ICAPE: alliance of radicals (wide-awake economists?)

Ever heard of ICAPE? I had not until I saw this announcement from post-autistic economics review for a next-year conference in my part of the world:

Announcement
The International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics (ICAPE)
announces its second international conference:
Economic Pluralism for the 21st Century
June 1-3, 2007
University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)

In the second half of the 20th century, neoclassical economics and its derivatives came to dominate economic thinking, teaching and policymaking. Humanity is increasingly feeling the consequences of this blinkered vision: the ever-widening gap between the very rich and all the rest, and between developed and underdeveloped nations; globalization without global coordination for the common good; and economically induced climate change, with the mid-century prospect of an Earth unable to support even current levels of human population. Meta-externalities from economic systems are draining the resources on which they depend, from families and other institutions that educate and socialize human beings, to water, air, soil, and the diversity of species.

In a positive vein, economics in the 21st century has already taken a decidedly pluralist turn, spurred in part by the struggles of economists – mainstream and heterodox – to increase the relevance of economic theory, policy, and education in a changing and challenged world where no single theoretical tradition or institutional structure can reasonably claim to hold “the key” to human betterment.

ICAPE and the organizers of "Economic Pluralism for the 21st Century" invite proposals for papers that discuss or demonstrate the value of economic pluralism in any of its domains: economic theory and philosophy, economic institutions and policies, or economic education.

Panels will be organized around thematic topics, with an eye to encouraging dialogue among authors whose papers address similar issues from different points of view. In this fashion, we hope to promote critical engagement and mutual learning among conference participants.

Details are available here.

Update July 10:

Following a trackback on this post I was reminded that it proves important to note that there are many economists from many different ideologies in economics who are indeed "wide-awake" to the limits of thier ideology/methodology as well as to the complexities and political wickedness embedded in the problems of the world.

But there are also many economists in both mainstream and non-mainstream fields who, like many practitioners from all fields, remain pretty much zombie-like in their too-narrow focus, too-easily-misinterpreted prognostications. We who align ourselves with the more radical (or more rational, depending on one's perspective) fields need to acknowledge contributions from whence they come and not get too wrapped up in of our criticism of other disciplines.For those wanting to know more about the "associate groups" in ICAPE, read on:

ICAPE's Associates:

[Click the name to access more information, including officers, contacts, addresses, and web sites where available]:

Agent-Based Computational Economics (ACE)
Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE)
Association for Heterodox Economics (AHE)
Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT)
Association for Social Economics (ASE)
Association for Social and Political Economy (ASPE)
Belgian-Dutch Association for Institutional and Political Economy (AIPE)
Center for Full Employment and Price Stability (CFEPS)
Conference on Problems of Economic Change (COPEC)
Congress of Political Economists International (COPE)
Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (ECAAR)
European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE)
European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET)
Global Development and Environment Institute (G-DAE)
Home Rule Globally (HRG)
Institute for Institutional and Social Economics (iiso)
International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE)
International Economics and Philosophy Society (IEPS)
International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society (ISS)
International Journal of Development Issues (IJDI)
International Network for Economic Method (INEM)
International Papers in Political Economy (IPPE)
International Review of Applied Economics (IRAE)
International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE)
International Society for the Intercommunication of New Ideas (ISINI)
International Society for New Institutional Economics (ISNIE)
International Thorstein Veblen Association (ITVA)
International Working Group on Value Theory (IWGVT)
Japan Association for Evolutionary Economics (JAFEE)
Journal of Post Keynesian Economics (JPKE)
Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy (KPIPE)
Post-Keynesian Economic Study Group (PKESG)
Regional Economic and Social Development (RESD)
Rethinking Marxism (RM)
Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE)
Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE)
Society for the Development of Austrian Economics (SDAE)
Society of Political Economy (SEP)
Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE)
US Society for Ecological Economics (USSEE)