Some subscribers might be interested in participating in these sessions
being organised for the AAG in Boston April 15-19, 2008
best wishes,
Rob
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BETWEEN BOSTON AND BERLIN: ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN EUROPEAN SOCIAL
WELFARE AND AMERICAN NEOLIBERALISM
The extent to which the term neoliberalism can be said to map onto any
meaningful empirical
referent is now a matter for debate. A palpable mood of hostility against
those who might use and
abuse the notion has grown in recent years. For detractors, the removal of
the term from the
academic vocabulary seems the only way to overcome the seemingly glib and
fruitless
characterisations of contemporary political economy. This session continues
to see value in
persisting with the label neoliberalism but does take seriously the need to
examine the complex
ways in which neoliberal doctrine has taken root in specific locales, has
metamorphosed with
different local path dependencies, and has become entangled with other
ideologies and reform
agendas.
Our focus is upon tracking the genesis and metamorphosis of ‘actually
existing neo-liberal state
programmes’ in Europe in particular. Our concern is with the ways in which
emerging forms of
European neoliberal experimentation are often represented as a hybrid
emergence from
encounters between exported ‘American Neoliberalism’ on the one hand and
the lingering
vestiges of the European Social Welfare model on the other. Against this
backdrop, the Republic
of Ireland is often studied as the paradigmatic example of the fusions
which can result, and
indeed Ireland has been popularly represented as ‘between Boston and
Berlin’ not least by the
Irish government who first coined this term in 2000. More generally
American neo-liberal thinking
has become woven into European localities in different ways as a
consequence of their unique
social, cultural, economic, political, and institutional histories. A
period of creative destruction has
then ensued in which American neo-liberalism has junked, metamorphosed, and
recalibrated
existing European institutions, and erected many new ones.
These sessions will enquire into the value of representing the production
and evolution of
neoliberal experimentation in Europe in these ways. The first session will
be general in nature
focusing on encounters between American Neoliberalism and European Social
Welfare whilst the
second will be dedicated to the Irish experience specifically. Contributors
are invited to reflect
upon neoliberal reforms at a variety of scales (EU, nation, regional,
urban, community, etc) and in
relation to questions such as:
• How useful is it to depict neoliberal reform in Europe as a hybridisation
of American
Neoliberalism and European Social Welfare traditions?
• How have neoliberal doctrines worked there way across the Atlantic both
at the level of
theory and practice ? How have policy transfers been accomplished ?
• Has the flow been one way, from America to Europe, or have neoliberal
ideas and
practices circulated between the continents, and indeed beyond, following more
complex routes ?
• What kinds of neoliberal structures and strategies exist in Europe and in
what ways
might they be said to be distinctive?
• Is there an uneven geography of the neoliberalisation of state
institutions in Europe and
if so how might one explain this geography?
• How useful is it to locate the Irish state and its attendant Celtic Tiger
economy, as
somewhere ‘between Boston and Berlin’.
• How typical is Ireland of the neoliberalisation of state forms in the rest of
Europe?
• What other ‘betweens’ might European and Irish neoliberal reforms best be
captured
through?
Session organisers (please direct queries and suggestions for panel paper
topics to:
Mark Boyle, Geography, NUI Maynooth ([log in to unmask]) or Rob Kitchin,
NIRSA, NUI
Maynooth ([log in to unmask]). Closing date for submissions – September
30th 2007.
Prof. Rob Kitchin
Director, National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA)
and Department of Geography
John Hume Building, National University of Ireland, Maynooth
County Kildare, Ireland http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/
Tel: +353 1 708 3372 E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Fax: +353 1 708 6456 http://www.nuim.ie/staff/rkitchin/
Managing Editor: Social and Cultural Geography
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14649365.asp
Co-Editor in Chief: International Encyclopedia of Human Geography
http://www1.elsevier.com/homepage/about/mrwd/hugy/
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