Introduction

On behalf of Magdolna Sass and Miklós Szanyi from the Institute of World Economics (Centre for Economic and Regional Studies), you are kindly invited to submit your papers to the 6^th ‘The Role of State in Varieties of Capitalism’ conference.

The topic this year is ‘Emerging Market Economies – Alternative Development Paths’.

This year, the SVOC conference will be held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a live event remains a risky endeavor, particularly with the prospect of a potential second wave of infections this Fall, the organizers believe that the online version allows for the same kind of meaningful and substantive discussions, without it being exposed to travel and other restrictions that may be reinstated in the coming months. The exact technical details of the conference’s execution will be communicated in due time. 

Topic Rationale and Suggestions

Today, many countries around the globe are embarking on development paths that are fundamentally different from the well-known classic models and are shaped by historical and sociopolitical conditions unique to them. The ways these statist economic systems are organized and coordinated have recently drawn much academic interest. However, the emergence and operational logic of contemporary state capitalism still lacks a systematic exploration and explanation.

The scope of comparative capitalism research has also been altered accordingly to include the analysis of emerging economies outside the core of the world economy, and to make intertemporal comparisons possible (such as to define and characterise historical waves of state capitalism). Still, we are convinced that to better understand the current wave of state capitalism and to explore its national varieties there is a need to critically reconsider existing approaches and methodologies, and to search for new ones, if necessary.

Though the People’s Republic of China is often framed as the vanguard of this statist wave, the Chinese example constitutes only one of many exciting cases in which emerging market economies search their own respective paths to steady growth and sustainable development. In Central and Eastern Europe, for example, recent changes call attention to the relationship between democratisation/re-democratisation and the role of the developmental state. From the role played by national champions in emerging markets, the heightened pressure towards active industrial and social policies, the thorny questions of economic populism and democratisation/re-democratisation to the myriad changes taking place in multilateral institutions, the conference aims to bring together scholars eager to showcase high quality research that explores emerging market economy practices and policies in empirically diverse and analytically exciting ways. While we encourage prospective participants to submit their papers in one of the following categories, other topics that pertain to emerging market economies are also welcome:

• Same goal different paths? Varieties of developmentalist experiments in emerging market economies;
• Democratisation/re-democratisation and the developmental state;
• Developmental states and social policies: historical experiences and current tendencies;
• Emerging market multinational enterprises in East Central Europe;
• Economic populism in emerging market economies;
• Global value chains and changing labor division in the triad;
• The role of national champions in the development of emerging market economies;
• A changing global context? The effects of emerging market economies on multilateral institutions;
• Quo vadis, Central and Eastern Europe? Modification or end of the Dependent Market Economy model?
• Cutting edge debates in comparative capitalism research. Is the VoC framework still valid?

Important Dates and Deadlines

Participation Fee

This year participants are invited to purchase a digital pass that guarantees access to all events of the conference, including keynote lectures and panel discussions.

• Early bird fee (discount available until 15 October 2020)
  • 40 euros
  • 20 euros (for PhD students)
• Regular fee (payment deadline 31 October 2020)
  • 50 euros
  • 30 euros (for PhD students)

SVOC Scientific Board Members

• Dr Lucio BACCARO (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies)
• Dr István BENCZES (Corvinus University)
• Dr Anil Duman (Central European University)
• Dr Beáta FARKAS (University of Szeged)
• Dr Bogdan GÓRALCZYK (University of Warsaw)
• Dr Miklós SZANYI (Institute of World Economics)
• Dr Christopher WYLDE (St Mary’s University)

Keynote Speakers

• Prof. Béla GRESKOVITS (Central European University)
• Prof. Tomasz MICKIEWICZ (Aston University)

Official Communication Interface

The Easychair website is the primary communication channel for SVOC 2020. Participants are kindly asked to use it for submitting abstracts and papers. All information issued by the organizers will also be sent from Easychair. Participants are invited to register with a valid email account and to log in to the website regularly to see all updates about the conference. If you encounter any difficulty registering on or using the website, please get in touch with us. The website and the link to the conference is available at:

https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=svoc2020#

This call is available at: https://easychair.org/cfp/SVOC2020

The program of the conference will be shared and made available in due time through the Easychair website. Please bear in mind that the organizers reserve the right to make changes to the conference program.

Contact

The two primary organizers of the conference are Gyula GAAL and Tamas PERAGOVICS. Their contact details are as follows:

While communication through Easychair is to be prioritized, participants are welcome to contact Gyula and Tamás if they need:

• an invoice for the conference fee or help with wiring the conference fee;
• questions about the details of the digital conference;
• etc.