegations from African National Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Socialist International, Left Bloc (Portugal), and Syriza. It also facilitates archival projects with Ho Chi Minh Museum, Lenin Archive, Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe, and university special collections.

Organization and Membership

The association's governance model mirrors structures found at International Sociological Association, International Political Science Association, Academy of Social Sciences (UK), and Royal Society. Leadership has included conveners from Peking University, Renmin University of China, University of Cape Town, Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Havana, Central European University, and University of Buenos Aires. Membership categories parallel those of International Economic Association and American Economic Association, encompassing fellows, associate researchers, student affiliates, and institutional partners. Institutional partners include Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Latin American Studies (CAS), St. Petersburg Institute of History, Institute of African Studies, Center for European Studies (Harvard), and independent publishers such as Verso Books, Routledge, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Palgrave Macmillan.

Conferences and Publications

Biennial congresses convene in cities comparable to past venues used by World Congress of Sociology, taking place in locations such as Beijing, Moscow, Havana, Cape Town, Delhi, Istanbul, São Paulo, Paris, London, New York City, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, and Seoul. Proceedings and edited volumes have been published alongside series issued by Routledge, Verso Books, Palgrave Macmillan, Cambridge University Press, and journals including New Left Review, Monthly Review, Historical Materialism, Studies in Political Economy, Review of International Political Economy, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Economic and Political Weekly, Journal of Peasant Studies, Development and Change, Third World Quarterly, International Sociology, and Critical Asian Studies. Conferences have hosted panels referencing works by Karl Polanyi, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, Paul Sweezy, Ernest Mandel, Michel Foucault, and Pierre Bourdieu.

Regional and National Chapters

Regional coordination reflects models used by African Studies Association, European Consortium for Political Research, Latin American Studies Association, Asian Studies Association, and Middle East Studies Association. National chapters operate in China, India, Russia, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco. Local chapters collaborate with institutions such as National Autonomous University of Mexico, University of São Paulo, University of Havana, University of the Philippines, Seoul National University, University of Tokyo, University of Delhi, and University of Nairobi.

Criticism and Controversies

Critics draw parallels with debates surrounding Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, Cuban Revolution, Chinese Cultural Revolution, Great Leap Forward, and Cold War-era exchanges between McCarthyism and New Left. Controversies have involved alleged ideological alignment with state institutions in Beijing, disputes over funding linked to state-owned enterprises and accusations comparable to criticisms leveled at Academy of Social Sciences (China) and United Front Work Department activities. Scholarly disputes have mirrored polemics between proponents of World-systems theory and defenders of neoclassical economics, and have invoked critiques similar to those directed at Marxist historiography and debates over academic freedom at Central European University and Hong Kong University.

Category:Political economy organizations