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Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative (GCGI)
Announcing the 12th Annual International Conference
Call for Presentation and Participation
From Oxford 2002 to Oxford 2014: Portrait of a Great Journey for the Common Good
Plater College, Oxford (2002) - St. Petersburg, Russia (2003) - Dubai, UAE (2004) - Nairobi and Kericho, Kenya(2005) - Chaminade University, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA (2006) - Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey (2007) - Trinity College, University of Melbourne, Australia (2008) - Loyola University, Chicago, USA (2009) - California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California, USA (2010) - Alexandria Bibliotheca, Alexandria, Egypt (2011—Postponed, due to the Revolution in Egypt) - School of Economic Science, Oxford Campus, Waterperry House, Oxford (2012) - Cité universitaire internationale, Paris (2013)- School of Economic Science, Oxford Campus, Waterperry House, Oxford (2014)
“The Value of Values: Spiritual Wisdom in Everyday Life”
Waterperry House, Oxford
Sunday 31 August- Thursday 4 September, 2014
Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative (GCGI)
Annual Conference Series
In association with
School of Economic Science is delighted to announce that it will host the 12th annual conference of Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative. This major global conference is being convened by Prof. Kamran Mofid, Founder, Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative and Mr. Ian Mason, Principal of the School of Economic Science.
“The Value of Values: Spiritual Wisdom in Everyday Life”
Businesses, governments, institutions, and societies are experiencing ever-increasing complexity, multiple systemic challenges, unpredictability, volatility and constant change. Patterns of possibility and patterns of crises are emerging which are inter-connected and inter-dependent. Oneness and consciousness of individuals, organizations and whole-systems can transform crises into possibilities with lasting positive results.
We have important spiritual resources that can assist and guide us to overcome these crises, and create a better world of peace and universal brother/sisterhood. Throughout history spirituality and spiritual values have helped to sustain life, love and laughter in challenging life conditions. Our universal spiritual values will focus our minds on our common humanity and destiny. The renaissance of this traditional way of being ignites the heart of compassion and love for the common good into positive action.
This Conference will attempt to approach spirituality as a resource for renewal. Moreover, it will also approach nature as a source of wisdom and explore the potential of this vision for management theories and practices. As our mindset is currently so strongly imbued with materialistic and instrumental approaches to nature, we need to be challenged by radical ideas to disclose new horizons. The Conference will also attempt to help participants find answers to questions on “Spiritual Wisdom in Everyday Life” with a focus on the four themes below:
*What is the relationship between the inner life of spirit and the outer life of service in the interest of the Common Good?
*What spiritual values apply in economics, education, business, management and ecology?
*“How can the secular and sacred elements of life be better integrated to advance the common good?
*How can the wisdom and insight gained through inner exploration be used to better our individual and collective health?
In short, how do we regain the basic values of a healthy society? How do we integrate the values of finance, business and economics, with those of families and communities? Can we discard market-fundamentalism, the false belief that market knows best, and begin to believe that “The market was made for human beings - not human beings to serve the market”? How can we discard the false values of modern economics and in the real understanding that the only things that have value in themselves are love, beauty and the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom?
Applying our common spiritual values as sources for renewal is, in large part, a matter of how this Conference hopes to respond to the economic, social, and ecological mandate now placed before us by the converging crises of our time. This is our moral assignment. As a matter of personal and societal responsibility, we can enter fully into reshaping economic policy and economic behaviour on behalf of the common good.
Meet our Keynote Speakers:
Luk Bouckaert, emeritus professor of ethics at the Catholic University of Leuven (K.U. Leuven, Belgium) and President of the European SPES Forum, Belgium) www.spes-forum.be
Dr. Ulrich Duchrow, Professor of systematic theology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany and Co-founder and moderator of Kairos Europa Homepage of Ulrich Duchrow
Prof. Farhang Jahanpour, former Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Languages at the University of Isfahan, a former Senior Fulbright Research Scholar at Harvard, and former Editor, Middle East and North Africa, the BBC. For the past 28 years he has taught at the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford and is a member of Kellogg College.
Dr. Walter Schwimmer, Former Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Chairman of the International Coordination Committee (ICC) of the World Public Forum – Dialogue of Civilizations (WPFDC), and President of the European Democracy Forum in Strassburg.
Call for Presentation and Participation
Complex world problems and intricate global issues require the coming together of multiple areas of expertise, experience, perspectives and insight.
The GCGI Oxford Conference is intended to be a multi- and inter-disciplinary dialogue that aims to bring together people from a wide range of disciplines, professions and NGOs on what “Spiritual Wisdom in Everyday Life” means and entails with a focus on the four conference themes. We seek contributions from both practitioners and academics, and from the widest possible range of intellectual interests and commitment.
The great relevance and timeliness of this topic, and its theme, hardly needs to be stated: nothing is of greater importance at present than the necessity of keeping rigorous and constructive debate and dialogue between different disciplines, ideas and values to address the global economic and financial situations and conditions. We are convinced that much of the ongoing and steadily exacerbating discord arises from an unwillingness to communicate and bridge gaps in understanding, especially where issues of religion, philosophy, ethics, spirituality, economics, globalisation and capitalism are concerned.
Submission of Abstracts
The conference welcomes abstracts from academicians, researchers, activists, organizers, officials, post-grad/ doctoral students, and others specializing in a range of disciplines, including, education, theology, philosophy, ethics, history, political science, international relations, conflict analysis and peace research, economics, business studies, law, sociology, media studies and journalism, psychology, health sciences and medicine, environmental studies and geography. Contributions are also invited from persons in government, civil society, diplomacy, law, the media, the health professions and business, as well as those involved in religious and Interreligious dialogue. Proposals that adopt an inter/multi-disciplinary, intercultural or Interreligious perspective are especially welcome.
Proposals should be received no later than 9 May, 2014. We very much welcome early submission of abstracts.
Proposals should include:
- Title of proposed presentation, workshop, or roundtable
- A 250-word abstract, highlighting the proposal's relevance to one or other of the key themes outlined above.
- Author's name and institutional affiliation (if any); as well as an up-to 100 words biographical note on the presenter. Please include your email address and website, if available.
All proposals will be assessed by an inter-disciplinary committee, and applicants will be informed of the Organizing Committee's decision in an ongoing process, so as to facilitate the applicants’ travelling arrangements.
Paper Presentations
In addition to the keynote speakers and plenary sessions, it is envisaged that four parallel sessions/roundtables will be organised as panel debates. Each parallel session will focus on one of the four core themes. Paper presenters will be invited to comment on a selected position statement (10 minutes). The remaining time is for discussion.
Presenters are strongly encouraged not to read their papers verbatim: draft papers, or at least a working summary of it will be available on the web site prior to the conference beginning. We hope that presenters will instead speak to the significant points raised in their papers, encouraging dialogue, engagement and a rewarding debate. The GCGI does not accept papers for presentation in abstention or via electronic means.
Publications Process
All papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be eligible for inclusion in our e-journal, Journal of Globalization for the Common Good.
Selected papers may be invited to go forward for development into 15-20 page chapters for publication in a themed ISBN hard copy volume. The decision whether to proceed to hard copy publication will be taken by the Organising Chairs, the host institute, and the Steering Group within four weeks of the conference close and is subject to availability of funding.
Please submit your abstract to Prof. Kamran Mofid
Email: k.mofid@gcgi.info This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Please note: For all advance enquiry about registration contact Mr. Peter Holland,the event organiser.
Email: petermholland36@hotmail.com
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The Big, Exciting News of the week- just in case you missed it- was that the winner of the Sveriges Riksbank prize in economic science in memory of Alfred Nobel, as it is officially called, was announced on Monday, 14 October 2013.
After five years in which many of the pillars of economic theory have been swept away by a financial tsunami that went largely unpredicted by the majority of practitioners and teachers of the “dismal science”, it may be hard to believe anyone deserves to be warded a Nobel prize in the subject.
Those of us who have been fighting for a revolution in the way economics is taught in schools and universities would have liked to see the Nobel committee make a choice that reflects the seismic changes of the past five years and more.
I, for one, was hoping that the Prize Committee would demonstrate their wisdom by acknowledging the fact that we should be teaching economics differently. That the economists needed to switch from building big, complicated mathematical models that nobody understands anymore, to models which will return the “dismal science” to its true position: a subject of beauty, wisdom and virtue.
And then, the Committee shattered all our dreams.
The three economists, Eugene F. Fama, Robert J. Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen, all Americans, were announced as joint winners. According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which selects the winner, they “laid the foundation for the current understanding of asset prices”, which “relies in part on fluctuations in risk and risk attitudes, and in part on behavioral biases and market frictions.”
I don’t know about you, but for me, since hearing this announcement, the world has become a far better place, more beautiful, more loving! Now I can sleep much sounder and better at night!
No need to worry anymore about the global crises in politics, economics, finance, banking, energy, food, environment, wars and terrorism, healthcare, housing, education, and more. No more worries about inequality, injustice, poverty, 1% and 99%, environmental vandalism and degradation, consumerism, materialism, individualism, racism and much more: all destroying the fabric of society and catastrophically weakening the ethical, moral and spiritual dimensions of our communities.
Now all will be well. Now I can relax a bit and leave it all to these three “great” and “exceptional” gentlemen from the United States of America that have “laid the foundation for the current understanding of asset prices”, which “relies in part on fluctuations in risk and risk attitudes, and in part on behavioral biases and market frictions,” to make my world a better place!
You see, as well as the above, there is also a more sinister and serious point- worthy of our reflection- about this year’s Prize.
Two of the recipients, namely, Fama and Lars are from the ultra-conservative Chicago school and ardent followers and disciples of Milton Friedman’s free-market fundamentalism.
As noted by the Guardian, Fama is notorious for denying financial bubbles exist and asserting recessions are a largely inexplicable feature of capitalism that should be allowed to take their course. His research has examined how external factors such as insider trading and government regulation can distort the workings of financial markets.
In the years before the crash he joined other disciples of Friedman, including former Federal Reserve boss Alan Greenspan, in defending the efficient-markets hypothesis that underpinned the deregulation of the banking system. "The financial markets were a casualty of the recession, not a cause of it," he told the New Yorker in 2010.
Hansen, is best known for his work modelling how economic actors cope with risk and changing environments.
Fama and Hansen join 87 other Nobel Prize winners affiliated with Chicago University. Their success means eight Nobel winners will be working at the faculty, including six in economics.
Given the above, this blog posting will not be complete without a word or two about Miltion Friedman, Chicago school and the Boys from Chicago.
According to the Real-World Economics Review, Milton Friedman propagated the delusion, through his misunderstanding of the scientific method, that an economy can be accurately modeled using counterfactual propositions about its nature. This, together with his simplistic model of money, encouraged the development of the financial theories with unrealistic assumptions that facilitated the Global Financial Crash (GFC). In short, he opened the door for everyone subsequently to theorize without fear of having to be attached to reality.
Moreover, they noted that Alan Greenspan, as Chairman of the Federal Reserve System from 1987 to 2006, both led the over expansion of money and credit that created the bubble that burst, and aggressively promoted the view that financial markets are naturally efficient and in no need of regulation. Before a Congressional committee on 28 October 2008 Greenspan confessed that his theoretical beliefs of 40 years were now proven to be without foundation, hence his total confusion and failure at his job.
Friedman and Greenspan together with Larry Summers, whom as US Secretary of the Treasury (formerly an economist at Harvard and the World Bank), worked successfully for the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which since the Great Crash of 1929 had kept deposit banking separate from casino banking, were jointly awarded the Dynamite Prize in Economics by the Real-World Economics Review on 22 February 2010.
In awarding the Prize, Edward Fullbrook, editor of the Real World Economics Review, noted that “They have been judged to be the three economists most responsible for the Global Financial Crisis. More figuratively, they are the three economists most responsible for blowing up the global economy.” And then, the Nobel Prize in Economics is given to two of their followers! What a disgrace. What a travesty of justice and common sense.
And now to the Boys from Chicago. This is how I had described them in an article a few years ago:
‘Now is the time to change capitalism and globalisation for good’
‘…In the last few weeks the greed of Wall Street and the City (London financial district) has been under the spotlight. The Archbishop of York recently and in my view correctly, called some of the traders ‘bank robbers’. ‘We find ourselves in a market system which seems to have taken its rules of trade from Alice in Wonderland’ the Archbishop remarked. The Archbishop of Canterbury has also criticized ‘trading of the debts of others without accountability’ and compared unfettered belief in the market with fundamentalism. This last word ‘fundamentalism’ used by the Archbishop means a lot to me. It is the fundamentalism of economics, its teaching and MBA programmes that is, in my view, the shifting sand upon which we have built this house of cards, called economic globalisation, which has now come home to roost. The Chicago Boys School of Economic thought has proven to be an Emperor with no clothes! As long as this curse persists, there will be no possibility of reaching the Promised Land: where we can have justice, peace, happiness and contentment.
The Curse of Chicago Boys
‘As it has been noted, the so-called ‘famous school of economics at the University of Chicago led by the late Milton Friedman spread its market fundamentalism worldwide. Greed, selfishness, individualism and short-termism were conflated with freedom and democracy and elevated to the status of moral philosophy. The fatal flaws of this ideology have fueled the reckless risk-taking, greed and arrogance that led to Wall Street’s downfall and the loss of confidence in financial/banking sectors the world over.
‘The Chicago Boys and their clones inspired the Reagan and Thatcher era and the Washington Consensus of deregulation, privatisation, driving today’s form of economic globalisation.
‘Let us recall Milton Friedman’s infamous single bottom line: the only purpose of private enterprise and corporations is to make as much money as possible for shareholders. In the last few decades academics have created “free market” curricula, and business schools reaped grants from corporations and from conservative and gullible liberal foundations. Media joined in promoting the “animal spirits” of individual entrepreneurs, the glorification of business leaders and the “wealth” of Wall Street raiders, hedge fund titans and private equity kings. Money was seen as the only form of wealth.
‘I believe this must be highlighted, as without this understanding we cannot provide any solution or an alternative. It is immoral and an affront to humanity to spend the taxpayer’s money on this bail-out, without admitting what has caused the calamity to begin with. After Enron and WorldCom we were told never again - how wrong they were and how naive we were. For the last few years I have been arguing against economic/money-driven/fundamentalist/neo-liberal globalisation.
‘As Albert Einstein has reminded us, “The world cannot get out of its current state of crisis with the same thinking that got it there in the first place”. Therefore, we must change from the ideas and values of the Chicago Boys, currently the dominant or the only philosophy used in the teaching of economics and MBA programmes the world over, to a sacred and spiritual teaching of economics, rooted in ethics, morality, spirituality and the common good’…
There you have it. I hope you will agree with me that the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics was an opportunity missed.
Read more and note the original sources:
“Today’s Good News: Larry Summers withdraws name for Fed chair job”
http://www.gcgi.info/blog/468-todays-good-news-larry-summers-withdraws-name-for-fed-chair-job
‘Now is the time to change capitalism and globalisation for good’
http://www.interfaithunity.ca/illumination/columnists/kamran.htm
“American trio share Nobel economics prize for work on asset prices”
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/14/american-nobel-prize-economics-fama-hansen-shiller
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Prof. Mofid at the invitation of the Spiritual Heritage Education Network (SHEN) delivered the Opening Address at the Fourth Annual Reflective Conference on Education to Globalize the Human Mind, 28-29 September 2013, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.
See the video of the lecture:
http://videos.spiritualeducation.org/Meet2013/Kamran/
Read the edited and expanded version of the Opening Address:
GCGI 2014 Oxford Conference: Call for Presentation and Participation
“The Value of Values: Spiritual Wisdom in Everyday Life”
Waterperry House, Oxford
Sunday 31 August- Thursday 4 September, 2014
See Details:
http://gcgi.info/news/476-gcgi-2014-oxford-conference-call-for-presentation-and-participation