Political Economy Research Centre (PERC)

Pushing boundaries

PERC was established over a decade ago to serve as a focal point for the study of political economy in the UK. It was inspired by the view that this classical field of analysis spanning politics and economics, as well as other social sciences, was unduly neglected. The Centre drew initially upon political economists based in the Department working both on different areas and countries, including Britain itself, and in different sub-fields, such as development, gender and international political economy generally.

Currently directed by Hay and Hobson, PERC has contributed substantially to the revival and expansion of research in political economy worldwide and continues its mission to bring together the disparate academic locations where comparative, development, environmental and international political economy are studied and to forge a new unity in the field in the spirit of classical political economy. The journal founded by PERC, New Political Economy, was set up to give voice to this vision and is now accredited with ISI as one of the leading journals of its type in the world. PERC has organised major conferences in the period on: `Multi-level Governance´; `Labour, the State and Social Movements´; `Globalisation and Development´; `Resources and Security´; `Rethinking Social Democracy´; and `Reconstructing IPE´. All have led, or are leading, to books or journal special issues.

Aims

• To promote and develop interdisciplinary research into the interactions between political and economic power.
• To contribute to innovative conceptualisations of political economy which embrace discursive and non-Western approaches.
• To provide a hub for research networks in specific research areas and to encourage interactions between researchers, NGOs, and the public sector.

Achievements

• Research projects in corporate governance, gender and political transitions, the World Bank and governance, and QUANGOs.
• An annual keynote lecture which has been given by prominent researchers and public intellectuals such as JK Galbraith, Stuart Hall, Jonathon Porritt, Ralf Dahrendorf, Neil Kinnock, and Robert Cox.
• An annual seminar series.
• The ISI-rated journal New Political Economy, produced by the centre since 1996.
• Visiting fellows from around the world.
• A series of major international conferences on themes such as: international development, multi-level governance, social democracy, labour politics, and security.

Current projects include:

• A major international conference on Oriental Globalisations
• A special workshop on the prospects for an `everyday´ IPE

'On 27th November 2009 PERC held a workshop exploring tourism as a development strategy. This workshop brought together a broad range of people for a
critical discussion of some of the key issues and debates around this topic,including trade, inequality and progressive alternatives. Participants included respected critics of tourism as a development strategy such as Professor Rosaleen Duffy, along with Virginia Fernandez from the UN World Tourism Organisation and Tricia Barnett, the Director of the campaigning NGO Tourism Concern.

The in-depth discussions started on the day inspired a network and a continued conversation between the participants and beyond.

Tourism and development network

Honorary Fellowships

Henry Kippin