Multipolarity in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities in Political Economy—A Review of the 18th Forum of World Association for Political Economy

The 18th Annual Forum of the World Association for Political Economy (WAPE), hosted by WAPE, and co-organized by Turkish-Chinese Business Development and Friendship Association and Yeditepe University, was successfully held in Istanbul, Türkiye, on August 6–8, 2025, with the theme “Multipolarity in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities in Political Economy.” More than 100 political economy scholars from around the world conducted in-depth discussions and communications on the reflections on political economy in a multipolar era, revisiting the classical theories of Marxist political economy, digital civilization and the era of transformation, critique of contemporary capitalism, multipolarity and global governance, rethinking classical political economy, studies in mathematical political economy and the economic theory and practice of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This forum openly revealed and counterattacked the evil deeds and hypocritical nature of Neo-imperialism, Neo-hegemonism, Neo-fascism, Neo-liberalism, and Neo-colonialism, calling for an academic unification, especially in field of global political economy, to fight against them under current condition of profound changes unseen in a century.