CRISIS OF CAPITAL, CRISIS OF THEORY
York University, Toronto, Canada
October 29-31, 2010
*CONFERENCE SYNOPSIS*
This was the first in a conference series organized by the Forum on Capital as Power and sponsored by Routledge and Springer. The conference had a dual purpose: in the foreground it explored the twin crises of capital and theory. In the background it critically and constructively explored the ‘capital as power’ framework pioneered by Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler.
The conference attracted panellists and participants from across North America as well as the United Kingdom and continental Europe. Over the course of three days eight panels dealt with topics that included: value theory; the financial crisis; the crises in housing, debt, energy and food; global and financial governance; and matters of international relations. General attendance on the first day topped 100 while the weekend panels attracted dozens of audience members. Attendees actively contributed to the discussion—so much so that on the first day the final panel went one hour overtime, spilling over into another two hours at a local restaurant.
The keynote addresses were delivered by Herman Schwartz of the University of Virginia and Randall Germain of Carleton University. They offered insights into the capital as power framework and suggestions for how to remedy identified shortcomings. Four faculty guest speakers from the Department of Political Science at York University—George Comninel, David McNally, Jonathan Nitzan and Leo Panitch—presented their views on many of the debates in radical political economy and offered insights into the current crisis.
We appreciate the time and effort our keynote and faculty guest speakers put into their contributions, making it more successful than we could have imagined. We are also very appreciative of our financial sponsors for their generous support: Alumni Association, Research and Innovation (SS&H), Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, Faculty of Graduate Studies, and the Department of Political Science. And we wish the best of luck to future *Forum on Capital as Power* conference organizers, as we expect that this new conference series will only grow larger.
Jordan Brennan, D. T. Cochrane and Sean Starrs
Conference Organizers, 2010