DIME Workshop, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany, February 18-19, 2011
Development studies have devoted a large amount of research to understand the processes and impacts of institutional and technological change, using different theoretical and methodological approaches. Notable examples are the post WWII contributions of Hirschman, Rosenstein-Rodan and Myrdalamong others, recent economic growth literature, anthropological studies of participatory development, international political economy, economic and cultural geographies of globalization, and the evolutionary and institutional approaches that incorporate insights from various social science sub disciplines, including economic sociology of networks. Despite the richness of contributions, crossbreeding between different research programs and disciplines has been occasional, and cross-disciplinary discussions of research results on focused issues are rare.
A privileged vantage point for conducting such cross-disciplinary discussions is provided by the phenomenon of agrarian change, which has allowed detailed analyses of the relations between institutions (e.g. property rights, socio-cultural power structures, colonial burdens and their post-colonial incarnations), agri-production technologies, exchange practices and wider rural development. The study of agrarian change has also sparked debates on appropriate technology, structural change, poverty alleviation, distribution of resources, and the functioning of markets. Recently, in the wake of the 2007-8 food crisis and massive land-grab investments in Africa for food and fuel, coupled with continuing smallholder distress and indebtedness in fastgrowing countries such as India and China, agrarian change and food security/sovereignty have become crucial points of debate on development processes and policies at the national and global scales.
The organisers aim to bring together contributions – theoretical and empirical, qualitative and quantitative, from any disciplinary background – that focus on the multifaceted interactions between (groups of) individuals, science and technology, institutional structures, and the different social practices associated with them in development processes. We especially encourage contributions that map these interactions in the context of the current agrarian transformation in developing countries through further integration into global and local branded markets, changing patterns of use and distribution of resources (e.g. due to climate change impacts), and the multi-dimensional sustainability of development processes.
The following is an incomplete list of themes and topics that should serve as a guide to submit papers, and for which one or more leading scholars in the field has been invited to contribute
AGRARIAN CHANGE:
Technological change in agriculture (A)
Production and exchange practices (B)
Agricultural markets: local and global (C)
Value chains, contract farming, fair trade, and the multiple forms of
global demand/production relations (D)
The impact of bio-fuels on agrarian change (E)
GMO’s and the market of seeds (F)
Land distribution and land grabbing (G)
Quality standards and certification (H)
TECHNOLOGY, INSTITUTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT:
Power and institutional asymmetries in the process of development (I)
Gender issues in institutional and technological change to development (J)
Science and technology: producers and users (K)
Change in consumption, structural change and agrarian change (L)
Economic development: evolutionary approaches (M)
Development studies: historical views (N)
Structure of the workshop and paper submission
The Workshop will last from Friday morning until Saturday evening and will be hosted at the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena. The workshop is structured in seven plenary sessions on the main themes and related topics. Each session includes 3 presenters and discussants, among which an invited leading scholar in the field. Sessions are organized in order to have scholars from different disciplines/methodology of investigation presenting on the same topic. The final session of the Workshop will be structured as a panel discussion between leading and younger scholars on each specific theme.
PhD students, young researchers and established scholars are encouraged to participate by submitting and presenting contributions.
Extended abstracts of approximately 1,000 words – including keywords referring to one or more of the Workshop Themes – or full papers should be submitted in electronic form to: dimedev@econ.mpg.de
Please write “Development workshop submission” in the subject field
Key deadlines
Deadline for extended abstract submission: 12 December 2010
Notification of acceptance: 20 December 2010
Full paper submission 23 January 2011
Speakers Registration 23 January 2011
Workshop website: http://dimedev.econ.mpg.de/
Travel, Accommodation, and Fees
No fees will be charged. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered for all members of a DIME institution (one author per paper, up to a maximum of250€ for travels). Limited funding for travel expenses and accommodation is available for young researchers (PhD students and post-docs) from non-DIME institutions located in the EU (max. 250 euros) and in developing countries (max. 500 Euros).
Please submit a request for travel expenses reimbursement along with your abstract. There will be a few places available at the Max Planck Guesthouse. Lunch and coffeebreaks will be provided for all participants.
For information on travelling to Jena and accommodation please visit the website http://www.econ.mpg.de/english/institute/#visitors.
Scientific and organizing Committee
Saurabh Arora – Eindhoven Technical University, NL
Tommaso Ciarli – Max Planck Institute of Economics, DE
Lucia Cusmano – Insubria University and KITeS Bocconi University, IT
Andrea Morrison – Utrecht University, NL
Maria Savona – SPRU University of Sussex, UK