Markets as Political Orders

International conference

Neoliberalism in the Nordics research program and Swedish Collegium of Advanced Studies

Uppsala University

May 8–9, 2025

The historical literature on neoliberalism, financialization, and marketisation has flourished in the last decade. Historians have joined forces with sociologists and political scientists to uncover historical layers of market thinking, and explore the limits of contemporary approaches to society, politics, environment and climate through market intervention. Through historical research, the market has proven to be a complex category, one which makes claims to polity and demos, gives rise to new subject identities within welfare state frames as well as in global geopolitics, and structures new forms of bureaucratic banality as well as symbolic intervention. Market thinking contains ideas of liberty and discipline, sovereignty and anarchy across time. The market concept is eminently plural with specific connotations in local culture, yet it carries a claim to universality and globality. Market thinking has given rise to specific political movements in neoliberalism and libertarianism, but also in forgotten ideologies such as georgism, cooperation, reformist social democracy and market socialism. Market thinking co exists today in complex ways with nationalism, populism, fascism, communitarianism and ecologism. Does the market have a conceptual history, and how does this intersect with the upheavals and cataclysms of the 20th century?

The conference is organized jointly by the Neoliberalism in the Nordics research program and SCAS. We aim for a small and tight workshop, but we would like to see a wide range of perspectives across intellectual, environmental, economic, political and global history. We offer a beautiful frame at the Swedish Collegium of Advanced Studies in Uppsala, Sweden. We will offer two hotel nights and meals but hope that everyone might pay their way and make their own travel arrangements (if this is not so, please let me know). We do not require papers but feel free to come with recent or ongoing work.

Participants (TBC)

Apolline Taillandier

Daniel McAteer

Patricia Clavin

Giuliano Garavini

Michal Kopecek

Niklas Olsen

Dieter Plehwe

Julia Nordblad

Valbona Muzaka

Brett Christophers

Elin Åström Rudberg

Nikolas Glover

Ann-Kristin Bergquist

David Priestland

Ola Innset

For further information, please write to Jenny Andersson, jenny.andersson@idehist.uu.se