Kondratieff Waves Almanac – Call for Papers

Kondratieff Waves is a new international almanac that will be published from 2012 in co-operation with the International N. Kondratieff Foundation and the Faculty of Global Processes of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The year when we plan to start the publication of the Almanac is not coincidental at all, as this is the year of Nikolai Kondratieff' 120^thanniversary, as well as the 90^th anniversary of the publication of his Mirovoye khozyaistvo i ego conyunktury vo vremya i posle voiny [The World Economy and it's Conjunctures during and after the War] (Vologda, 1922), where he for the first time spelled out the idea of long cycles, which later became known as Kondratieff cycles, or Kondratieff waves (or just K-waves).

The leading subjects of publications are supposed to be as follows:

· Kondratieff waves in economic, social, political, and cultural dynamics both at national and global level;

· economic crises and K-wave dynamics;

· mechanisms of K-wave dynamics;

· technological backgrounds of Kondratieff waves;

· human problems in the light of K-wave dynamics;

· futurological aspects of K-wave studies;

· dynamic forecasts etc.;

· formal models of Kondratieff waves;

· Kondratieff waves in history;

· K-waves and other economic cycles (interaction, general mechanisms, differences, etc.);

· philosophic aspects of K-waves.

Kondratieff Waves almanac calls for papers for its first issue. Current deadline is September 1^st, 2011. We are looking forward to receiving your articles.

The articles are to be sent to the following e-mail addresses:

Leonid Grinin lgrinin@mail.ru Andrey Korotayev akorotayev@mail.ru

Statement of Purpose

As mentioned above the 4^th of March, 2012, is the 120^th anniversary since the birth of the famous Russian economist Nikolai Kondratieff; 2012 is also the year of the 90^th anniversary of the publication of his Mirovoye khozyaistvo i egoconyunktury vo vremya i posle voiny [The World Economy and it's Conjunctures during and after the War] (Vologda, 1922). Since that time the issues of mechanisms generating those long waves (cycles), causes of the regular alternation of Kondratieff upswings and downswings, relative stability of the K-cycle period became the ones of the most interesting subjects for many researchers. Essentially the studies of the K-wave dynamics became a special field of interdisciplinary research. Of course, this suggests an immense importance of the further research of the K-wave phenomena that have been already observed for a few centuries (if not millennia).

Notwithstanding all the substantial advances in the study of those dynamic waves, there is no consensus among the K-wave students with respect to a number of the most essential points. They include such questions as:

· How many K-waves have been observed by the moment?

· Were the Kondratieff waves prior to the 18^th century Industrial Revolution?

· What is the K-wave periodization?

· Which variables should be used for the detection of the K-waves?

· What spheres of social systems experience K-wave dynamics?

· Is this only the economic subsystem? Or could the K-wave patterns be also traced in political, cultural, and other subsystems?

· Are there some spheres of social life that do not experience any K-wave dynamics?

· What are the factors of the K-wave dynamics? Which of those factors are the most important?

· At what K-cycle phase is the World System at the moment?

In the meantime it is quite clear that a deeper penetration into the nature of the long waves can provide us with an important tool for the forecasting of social and economic macrodynamics.

We believe that for the formation of conditions for the qualitative advances in the study of causes, mechanisms, and patterns of various K-wave manifestations we need the development of cooperation and interconnection between various students of the long cycles. One of the steps in this direction may be constituted by a new almanac with Kondratieff Waves as its permanent title, where as every issue of it would have its own subtitle.

The new Almanac is no way an organ of an established group of scholars. Contrary to this it invites all the students of Kondratieff waves to a free discussion of the relevant problems from all the possible points of view. In general, we expect that the Almanac will publish first of all theoretical articles dedicated to the study of K-waves in general, to their various manifestations, to their interconnections with various economic, political, cultural, and social cycles and phenomena. We would be also glad to publish various review articles dedicated to those problems, book reviews, information on conferences and other academic events on the long cycle themes. Yet, in any case, we plan to dedicate the first issue to the 120^th anniversary since the birth of Nikolai Kondratieff. Thus, in addition to general theoretical articles, this issue will also contain papers concerned with Kondratieff’s biography and the analysis of his works.

We also plan to organize together with the International N. D. Kondratieff Foundation in May, 2012, International Kondratieff Conference dedicated to the 120^th anniversary since the birth of Nikolai Kondratieff, Kondratieff waves, and Kondratieff's works. We plan to present the first issue of the Almanac at this conference.

The deadline for the paper submissions for the first issue of the Almanac is the 1^st of September, 2011.