The Max Planck Summer School for Women in Political Economy will be held for the second time in September 2025 to address the continued underrepresentation of women in the field of comparative and international political economy. Hosted by the MPIfG, it aims to establish a network of women working in political economy and to contribute to ameliorating existing gendered inequalities in the field. We invite applications from current PhD students or recent PhD graduates who work in comparative and international political economy or related fields.

The EU aims to become climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve this, Europe wants to build a green, sovereign battery industry. However, in Hungary, Europe's pioneer in the battery industry, production is dependent on foreign investment, ecological and labor exploitation, and Russian fossil fuels. Pálma Polyák talks to the podcast radio station detektor.fm about the paradox of the European battery industry.

How can we make sense of the resurgence of the far right across the world? In a new MPIfG Discussion Paper, Elizabeth Soer examines an ideal yet overlooked case of ethno-nationalist neoliberalism – apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. This case reveals neoliberalism’s relationship to colonialism and its contribution to the perpetuation of white rule. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Soer argues that the contemporary far right is not a backlash against neoliberalism, but a robust continuation of it.