Planning has come back in fashion. The climate crisis, the vicissitudes of the euro area and domestic national contexts indicate that planning is an important issue for policymakers and academics alike. In particular, the idea that the economy could be voluntarily organised, ex ante, has gained considerable traction in the past few years. The meaning of the term remains however evasive, multiple, at times even contradictory, and liable to provoke strong reactions both among its supporters and its opponents.
The aim of this conference is to explore the varied origins and practices about planning in a European context since 1945. We understand ‘planning’ in broad terms as attempts to coordinate economic policies and organise ex ante the economic development of a given jurisdiction (state or group of states). We also understand ‘European context’ in a broad sense, including not only the European Economic Community/European Union but also initiatives that aimed beyond its borders. What do national experiences in Europe and their comparison tell us more about the nature and practice of planning? What phenomena of transnational circulation of ideas and imitation between national experiences occurred after 1945 and how did they condition the ascending and descending phases of the planning age? To what extent was planning part of the development of the European Economic Community? What were the obstacles to planning in the EEC/EU? What role did Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) play in the debates on planning? How was the idea of planning/programming abandoned in the 1980s, both at national and international level?
Image source: Nicola di Gioia collection / HAEU, NDG-511