Facing North-South reconfigurations: 
capitalisms, economic knowledge and imaginaries

Sciences Po Bordeaux, 17-20 June 2025

The conference will combine plenary sessions with parallel themed workshops. To encourage exchanges with non-French-speaking colleagues, communications in English are welcome.

AFEP is a general scientific association which objective is to promote pluralism in economics. The annual AFEP conference is an important moment for the association and for the community of French economists. It allows the pluralism of theories, methods and objects to come alive. Beyond that, the conference encourages dialogue and interdisciplinarity within the humanities and social sciences. This is why proposals for papers other than economics (sociology, management, anthropology, geography, regional planning, political science, history, philosophy, law, etc.) are welcome and encouraged.

In the spirit of openness that characterizes the pluralist approach promoted by AFEP, the conference remains open to all themes and approaches. Therefore, proposals that do not explicitly address the theme of the conference are welcome and will be considered by the scientific committee. Proposals for thematic workshops (open or closed) will also be highly appreciated.

Economic dependencies, political asymmetries, ecological crises, trade tensions and armed conflicts: at a time when the world is facing global challenges on an unprecedented scale, and humanity is more than ever in need of cooperation, the contradictions of contemporary capitalism are revealed in an exacerbated way. They shape international relations, intensify global inequalities and sharpen environmental concerns. To understand these complex dynamics of dependence and exploitation, but also of resistance and alternatives in international economic relations, we need to strengthen and broaden critical research in political economy, in particular by fully integrating perspectives and knowledge from the global South, and by mobilizing contributions from other disciplines in the human and social sciences.

With this in mind, the 2025 AFEP Conference will examine the tensions and transformations running through global capitalism, in a context marked by interconnected economic, ecological, social and political crises. This event will highlight the divergent trajectories between the North and South, revealing dynamics of dependence and exploitation, but also of resistance and alternatives. At a time when geopolitical, economic and social borders are often violently redefined, the aim is to explore power asymmetries, environmental fractures and heterodox alternatives, particularly from and with the South.

In order to grasps persistent uneven development and capitalism’s polarizing tendencies, adopting a global perspective is essential. Yet research into economic phenomena remains largely dominated by paradigms derived from central capitalisms, marginalizing the knowledge, experiences and imaginaries of the global South. As a result, academic communities are severed from one another. The result is a weakening of our ability to grasp the tensions that unfold from the global to the local, and vice-versa, and to effectively and inclusively address the multiple challenges that arise from them - all the more so at a time of ecological imperative. This situation also deprives us of the possibility of identifying and, where appropriate, seizing on alternative ideas and systems, in a multitude of sectors and at macro, meso and micro levels.

These conclusions call for a more comprehensive perspective. Rarely, particularly in the face of the environmental imperative, has scientific analysis called so strongly for the adoption of global reading grids. This heuristic need is in line with the ambition to promote pluralism in economics, which implies thinking of the economy as a whole, taking into account space, history, institutions, social relations and links with the living. This means broadening the field of knowledge to include perspectives that are often ignored or marginalized. In particular, we need to recognize and promote economic approaches from the global South, which enable us to revitalize our analysis of the mechanisms reproducing inequalities forged during the colonial period. Dependency theory provided an anti-imperialist and anti-colonial perspective on the dynamics of exploitation and structural constraints in “peripheral” countries. More recently, research has been reinvesting this approach, while others are exploring new ways of thinking about the relationship between the economy and the living world, based on ontologies specific to the South: these are inspired, among other things, by reflections on agri-food systems, the commons, post-development, degrowth, decolonial ecology, feminism, the social economy and informalities. These works criticize the dynamics of power and the logics of exclusion that historically structured economics. Decolonizing economics thus becomes not only a moral duty but also an invitation to scientifically rethink our understanding of contemporary economic systems.

Four streams – knowledge, imaginaries, power and method – structure this call for papers:

1.     The decolonization of economic knowledge. This stream invites researchers to study the dynamics of (de)varlorization and (de)centralization of knowledge, with a specific focus on colonization’s lasting impact. The aim is to discuss the dominant paradigms in economics and propose alternatives based on a diversity of experiences, practices, institutions and economic policies, from both the North and the Global South. Placing decolonization at the heart of the debate, this stream intends to explore a series of questions: To what extent do historical power relations continue to influence economic thinking and development policies? Has the colonial legacy left us with blind spots concerning global redistributive trade-offs and the underlying economic mechanisms? This questioning also extends to the teaching of economics, a discipline still largely resistant to the integration of critical perspectives. What hinders the emergence of plural and inclusive approaches? What are the best ways of transforming economics teaching to include a diversity of viewpoints and experiences?

2.     The battle for imaginaries and economic alternatives. This stream intends to study the dominant economic narratives, which are often shaped by a western-centered vision associating modernity, progress and rationality with the development of capitalism. This perspective normalizes the violent, exploitative processes that accompanied the emergence of capitalism. An all-encompassing perspective on the economy then invites us to consider the following questions: What are the counter-narratives emerging from post-colonial countries? Drawing, for example, on degrowth theories or Buen Vivir/Sumak Kawsay programs in Ecuador, what alternative visions emerge from these counter-narratives? To what extent do these approaches, which highlight other forms of socio-economic organization (popular economies, commons, etc.), offer avenues for rethinking the global economic order beyond traditional capitalist institutions? What is the role of economists, statistical institutions, experts, scientists and economic public policy in the construction and dissemination of these dominant narratives on the global economic order?

3.     Power, dependencies and global inequalities. This stream aims to explore how power relations shape global economic structures, and how these dynamics of domination can be contested or transformed. This reflection will draw on interdisciplinary and critical approaches to political economy. Several questions may guide the discussions: What are the interconnections and fractures that influence divergent economic trajectories between countries and regions? How is unequal development perpetuated despite decolonization? What constraints does the global economy impose on contemporary actors in the North and South? How are these agents attempting to overcome these constraints, and what are their proposals for promoting a fairer, more harmonious world order?

4.     Critical methodologies for the study of capitalisms and development. This stream examines and compares methods for analyzing contemporary capitalisms and development dynamics, while taking into account the limits of traditional methodological approaches. With this in mind, the following questions, among others, will be explored: How can mixed, inter-disciplinary, trans-disciplinary and comparative methods offer a better understanding of structural inequalities and hidden dynamics within global capitalism? To what extent do the contributions of political science, sociology, anthropology and other humanities and social sciences enrich the toolbox of political economy? How can interdisciplinary and international collaborations be strengthened?

Each workshop coordinator is asked to pay attention to gender parity and the diversity of the people chosen to participate