Things fall apart? Towards an anticipatory International Political Economy

The International Political Economy Working Group is hosting its annual workshop at the Department of Politics, University of Manchester on 15 and 16 October 2026. The theme of the workshop this year is 'Things Fall Apart? Towards an Anticipatory International Political Economy (IPE) in an Age of Global Disorder'. The workshop will see a host of paper presentations by scholars from universities across both the Global North and South, from different theoretical and methodological streams in International Political Economy, and from different stages of academic careers. As a result, the workshop is expected to have a diverse range of viewpoints and critical discussions on IPE. The topics that will be discussed in the workshop include inequality and the everyday, global trade and production, state and hegemony, polycrisis, environmental governance, theories of IPE, development, global finance, militarism, AI, and new state capitalism. The workshop will also have a publishing roundtable session for early-career researchers and postgraduate researchers with editors from notable IPE journals. Lastly, at the end of the first day of the workshop, there will be a book launch session for the book A Feminist Political Economy of Trade: Beyond Free Trade Feminism hosted by authors Dr Adrienne Roberts and Dr Silke Trommer, followed by a roundtable discussion and Q&A.

Programme

Day 1 - Thursday 15 October

10.30-11.00am Registration + refreshments (AMBS Penthouse)

11.00 - 11.15am Welcome (AMBS Penthouse)

11.30 - 1.00 Panel sessions

Panel 1: Inequality and the everyday in IPE

Panel 2: States, hegemony, and capitalist transformation

Panel 3: Governing risk in/through capitalist crisis

1- 2pm Lunch

2 - 3.30pm Panel sessions

Panel 4: Anticipating AI: social reproduction, resistance, and the political economy of digital disorder

Panel 5: Theoretical approaches to IPE: new directions

Panel 6: Rethinking IPE in an age of polycrisis: temporality, power, and contestation

4 - 6pm Book launch: Adrienne Roberts and Silke Trommer, A Feminist Political Economy of Trade: Beyond Free Trade Feminism, Bristol University Press (AMBS Penthouse). Refreshments provided.

Day 2 – Friday 16 October

9 - 10.30am Panel sessions

Panel 7: The IPE of environmental governance

Panel 8: Global trade and the new geoeconomics: power, discourse, and supply chains I

10.30-11.00am Coffee break (ALB Boardroom). Refreshments provided.

11am-12.30pm Panel session 4

Panel 9: Uneven development and the changing dynamics of global capitalism

Roundtable: Defining the New State Capitalism

12.30-1.45pm Lunch

1.00-1.45 BISA-IPEG AGM (ALB Boardroom) Tea, coffee and cake provided

1.45-3.15pm Panel sessions

Panel 10: Global trade and the new geoeconomics: power, discourse, and supply chains II

Roundtable for PGRs and ECRs: Meet the editors

3.30-5.00pm Panel sessions

Panel 11: The IPE of militarism

Panel 12: Continuity and change in the global financial order

Registration is free for BISA members and £54 for non-members. Become a member to access a free ticket. The workshop is open to both accepted panel participants and observers.