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Keywords: CLS & LPE on ‘Political Economy’ and ‘Indeterminacy’

Jan 21, 2022

This event brought together participants in the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) and Law and Political Economy (LPE) movements to discuss their approaches to the concepts of “political economy” and “indeterminacy.” The panelists included Libby Adler, Amy Kapczynski, Duncan Kennedy, Karl Klare, Akbar Rasulov, and Talha Syed, and the panel will be moderated by Aziza Ahmed.

The event took place via zoom on January 21st at 2pm ET. In preparation for this event, we suggest that you read the short passages provided by the panelists as well as invite you to add your own definitions/thoughts on the meaning of “political economy” and “indeterminacy” in this shared document (you can do so either with credit or anonymously).

Suggested Readings: 

Kennedy, excerpts from A Critique of Adjudication

Klare & Davis, Critical Legal Realism in a Nutshell

Adler, The Indeterminacy Trap from Gay Priori

Kapczynski, “Where is the Political Economy?” and “Law and Political Economy: Toward a Manifesto”

*This is the first event in what we hope will be a Keywords Series, inspired by Welsh socialist theorist Raymond Williams’s Keywords, which highlighted the importance of historicizing the terms that are central to our cultural and political projects.

Because we did not have time to address all of them, we wanted to share with you the fantastic questions and thoughts offered in the Q&A. If you would like to offer your own thoughts or questions after watching the recording of the event, we strongly encourage you to add them here.