Geped Colleagues: John Mikler of the University of Sydney and I are putting together a panel to explore the limits of capitalism's ability to mitigate to climate change. If you have a paper you are just itching to present or would like to act as chair or discussant on this panel please let me know by Friday May 27. Please feel free to forward this call for papers to people you think might be interested in this panel-be it as a panelist, discussant, or chair:
Varieties of Capitalism and Climate Change Mitigation Panel Proposal for the 53rd ISA Annual Convention: "Power, Principles and Participation in the Global Information Age" San Diego, April 1-4, 2012 Panel organizers: John Mikler (University of Sydney) and Neil Harrison (Sustainable Development Institute) >From the earliest days of international climate change negotiations, there has >been a general acceptance that technological innovation will be crucial to >achieving mitigation of a dangerous accumulation of atmospheric greenhouse gas >(GHG) emissions. After Copenhagen it became clear to all but the most >optimistic that an effective global political agreement to mitigate climate >change is very unlikely, with such hopes largely pinned on what Anthony >Giddens has termed "an illusory world community". It therefore seems >increasingly inevitable that technological innovation to mitigate climate >change will have to emerge in distinct national contexts. Technological >innovation is generally believed to be a primary strength of capitalism, but >capitalism is not monolithic. The formal and informal institutional basis for >capitalist relations of production varies considerably between states. Is >capitalism as it is practiced in the largest GHG emitting countries up to the >challenge of delivering the necessary technological innovations? The contributors to this panel will open up the concept of capitalism to encompass dimensions beyond the economic that are relevant for designing policies that will generate the technological innovations to significantly mitigate climate change and rapidly diffuse them throughout society. They will identify which political, economic, social, and cultural institutions underpinning capitalist relations of production in different states most effectively support technological innovation for climate change mitigation and the broad social acceptance of these technologies. If you are interested in contributing a paper to this panel, please send an abstract of about 250 words to me [email protected] by 26 May 2011. The official submission deadline is 1 June 2011. More information on the ISA 2012 is available at <http://www.isanet.org/annual_convention/>. Cheers, Neil Neil E. Harrison, Ph.D. Executive Director SDI P.O. Box 423 Laramie, WY 82073 Author, Constructing Sustainable Development (Suny Press) Co-editor, Science and Politics in the International Environment (Rowman and Littlefield) Editor, Complexity in World Politics (Suny Press) Editor, Selected Topics in National and Regional Institutions and Infrastructures (UNESCO)
