Forthcoming conferences in Australia and New Zealand

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BIGA’s direct links to upcoming conferences in the Southern Hemisphere and beyond:

Australia is a beautiful country to visit. This Sunset photo was taken at Pumicestone Passage near Brisbane in Queensland.

UPCOMING CONFERENCES:

CONGRESS OF THE BASIC INCOME EARTH NETWORK - DUBLIN, IRELAND - JUNE 2008

CALL FOR PAPERS

The 12th International Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) will be held on 20-21 June 2008 in Dublin, Ireland. The theme of this Congress is: Inequality and Development in a Globalised Economy - The Basic Income Option.

The Congress will combine plenary sessions featuring invited speakers and parallel workshops with volunteered papers. Proposals for papers, workshops etc. are now invited. Details of the call for papers are available at www.basicincome.org and at www.basicincomeireland.com

Major themes to be addressed at Congress 2008 include:

* Why Basic Income provides a key part of the answer to the challenges posed on issues such as inequality and development in the emerging globalised world.

* How a Basic Income system can be operationalised and achieved - politically, institutionally and technically.

* The way forward if Basic Income approaches and systems are to become a reality in the foreseeable future.

Proposals are invited on a very wide range of related topics which are listed in the call for papers.
All proposals should be emailed to papers@basicincomeireland.com

SEVENTH CONGRESS OF THE U.S. BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE NETWORK 2008

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

Seventh Congress of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network:

WHAT NEXT: FRAMING A BIG DISCUSSION FOR THE NEXT ELECTION AND BEYOND

March 7-9, 2008

Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Boston , MA

Featured Speakers:

Philippe Van Parijs

Sean Healy

Brigid Reynolds

Yannick Vanderborght

Senator Eduardo Suplicy

The United States is in the midst of an early 2008 Presidential election season. Although the nation is focused on President George Bush's foreign policy and the “war on terror,” the current administration has left an extensive domestic legacy as well: massive tax cuts, a controversial prescription drug plan for the elderly, educational reform through No Child Left Behind, increased work requirements for welfare recipients, more support for faith-based initiatives, and a rightward shift of the United States Supreme Court. When it comes to poverty, Bush has argued that poverty can most successfully be addressed through higher rates of marriage and increased work effort. With a change of administration coming, many hope that there will be new domestic policy initiatives as well as a change in foreign policy. Yet none of the major candidates are proposing policies that would eradicate poverty, nor ensure a safety net for future generations.

The Seventh Congress of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network provides a forum for considering alternative frameworks for addressing poverty. USBIG Network is a discussion group on the Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) in the United States—a policy that would unconditionally guarantee at least a subsistence-level income for everyone. The congress brings together academics, students, activists, policy analysts, and others interested in exploring the merits of this proposal. Philippe Van Parijs , of Harvard University and of the Catholic University of Louvain, will be the keynote speaker. He is the author of dozens of articles and several books including Real Freedom for All: What (if anything) can justify capitalism? Other featured speakers include Sean Healy , Brigid Reynolds , Yannick Vanderborght , and Senator Eduardo Suplicy . Healy and Reynolds are co-directors of the Justice Commission of the Council of the Religious of Ireland. Together, they have written or edited 21 books on public policy and two books on spirituality for social engagement. Their work has also been published in a wide range of other books and journals. Their book, Social Policy in Ireland , (1998, 2nd edition 2006) has become a standard textbook on social policy in Ireland . Vanderborght is Lecturer in Political Science at the Facultés Universitaires Saint Louis in Brussels , and co-author (with Van Parijs) of L'allocation Universelle , which will be out next year in English as the Universal Basic Income (Harvard University Press). Suplicy is a third-term Senator representing the state of Sao Paolo in the Brazilian Federal Senate and one of the founding members of Brazil 's ruling workers party.

Scholars, activists, and others are invited to propose papers, and organize panel discussions. Proposals and panel discussions are welcome on BIG or topics related to the distribution of wealth and income. All points of view are welcome. Submissions from any academic discipline are invited and non-academics are invited to submit as well. Anyone interested in presenting a paper or organizing a panel should submit either an abstract of their paper or a panel proposal to the chair of the organizing committee:

Michael A. Lewis: mlewis@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

Please include the following information with your abstract and/or panel proposal:

1. Name

2. Affiliation

3. Address

4. City, State, Zip, and Country

5. Telephone, FAX

6. Email Address

7. Paper or Presentation Title

8. Abstract of 50-150 words

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: October 29 th , 2007

Proposals for panel discussions should include a title, topic, and description of the panel and the information above for each participant. If the participants are not presenting formal papers, the title of the paper and abstract may be omitted. Panels with formal paper presentations should be limited to four presentations, although discussions without formal papers can include more.

Organizing committee:

Chair: Michael A. Lewis (mlewis@notes.cc.sunysb.edu)

Associate Professor, SUNY School of Social Welfare, at Stony Brook

Eri Noguchi (en16@columbia.edu)

Columbia University and the Association to Benefit Children

Almaz Zelleke (zellekea@newschool.edu)

Director of Academic Affairs, The New School for General Studies

Manchester UK 3-5 September 2007 Workshop on Ethics, Work and Emancipation

Basic Income and work....what is the relationship between meaningful work and the Basic Income literature. Organizers: Keith Breen (Queen's University Belfast) Ruth Chenoweth (Royal Holloway College) Contact k.breen@qub.ac.uk or visit site for information www.hlss.mmu.ac.uk/pap/events/wpt

"TOWARDS A BASIC INCOME SOCIETY"
26-27 October 2007, Centre for the Study of Social Justice (CSSJ), Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford

The past two decades have witnessed a remarkable revival in both academic and policy circles of the idea that every citizen should be granted an unconditional basic income by right, without a means test or work requirement. Nevertheless, many questions remain before this idea could be turned into a workable policy. Prominent amongst these are questions about the very shape of a basic income society: what would a society in which an unconditional basic income takes a central place look like in terms of its broader policies and institutions? Relatedly, there are important debates about the normative justification and political feasibility of a basic income society. Should we move towards a basic income society? What sort of political strategies need to be put in place to move from the current welfare state to such a society? The conference will reflect on these questions, charting both promising avenues and pitfalls in the current debate. Participants from a diverse range of disciplines, including politics, philosophy, policy sciences, and sociology, critically reflect on the need to understand how questions pertaining to normative justification, institutional design, and political trajectories inform one another, jointly shaping future debates on universal welfare.
This conference is organised by the Centre for the Study of Social Justice (CSSJ), with generous support from the Department of Politics and International Relations and the Public Policy Unit at the University of Oxford , and the Association for Legal and Social Philosophy (ALSP).

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:
David Casassas (University of Oxford)
Jurgen De Wispelaere (Trinity College Dublin)
Antoni Domènech (University of Barcelona)
Tony Fitzpatrick (University of Nottingham)
Louise Haagh (University of York)
Bill Jordan (University of Exeter)
José Antonio Noguera (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Michael Opielka (University of Applied Sciences, Jena)
Carole Pateman (University of Cardiff / UCLA)
David Purdy (Emeritus, University of Manchester)
Daniel Raventós (University of Barcelona)
Yannick Vanderborght (Facultés Universitaires St. Louis, Brussels)
Stuart White (University of Oxford)
Karl Widerquist (University of Reading)

Visit http://social-justice.politics.ox.ac.uk/events/basicincome/ for detailed conference information and the conference program.

Registration is now open. The registration fee is £20 (£10 for students), which is not refundable. Please download the registration form at http://social-justice.politics.ox.ac.uk/events/basicincome/materials/CSSJ_BI_Registration.doc and return completed. Please note that spaces for this conference are limited!

Contact conference organisers David Casassas and Jurgen De Wispelaere at basic.income@politics.ox.ac.uk for further information.

RECENT CONFERENCES:

The First BIEN Congress (Since BIEN became the Basic Income Earth Network) has taken place in Cape Town, South Africa on November 2-4, 2006. It is the eleventh bi-annual conference under the original auspice of BIEN as the Basic Income European Network.

After the successful conference BIEN Newsflash 42 November 2006 carries a report on proceeding including a link to the short video presentation made to the conference by Nobel Laureate BISHOP DESMOND TUTU

BIEN 11th CONGRESS: 2-4 November 2006, Cape Town (SA)

The Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI) is hosting the ELEVENTH BIEN CONGRESS on 2-4 November 2006 at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa. All information and forms are available on the website: www.epri.org.za (also accessible via www.basicincome.org). Please forward any questions to: infobien@epri.org.za
Further information on the Cape Town EPRI BIEN congress may be found at these links to the BIEN site http://basicincome.org or at http://www.etes.ucl.ac.be/BIEN/Index.html

THE SIXTH ANNUAL CONGRESS OF THE U.S. BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE NETWORK: RESOURCES AND RIGHTS.... has taken place in New York, February 23-25, 2007. The conference had an interesting line up of Key Speakers. Further details from USBIG newsletter at http://www.usbig.net/

THE CENTRE for SOCIAL CHANGE RESEARCH 2006 CONFERENCE
http://www.socialchange.qut.edu.au/conferences/socialchange/

Social Change in the 21st Century is a one-day conference of the Centre for Social Change Research at Queensland University of Technology. The conference showcases social research projects that address a wide-range of issues pertaining to social change at a local, national and international level. Collectively, these research undertakings contribute to achieving a better understanding of the drivers of social change and the implications of change for individuals, families, nations and beyond.

http://www.socialchange.qut.edu.au/conferences/socialchange/guidelines/

CONFERENCE From Welfare to Social Investment: Reimagining Social Policy for the Life Course:

The Centre for Public Policy at the University of Melbourne, in association with partners including the School of Social Work and Social Policy at Latrobe University, the Melbourne Institute, the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales and the Ronald Henderson Research Foundation, will be hosting a conference titled From Welfare to Social Investment: Reimagining Social Policy for the Life Course on February 21 and 22, 2007, in Melbourne.
The 2007 From Welfare to Social Investment conference will be an exploration of policy proposals designed to assist people in making transitions across the life course. This conference will boast a focus on social investment and an investigation into how such ideas can translate into an updated participation income - or guaranteed minimum income - proposal. Sir Tony Atkinson from Nuffield College, Oxford University, will be a keynote speaker at this conference. Sir Atkinson is internationally known for his work on inequality and income distribution. He has been the Warden of Nuffield College, University of Oxford since 1994, and has been involved as an advisor to the European Union on social policy issues. Sir Atkinson's address at this conference will focus on ways of harmonising social and economic policy in an information society.

LINKS TO PAST CONFERENCES OF INTEREST:

Completed - 2006 National Conference on Unemployment (Australia)

8th Path to Full Employment Conference and the 13th National Conference on Unemployment.

Major themes for the Conference were employment quality, underemployment and marginal workers.

For information about the conference and more details about the papers, go to

http://e1.newcastle.edu.au/coffee/conferences/2006/index.cfm

For information about CofFEE go to:

http://e1.newcastle.edu.au/coffee/index.cfm

2002 Path to Full Employment Conference and the 9th National Conference on Unemployment
University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
4th - 6th December 2002

This was the 4th Path to Full Employment Conference held by CofFEE and will be held jointly with the 9th National Conference on Unemployment. It focused on unemployment in advanced monetary economies from a broad perspective, it was organised around five broad themes with a number of Focus Group sessions. The Refereed Papers from this conference may be acquired from CofFEE at the Conference Site: http://e1.newcastle.edu.au/coffee/

The 8th National Unemployment Conference 2001:
Is this as good as it gets?
Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. John Tomlinson’s paper produced for this conference may be also be accessed in the Academic Papers section of this site.

Income Support for Unemployed People: Human Rights versus Utilitarian Rights. John Tomlinson
8th National Conference on Unemployment, Southern Cross University, Sept 2001

Abstract
This paper considers the treatment of unemployed people’s rights and entitlements, focussing particularly on the last decade and a half. It places the debate about entitlements within the context of the historical development of the entire Australian social security income support system. It considers rights in relation to obligations from the perspectives of both Utilitarianism and universalism. It concludes that only the provision of a universal Basic Income can prevent Australian Governments undermining unemployed people’s economic security and foisting socially destructive obligations upon them.