Call for Papers: “The Euro-crisis and European identity: changes and dynamics on the demos-to-be”, IPSA World Congress of Political Science, July 23-28, 2016

Panel chair: Simona Guerra, University of Leicester

Abstract: Although analyses have found that the economic crisis is not a source of Euroscepticism, positive attitudes are declining in countries suffering most from it. Concurrently, trust towards the EU has halted at very low levels, 31% (EB81 2014, 9), and turnout at the 2014 European Parliament (EP) elections decreased to 42.61% (it was 53% in 2009 and EP official data reported a few percentages up to 43.09% until the end of June 2014). As Paul Taggart and Aleks Szczerbiak underline, despite the current crisis can enrich these EP elections with more Europe, it is important to distinguish the crisis, a general economic crisis, a specific euro crisis and the domestic contexts (2014). Addressing the crisis, the decreasing level of turnout and low trust for the EU institution, this panel ‘looks out for’ the impact of the Euro-crisis on European identity. We invite submissions discussing the limits of the concept, the debates underlying its notion and discourse, studies on the relationship between national and European identity, and analyses on functional and affective dimensions, cross-border interaction and cognitive mobilization, and addressing the impact, if any, of the Euro-crisis.

Deadline: October 7th 2015.

For further information, please contact Dr. Simona Guerra (gs219@leicester.ac.uk).

Two-year postdoc fellowship, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence

Application deadline: 11 September 2015

Requirements: Knowledge of content and text analysis and ability to 
develop computer-assisted analyses

Details here: http://www.sns.it/en/servizi/job/assegnidiricerca/assegno377/

Call for panels and papers for the Section on ‘Euroscepticism and the 
rise of EU contestation’ for the 8th Pan-European Conference on the 
European Union, ‘The Union’s Institutional and Constitutional 
Transformations: Stress or Adaptation?’, University of Trento, Italy, 
16-18 June 2016

Section 14. Euroscepticism and the rise of EU contestation

Section Chairs: Simona Guerra, University of Leicester (gs219@leicester.ac.uk), Hans-Jörg 
Trenz, University of Copenhagen (trenz@hum.ku.dk).

The image of the EU across public opinion has been viewing increasing 
negative evaluations, since the economic and financial crisis hit its 
peak, in 2010 and 2011.  The crisis has affected public attitudes and 
perceptions of legitimacy and identity, but it has also mobilized 
political parties and citizens in opposition to the EU. Although 
opposition towards the EU has been pitched as a temporary phenomenon, 
it has now become a distinctive characteristic of the EU integration 
process, described as ‘embedded’, pervasive and enduring. 
Euroscepticism, as outright and contingent opposition, has become 
structured in terms of party alignment, negative attitudes and 
cleavages. Yet, at the domestic levels, the Eurosceptic opposition 
takes different colours and chooses different targets and strategies. 
This Section invites panel proposals that address different forms of 
Euroscepticism and the roles of political and social actors involved, 
in particular:

1.     Who/What drives political opposition towards the EU?

2.     How is Euroscepticism manifested in political contestation 
through political parties and the citizens domestically and in a 
transnational, comparative perspective? (e.g. in national and 2014 
European Parliament elections?)

3.     How does the (re)politicization of European integration 
restructure the political landscape of the EU and its member states in 
terms of conflicts, cleavages and identities?

4.     How do the media (new and old) contribute to the expression of 
Euroscepticism?

5.     What are the effects on the EU integration process and what are 
its long term consequences for the EU project?
We invite theoretical and empirical analyses, and comparative and case 
studies touching upon any of these themes.

Section available at:

http://ecpr.eu/Events/SectionDetails.aspx?SectionID=490&EventID=105

Deadlines and key dates available at: 
http://ecpr.eu/Events/EventDetails.aspx?EventID=105

Migration is changing Europe and lies at the core of many debates in the context of globalisation, EU enlargement and the demographic and economic changes which the European Union is facing. Young people are a particularly vulnerable and over-represented group among migrants. This article analysis the current socioeconomic status of young persons examined by their country of birth through existing Zaragoza indicators on social inclusion together with some proposed new ones on education, employment and social inclusion of young people by country of birth.

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Young_people_-_migration_and_socioeconomic_situation

EU citizenship represents, without any doubt, a paradigmatic example of the extent to which rights can derive from a supranational form of membership, thus being considered as the first systematic proof for the reconfiguration of the classic model of citizenship. However, is the citizenship of the Union unique in its character or, on the contrary, do other international organizations also grant similar legal entitlements to the nationals of their member states? If so, what kind of rights do these IOs recognize at the supranational level, to whom and under which conditions? Going even further, to what extent different regional integration schemes shape, in practice, a new paradigm of rights-based supranational citizenship? Can we identify similar mechanisms of policy convergence in the propensity of IOs to deepen in highly sensitive areas of regional cooperation such as citizenship? Why do regional organizations create this supranational status of rights? Drawing on an original dataset including a large number of international organizations (N=83), this paper discusses the above-mentioned questions from a cross-regional perspective.

http://www.eui.eu/SeminarsAndEvents/Events/2015/May/CitizenshipinRegionalIntegrationOrganizations.aspx

La Fundación General CSIC lanza la primera convocatoria de su Programa ComFuturo, un programa de colaboóación público-privada que tiene por objeto dar respuesta al desempleo de jóvenes científicos altamente cualificados, captando el mejor talento joven investigador y haciendo posible que desarrolle proyectos de alcance en Centros e Institutos del CSIC, con el apoyo económico de entidades privadas.

Se dirige a: Jóvenes investigadores doctores que hayan obtenido el grado de doctor dentro de los últimos 12 años; en posesión de la nacionalidad española o de la residencia permanente en España.

Requisitos: Los proyectos de investigación deben ser innovadores, con alto potencial de aplicabilidad y transferencia al tejido productivo, y poder ejecutarse en un Centro o Instituto del CSIC apropiado.

Descripción: Contrato laboral de hasta tres años de duración para el investigador ComFuturo y una dotación para gastos asociados al desarrollo del proyecto de investigación.

Presentación de solicitudes: Hasta el 15/03/2015 a las 23:00 horas

The Institut de Sciences Politiques Louvain-Europe (ISPOLE) at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) is inviting applicants for a PhD within the project PATHWAYS. PATHWAYS is a comparative study of the representation of citizens with an immigrant origin in eight European democracies (Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain). Selected applicants would be invited to submit an application for an FNRS PhD grant of 4 years (aspirant FNRS).

http://www.uclouvain.be/506844.html

The applicant is preferably knowledgeable in both French and Dutch (English is also a great advantage) and must have a good knowledge of the Belgian political system. The applicant is free to tailor his or her research question(s) around the proposed research project, within the norms of the availability of data and expertise. Comparative projects are also stimulated.

Description

BE-PATHWAYS is an innovative and comparative inter-university collaboration of a team of junior and senior scholars examining the political representation of citizens of immigrant origin in Belgium. It is part of an international PATHWAYS consortium (http://pathwayseu/), which analyses the political representation of citizens of immigrant origin in seven additional European democracies (France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the UK). The principal goal of this particular project is twofold. On one hand, the project seeks to advance the knowledge and scholarship of the descriptive representation of citizens of immigrant origin (CIO) in Belgium's legislative assemblies, at the regional (Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels) and national levels. On the other hand, and as part of its innovative nature, the project seeks to analyse the parliamentary activities of representatives of immigrant origin (substantive representation). The project seeks to advance the study of democratic representation of CIOs in a number of ways:

   To provide tightly defined - hitherto unavailable - comparative data on the descriptive and substantive representation of CIOs in Belgium (currently data are often restricted to issues such as citizenship, e.g., Eurostat 2011).
   To provide comparative data on important institutional and socio-demographic contextual variables alongside different institutional levels in Belgium.
   To offer innovative explanations of cross-national, cross-regional, cross-level and diachronic variations in descriptive and substantive representation by building on a flexible analytical framework, which allows for the incorporation of a variety of theoretical approaches (e.g. social capital, path dependency, rational choice).
   To integrate the data with other research efforts in the field, most notably the PATHWAYS and IDEA projects.

Data collection and methodology

The research design combines a systematic approach to data collection on two levels of government, national and regional. The inclusion of the regional level is of particular importance, as this is where immigrants can more easily build capacity to win political office and where barriers to get elected should be easier to overcom. The data collection includes primary and secondary sources of information and will be organised in the following way :

   National level : the project collects information on (1) the descriptive representation of CIOs for all elections since 1991, and (2) on particular legislative activities (substantive representation) of minority and comparable non-CIO parliamentarians in the last completed legislative term (2010).
   Regional level : the project collect information on descriptive representation for the last completed legislative term (2009). Given the generally large number of regional assemblies throughout Europe, the variability of access to sources and the lack of general research on representation at this level, this will still be a major advance and will allow comparisons between Belgian regions, across European regions, or even between the national level and the regional level.

Send a brief research proposal (1 page max.) and curriculum vitae to Steven M. Van Hauwaert (steven.vanhauwaert@uclouvain.be) by 5 pm on 13 February 2015.

Book: "The Constitutional Foundations of European Contract Law: A Comparative Analysis", by Kathleen Gutman - Oxford University Press

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199698301.do

Situated within the context of the ongoing debate about European contract law, this book provides a detailed examination of the European Union's competence in the field of contract law. It analyses the limits of Union competence in relation to several relevant Treaty provisions which potentially confer competence on the Union to adopt a comprehensive contract law instrument and the exercise of Union competence in connection with the operation of the principles of subsidiarity, proportionality and sincere cooperation. It also explores the viability of several alternative and complementary routes to the adoption of such an instrument, including enhanced cooperation, an intergovernmental treaty and certain American techniques. Setting forth an elaborate account of the context for this debate and its chronological development at the European level, this book charts the discussions relating to the European Union's competence to regulate contract law and offers a comparative analysis of the approach taken to the approximation of contract law in the American setting. Setting forth a detailed account of the context for this debate and its chronological development at the European level, the book charts the discussions that have occurred within and outside the EU relating to the transnational competence to regulate contract law. Situating European constitutional law within the continued debate about European contract law, it also reflects upon the contract law structure of the United States and examines the viability of alternative and complementary routes to the adoption of a comprehensive instrument of substantive contract law.

Panel on "The EU and the Global South: towards strategic and coherent action across policies?" EISA 9th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, Giardini Naxos (Italy) September 24-26 2015

The starting point of the panel (s) is that numerous changes in the international landscape require the EU to adapt its development and foreign affairs policies, objectives and institutions. Development – which was the EU’s ‘traditional way’ of engaging with the global south – has decreased in relative importance, forcing the EU to rethink how it engages with rapidly changing developing countries. In addition, the EU is also more active in other areas of external policy and increasingly aims to foster integrated policy responses that interlink development with broader foreign policy objectives. This changing empirical reality also compels EU scholars to rethink and adapt their research. While in recent years we have witnessed an emerging literature on the EU as a development policy actor, the scholarly community is still largely preoccupied with ‘traditional‘ developmental questions (i.e. development policy and aid effectiveness) and is mostly disconnected from the broader field of EU international affairs. The need to bridge the gap with research areas including the EU's global role, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), the EU's Neighbourhood policy or the EU's role in climate change is pressing.

This panel thus invites scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds to (i) bring various perspectives on the EU's engagement with the developing world together and (ii) to analyse the EU's management of policy interlinkages and integrated policy responses.

The panel will be organized and chaired by Jan Orbie (Ghent University), Nadia Molenaers (University of Antwerp) and Svea Koch (German Development Institute). Please send abstracts of up to 200 words and your name, organisation and contact details to Jan.Orbie@UGent.be.

Deadline for abstract submission: 8th January 2015

EISA deadline for panel submission: 15th January 2015