World Association for Political Economy call for papers

We publish below the Call for Papers for the 18th Annual Forum of the World Association for Political Economy (WAPE), which will be held from August 6-8, 2025, in Istanbul on the theme, ‘Multipolarity in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities in Political Economy’.

WAPE is an important initiative to bring together Marxist and socialist scholars worldwide in which the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences plays an important role. Friends of Socialist China is supporting the Forum and encourages participation.

18th Annual Forum of the World Association for Political Economy (WAPE) TURKIYE

Theme: “Multipolarity in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities in Political Economy”

Dates: August 6-8, 2025 Location: Yeditepe University Kayışdağı Campus, Istanbul, Turkiye

The World Association for Political Economy (WAPE) is pleased to announce its annual meeting, themed “Multipolarity in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities in Political Economy.” We invite scholars, researchers, activists, and practitioners to submit their papers for consideration.

As the global order transitions from a unipolar to a multipolar configuration, new dynamics are emerging that reshape international relations, economic systems, and global governance structures. This year’s theme aims to explore the implications of multipolarity for political economy, focusing on the diverse dimensions of power transitions, regional integration, and the reconfiguration of trade, investment, and development paradigms.

We welcome papers that address theoretical, empirical, or policy-oriented dimensions of multipolarity and its intersections with topics such as:

The law of uneven economic development and the new patterns of international economic development.
The rise of emerging economies and their impact on global power structures, including BRI international cooperation and BRICS development.
The challenge to the dominance of the dollar and the creation of alternative mechanisms for international economic relations such as a new common curreny.
The role of regional blocs and institutions in shaping multipolar governance.
The ecological challenge and resource politics in a multipolar world.
Shifts in labor relations and production systems under multipolarity.
The geopolitical economy of technology and digital governance.
Historical and theoretical insights into past transitions to multipolarity.
New developments in left-wing international political economy theory.
Proposing solutions to the challenges faced by global south countries in democratization, wealth distribution and people’s involvenment in governance.
The political economy of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the prospect for full automation, and the future of surplus value exploitation.
The social classes in world and countries within the context of digitalization and multipolarity.
Explaining the decline of (neo)liberalism and the advent of nationalist and right-wing parties in the West and beyond within the context of multipolar world.

Contributions that critically engage with the concept of multipolarity from a political-economy perspective, including its potential to challenge or reproduce existing inequalities and power asymmetries, are also welcome.

Submission Guidelines:

Abstracts (no more than 300 words) should be submitted to wape2025@wapeweb.org.
Please include a brief biography (up to 150 words), highlighting your academic affiliation and key research interests.
Papers selected for presentation will be eligible for consideration in WAPE-affiliated journals (World Review of Political Economy, International Critical Thought, World Marxist Review, The Belt and Road Initiative Quarterly – BRIQ).

Important Dates:

Abstract submission deadline: April 30, 2025
Notification of acceptance: June 1, 2025
Final paper submission deadline: June 30, 2025

For more information, visit www.wapeweb.org or contact us at adnanakfirat@gmail.com, ndemircan11@hotmail.com, safak.erdem.h@gmx.de.

Registration Fees:

150 euros: for online payment before June 15, 2025
200 euros: for online payment after June 15, 2025 or on-site payment
75 euros: reduced rate for unemployed, retired and students for online or on-site payment.

We look forward to your contributions to what promises to be a vibrant and intellectually stimulating discussion on multipolarity and its implications for political economy.

World Association for Political Economy (WAPE)

Chairman of WAPE 2025 Turkiye:

M. Adnan Akfırat – (WAPE Vice Chairman, Chairman of the Belt and Road Initiative Quarterly-BRIQ Journal) adnanakfirat@gmail.com

Academic Advisor:

Dr. Efe Can Gurcan (London School of Economics)

efe.gurcan@istinye.edu.tr

Academic Coordinator:

Dr. Can Ulusoy (Cappadocia University)
can.ulusoy@kapadokya.edu.tr

Deputy Academic Coordinator:

Dr. Necati Demircan (Shanghai University Global Studies Institute) ndemircan11@hotmail.com

Secretarial Works:

Safak Erdem (Leibniz University Hannover)
safak.erdem.h@gmx.de