Welcome note by José Manuel Mendes (Director of FEUC) and Ana Cordeiro Santos (President of the CES Scientific Board).
Introduction of the Guest Speaker by João Rodrigues (FEUC/CES)

Following the classic methodology of Marxist political economy, this inaugural lecture will analyse the period of interregnum after the 2007-2009 crisis. The underlying weakness and transformation of globalized and financialised capitalism, the extraordinary role of the state, the intensified struggle for hegemony and the profound problems of democracy and freedom – monsters of the interregnum – will be scrutinized.

Bio note

Costas Lapavitsas | Greek economist, Professor at the University of London SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies). His work has focused on the relationship between finance and development, the structure of financial systems and the evolution and functioning of the Japanese financial system, the interaction between market and non-market relations in the financial system, the response of European Union countries to the crisis, with a focus on peripheral countries. He is the author of numerous publications, the most recent of which include: The State of Capitalism: Economy, Society, and Hegemony (Verso Books, 2023); The Left Case Against the EU (Polity Press, 2018); Profiting Without Producing: How Finance Exploits Us All (Verso Books, 2013); Crisis in the Eurozone (Verso Books, 2012).