October is the month of Parliamentary Elections in Eastern Europe’s powerhouse, Poland. On 15 October, the electorate stands at a crossroads and our invited panelists will discuss the path the Polish voters will have chosen. In addition to the implications for Poland, our panelists will discuss what the election results mean for relations with Poland’s neighbors, Ukraine in particular. And given that Brussels has repeatedly drawn attention to Polish democratic backsliding under the current government, this CoE will ask what the election means for the EU?

Moderators are:
Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh
Paweł Lewicki, University of Pittsburgh

Panelists are:
Jan Kubik, Rutgers University/University College of London
Michal Kotnarowski, Polish Academy of Sciences
Monika Nalepa, University of Chicago

EU FILM FESTIVAL

In preparation for the upcoming 2024 EU Film Festival (January 19-26, 2024), the ESC and the French and Italian Departments will host a teaser film screening.

PLUTO
Writer and Director: Renzo Carbonera (with Andrea Pennacchi)

A man wanders through the woods of the Alps. He lives in a former World War I fort and is haunted by nightmares and visions. He seems to have a mission to accomplish: he is the last agent of a secret society that over the years has prevented humanity from being destroyed by the mad atomic race. Or at least that’s what he believes. Franco Carling has served in military missions all over the world, has been injured in an accident and has lost his dearest affections because of the work that has taken him to numerous American bases in Italy and Europe, always in the company of the Bomb. Since the end of the Cold War, his points of reference have been missing, the enemy is no longer so easy to identify and the atomic risk has lost its strongest controller, the deterrence that was generated by the world divided into blocks. Now the Bomb has become his obsession, his torment and his only reason of life.

FREE ADMISSION

Writer and Director Renzo Carbonera will be present for Q&A.

Renzo Carbonera is a versatile artist and filmmaker who earned his degree with a thesis on director Ken Loach. He's known for directing 10 widely-broadcasted TV documentaries and achieving international acclaim with his fiction short film "Hemingway’s Pen," which won awards at numerous film festivals. His feature film "Resina" also garnered recognition and distribution in multiple countries. Renzo continued his success with "Takeaway" and "Pluto," two more films premiered at prestigious festivals. Beyond film, he serves as an artistic director and writer for video games and multimedia projects, with "The Rude Awakening" receiving acclaim. Additionally, he's set to make his debut as a theatrical stage director with "Jitney," produced by La Piccionaia, a prominent theater production company in Northern Italy.

Please note:

The pre-screening presentation will be held at 6:30 PM in the Italian Nationality Room (CL 116) at the University of Pittsburg's Cathedral of Learning.

The film will be shown at 7:30 PM in the Frick Fine Arts Building at 7:30 PM.

Synopsis:
During World War II, the U.S Government restricted the actions and freedoms of 600,000 Italian residents of the United States. All were declared “Enemy Aliens,” and many were placed under curfew, banned from their workplaces, evacuated from their homes and communities, and even placed in internment camps.

Many of these people had been in the United States for decades, had children born in their adopted country, and had sons serving in the U.S. Military.

During that era, Italians made up the biggest foreign-born group in the country. As the Department of Justice would later say, “The impact of the wartime experience was devastating to the Italian-American communities in the United States, and its effects are still being felt.”

Interned Italians were not charged with a crime or allowed legal representation. They were subjected to “loyalty hearings” and held for the duration of the war. The United States government considered them “Potentially Dangerous,” not based on anything they had done, but on where they were born.

Most Italians refused to speak about what happened to them. Even 80 years later, many have remained silent. Until now. Hear their stories for the first time in Potentially Dangerous.

Director: Zach Baliva

All films are sponsored by the History Center's Italian American program, the University of Pittsburgh's European Studies Center, and Italian Nationality Room (part of the Nationality Rooms & Intercultural Exchange Programs). Film screenings are free to the public and will take place in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium on the University of Pittsburgh campus.

Are you looking to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market? Stop by Drop-In Hours to learn more about getting the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receiving special recognition at graduation, and standing out to prospective employers!

Fall 2023 Global Distinction Drop-In Hours: Tuesdays at 3:30-4:30 pm, except on October 3 and November 21.

il Messaggero (The Messenger) tells the story of an Italian man from a small village in Italy and his idea to bring messages of hope and joy to the United States as an immigrant in 1966. In doing so, he unknowingly immortalizes a generation of Italians through rare audio recordings and more than 50 years later we see its impact on the next generation living in the U.S. The film explores the amazing true history of one man's mission and his unique way of capturing the stories of those left behind in Italy. It revisits turbulent times in recent world history as well as local history, including the rise of the HJ Heinz company, a Pittsburgh area Italian DJ, and the migration of Italians to the Pittsburgh area.

Director Pete Ferrar will be present for Q&A

All films are sponsored by the History Center's Italian American program and the University of Pittsburgh's European Studies Center and Italian Nationality Room (part of the Nationality Rooms & Intercultural Exchange Programs). Film screenings are free to the public and will take place in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium on the University of Pittsburgh campus.

Marie Curie, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize (twice!) visited the University of Pittsburgh in 1921, where Pitt Chancellor John Bowman awarded her an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Come to the French Nationality Room to learn more about Marie Curie’s connection to Pittsburgh.
Dr. Fatiha Benmokhtar, Associate Professor of Physics in Duquesne University’s School of Science and Engineering, will discuss Marie Curie’s life and work and her ongoing scientific legacy. The talk will be in English and accessible to a general audience.
The one-hour lecture and discussion will be followed by a light reception in the Cathedral of Learning’s Braun Room. This event is sponsored by the Centre Francophone de Pittsburgh as part of a cultural series on Femmes Françaises.

Seating is limited. Please RSVP to cfpittsburgh@gmail.com

As a part of the University of Pittsburgh Library System's Hungarians in Pittsburgh Exhibit, this panel explores the complex and contradictory tall tale figure of Joe Magarac, the Mon Valley's man of steel. After the panel, attendees will take a tour of Joe Magarac related items from the University Library System Archives in the Global Hub. Light refreshments will be available.

MODERATOR:
Kathy Haines, Head of the Center for Amercian Music

PANELISTS:
Clare Withers, Nesbitt Collection Curator
Dr. Andrew Lotz, Professor and Assistant Dean in Arts and Sciences
Dr. Kirsten Paine, Archivisit at Rivers of Steel

Are you looking to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market? Stop by Drop-In Hours to learn more about getting the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receiving special recognition at graduation, and standing out to prospective employers!

Fall 2023 Global Distinction Drop-In Hours: Tuesdays at 3:30-4:30 pm, except on October 3 and November 21.

In response to the devastating earthquake that struck the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, the Pitt community, as well as our neighbors affected by this event, will gather together in the Global Hub. Together, we will share stories about and connections with this beautiful country and unite in compassion. Moroccan tea, pastries, and dates will be offered.

September Faculty Advisory Board Meeting.

Anne-Laure Desjonquères is a career diplomat who joined the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEFA) in 2006.

A student of the French National School of Administration (ENA) and of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Ulm), she graduated from Sciences Po in Paris and from the University of Paris-IV Sorbonne (Master’s Degree in History of International Relations).

Prior to her appointment as Consul General in Atlanta, she was the Head of the Division of European Union Law and International Economic Law in the Legal Affairs Department of the MEFA since 2018. Over the years, she also served at the French Embassies in New Delhi, India (as Head of the Press & Communication Office – 2015 - 2017) and Pretoria, South Africa (as Political Advisor on Domestic and African Policy Issues - 2012-2015). Anne-Laure was also a Desk Officer in the Departments of Strategic and Legal Affairs in charge of nuclear disarmament issues (2010 to 2012) and a Legal Consultant in European Union Law (2006 – 2009).

JOIN US ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2023 – 2:00 – 3:30 P. M. (EASTERN TIME) for a 90-minute interactive program in which diplomat Anne-Laure Desjonqueres will introduce the social, cultural, and economic footprint of France in the United States, with a focus on the Southeastern U.S. Students attending the program will gain global competency skills to help them succeed in a dynamic and interdependent global economy. The program will also offer opportunities for career exploration, including government internships, for students attending schools in the Consortium.

JOINTLY SPONSORED WITH
REINHARDT UNIVERSITY & THE INTERNATIONAL STUDIES CONSORTIUM OF GEORGIA

Are you looking to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market? Stop by Drop-In Hours to learn more about getting the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receiving special recognition at graduation, and standing out to prospective employers!

Fall 2023 Global Distinction Drop-In Hours: Tuesdays at 3:30-4:30 pm, except on October 3 and November 21.

The project examines the EU’s efforts to create a trans-European, innovation-friendly environment through science, technology, and innovation policies that provide a model for responsible socio-technical development strategies in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). An interdisciplinary framework, which borrows concepts and insights from European integration theories as well as from work in Science and Technology Studies (STS), is developed to explore the impact of actors’ norms and values, identities, and material interests on the EU’s AI-related policies. While mainstream perspectives perceive the European politics of STI as the result of rational actors’ attempts to maximize material interests, this project puts equal emphasis on the normative and ideational aspects as well as the reciprocal impact of technological artifacts themselves on the formulation and implementation of EU-policies. Simultaneously, the project highlights the messiness of technological innovation as well as its deep embeddedness within the European integration process. The EU’s recent struggles to formulate and implement ambitious AI-related STI-policies effectively highlight the complexity and multidimensionality of technological innovation.

Dr. Stefan Fritsch
Associate Professor of International Relations
Department of Political Science
Bowling Green State University
Web: https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/political-science/faculty-and-sta...

The annual Brussels-Lux Study Tour is a week-long opportunity for educators across the U.S. to learn more about the European Union. With funding from the EU Delegation and the U.S. Department of Education, K-12 educators and faculty teaching at community colleges and minority-serving institutions (Title III- or Title V-eligible) are able to gain first-hand knowledge and experiences to further their understanding of Europe and the European Union. Visits to EU institutions and other organizations provide an inside look at the issues facing Europe and the EU. Educators also participate in a day-trip to Luxembourg to visit the European Court of Justice.

The University Center for International Studies cordially invites students graduating in Spring and Summer 2023 to celebrate their academic achievements and receive their credentials at the University Center for International Studies’ Graduation Ceremony on Friday, April 28, 2-3pm in the Charity Randall Theater followed by a reception in the Cathedral Commons Room.

Graduating students should look for their personal email invitations from the University Center for International Studies to RSVP and contact their UCIS academic advisor with any questions about the event.

Reception to follow the ceremony.

Abstract: Brexit has had enormous implications for political relationships within and between Ireland, the UK and the EU respectively. In this presentation, Prof Muiris MacCarthaigh of Queen’s University Belfast examines developments in these relationships since the 2016 referendum that resulted in the UK’s departure from the European Union, the current impasse over the 'Protocol', and the future of governance arrangements across these jurisdictions.

Bio: Prof Muiris MacCarthaigh is Professor of Politics and Public Policy and Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queens University Belfast. His research engages with a variety of debates within and between political science, public sector governance and public policy, and with a particular focus on the Irish case. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the European Group for Public Administration, visiting Full Professor at the Geary Institute for Public Policy at University College Dublin, and Northern Ireland lead for the International Public Policy Observatory (www.theippo.co.uk)

Join us and celebrate Hungarian culture through local history and food. Representatives of Hungary-related organizations and resources, both on and off campus, will provide remarks on the Hungarian Nationality Room, Hungary-related material in the Pitt archives, and the vibrant history of Pittsburgh’s Hungarian community.

Remarks:
Kati Csoman, Director, Nationality Rooms
and Intercultural Exchange Programs
Jonathan Naser, Chair, Hungarian
Nationality Room Committee
Viktoria Batista, Associate Professor of
Hungarian, LCTL
Éva Lovra, Hungarian Fulbright Visiting
Professor
Clare Withers, University of Pittsburgh
Library System
Dan Pennell, University of Pittsburgh
Library System
Katherine Novak, Chair, Board of National
Directors, William Penn Association
Judy Torma, Owner, Huszar Restaurant

The University of Pittsburgh and the International Studies Consortium of Georgia (ISCOG) invite you to join the introductory session in an ongoing series focused on development, conservation, and sustainability contrasting dynamics and processes in different world regions. The sessions have been designed to help educators develop and enhance global content complementing their curricula. In addition to learning about thematic local/global intersections, educators will also explore Pitt’s Historical context, Ethics, Language proficiency, Media literacy, Social science methodologies (HELMS) framework for the area, and global studies. This series engages and promotes critical thinking about Amazonia’s current and future sustainability. We will work through approaches to the region’s role in water and food security, clean energy supplies, climate change, art, music, and cultural expressions. This collaborative series is funded through U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center grants.

Participants will be able to learn about issues related to Amazonia, particularly related to development, sustainability, and conservation. Improve understanding of diversely different and clearly interconnected dynamics that affect daily lives all over the planet. This will allow educators to have resources at hand to teach in their classroom as well as satisfy the requirement of teaching to the standards.

For questions, please email lavst12@pitt.edu

For more than three decades, the European Union has been recognised as a world leader in the fight against global warming and climate change. Climate policy has become a dominant issue on the EU's environmental agenda and has gradually been integrated into other policy areas, most notably energy policy. In terms of climate and energy policy, the EU has developed the most advanced and comprehensive regulatory framework in the world, which includes both EU-wide policies and targets to be achieved by Member States. Taken together, these policies and targets serve to advance the energy transition – a process aimed at transforming Europe's energy sector from fossil fuel-based to zero-carbon, mainly through the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. However, the process is uneven in the different Member States. This lecture will present the development of European climate and energy policy, in the context of global climate politics. It will also illustrate different trajectories for the development of renewable energy policies, comparing two different case studies: Poland and Germany. Finally, it will discuss the current challenges of further developing the energy transition in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

During and before World War II the Nazis stole art from Jewish families and then from occupied countries during the war. After the war and continuing until now, there have been many efforts to recover the stolen art and return it to their rightful owners. In this panel, Lynn Nicholas, author of "The Rape of Europa", will provide a history of the looting and efforts to recover and return the art. Vivian Curran will discuss current cases in the United States.

The panel will be moderated by Vivian Curran of the Pitt Law School

Panelists are:

Vivian Curran, Distinguished Professor of Law

Lynn H. Nicholas, Author of "The Rape of Europe."

The Undergraduate Research Symposium is an annual event since 2002 designed to provide undergraduate students, from the University of Pittsburgh and other colleges and universities, with advanced research experiences and opportunities to develop presentation skills. The event is open to undergraduates from all majors and institutions who have written a research paper from a social science, humanities, or business perspective focusing on the study of Eastern, Western, or Central Europe, the European Union, Russia, or Central Eurasia.

After the initial submission of papers, selected participants are grouped into panels according to their research topics. The participants then give 10- to 15-minute presentations based on their research to a panel of faculty and graduate students. The presentations are open to the public.

For more information and to apply, please visit: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/creees/urs.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: January 8, 2023
Limited travel grants are available to help defray travel expenses for accepted participants located outside of the Pittsburgh region.

SYMPOSIUM: March 31, 2023

SUNYMEU is a simulation of the end of the six-month presidency of the Council. SUNYMEU simulates the agreement of Council Conclusions, which in the EU serves to guide the EU institutions (the Commission, the Council, and the European Parliament) over the next several months. SUNYMEU 2023 simulates the Swedish Presidency (January-June 2023). SUNYMEU is open to all undergraduate and graduate students from anywhere in the world.

The University of Pittsburgh will send a team of students to this simulation.

Join two Pitt alumnae for a student-moderated discussion about their journeys from undergraduates to their work in Pittsburgh and Kenya. During this gathering in the Global Hub, you will hear from Founder and CEO of Kakenya's Dream, and 2023 Exemplary Leader award recipient Kakenya Ntaiya, and from Pitt alumna and Executive Director of Alliance for Refugee Youth Support and Education (ARYSE) Jenna Baron, about how these women's time at Pitt shaped their professional journeys. As we share a lite bite together, you will learn more about important skills for inspiring the next generation of changemakers and how Pitt can help you get there.

Register here: https://pitt.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_71FZ2nySjZoVzVk

Dr. Ivo Rollis is a Visiting Scholar from Latvia in Political Science. He is funded by the Baltic-American Freedom Foundation Fellowship Program.

Dr. Ivo Rollis worked in a senior management position at the European Integration Bureau during the peak of Latvia’s accession to the European Union (1999–2004). After Latvia’s accession to the European Union, as a public sector consultant he supported the governments in the Western Balkans and European Neighborhood Policy countries on European integration and public administration reform issues in the European Union, World Bank, United Nations Development Program and the European Union member states bilaterally funded technical assistance support projects. Currently, he is a Council Member of the lead Center for Public Policy “PROVIDUS” in Latvia where he supports the dialogue with the government on public administration efficiency, modernization and crisis resilience issues.

This event has been canceled.

As North and Central America increasingly experience climate change and disasters (fires, hurricanes, drought, rising waters from the Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean), the US has come to realize what our European colleagues have been experiencing as they have been at the forefront of the accelerating trend of global displacement related to climate change. The pre-covid years of 2015-2016 saw the highest peak of immigration into Europe. Last year President Biden signed an executive order 14013 “Rebuilding and Enhancing programs to resettle refugees and planning for the impact of climate change on migration”. With the release of the report, it was the first time the U.S. Government officially reported on the link between climate change and migration. While no nation offers asylum to climate migrants, the UN High Commission on Human Rights has published legal guidelines for offering protection to people displaced by the effects of global warming. Additionally, several of the 169 targets established by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lay out general goals that could be used to protect climate migrants. The panel will be an informal discuss of how Europe’s experience with climate change and migrants can inform the United States.

The organizer and moderator of the Panel is Mary Rauktis, School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh

The Panel members are:

Carla Malafaia, University of Porto, Portugal,

Cosmin Nada, University of Porto, Portugal,

Sheila Velez Martinez, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh

The University Center for International Studies (UCIS), with funding from Pitt's Title VI National Resource Centers, has embarked on a four-year initiative to increase the number of LAC courses offered on campus. Join us to learn more about LAC and how you can combine your personal world language proficiency with your non-language teaching/research expertise and provide students with exciting opportunities to enhance their learning. Any faculty, administrators, and students who are interested in LAC courses are welcome.

TBD

UCIS presents a national scholarship alumni panel to offer unique perspectives on international scholarship experiences such as the Fulbright and Boren programs. Students will gain information on these global opportunities, receive application tips, and more!

The West Coast Model European Union is an annual simulation of a European Council summit, bringing together undergraduate students from across the United States and Canada. Students, in teams of two, play the roles of representatives of European Union Member State delegations. Participants negotiate two issues of concern for the country holding the Presidency, Sweden (holding the presidency from January-June).

The University of Pittsburgh will send a team of students to this simulation.

Oxana Shevel
Associate Professor, Political Science
Tufts University

Discussion:

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine’s spirited and effective resistance caught many observers by surprise amidst expectations of Russia’s quick victory. This talk will focus on the profound identity transformation within the Ukrainian society that began following the Euromaidan revolution and the start of Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014. Examining sources and consequences of these identity shifts sheds light on the sources of Ukrainian resistance, the nature of Putin’s miscalculations about Ukraine, and the likely future of post-war Ukraine, Russia, and their relations with each other and with Europe.

Education
PhD in Political Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States, 2003
MPhil in International Relations, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1994
BA in English and French Philology, Kyiv State University, Kyiv, Ukraine, 1992

2022-23- MEET EU EMERGING FILMMAKER:
VIDA SHERK,
Director, Night Ride (Noćna vožnja)

This is a three-part seminar that focuses on what makes a film visually distinctive, and
how mood boards and storyboards can be used in the pre-production process to
help the director, the cinematographer, the costume designer, the art director, and
the rest of the crew envision the right atmosphere for the film - and choose the
right tools to do so.

The goal of this seminar is also to encourage even Screenwriting students to
develop mood boards for their stories, as they can be a useful tool during the
screenwriting process as well.

FEB 14, 2023 @ 10:00-11:30 AM EST- Required
PART I: MOOD BOARDS - What are mood boards, and why are they important? Can
they be useful for screenwriters (during the development phase) as well, and how?

FEB 21, 2023 @ 10:00-11:30 AM EST (2nd Half-Optional)
PART II: STORYBOARDS – How do mood boards influence storyboards? How do we
make a storyboard?

FEB 28, 2023 @ 10:00-11:30 AM EST (Optional)
PART III: THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG? WHICH COMES FIRST? Are mood boards
useful only in the later stages of pre-production? Is there even a right way to
approach the development and pre-production process, or can we shake things up
and start with the parts of pre-production which are usually reserved for the later
stages in the process of making a movie, only after a story (or script) is already set
in stone?

REQUIRED WORK: Participants will be asked to produce mood boards and
storyboards for their own projects. We will discuss their own exercises and work
during the seminar. They will also be asked to watch Vida Skerk's short film “Night
Ride” beforehand, as this film and the material made during the preparation for
this project will be used as examples during the seminar.

In this session of the UCIS Career Toolkit, our guest is an editor for Yen Press with experience working with some of the biggest names in tech. Join us for this discussion of how you can find your own career in publishing and/or translation. Co-hosted by the Asian Studies Center.

2022-23- MEET EU EMERGING FILMMAKER:
VIDA SHERK,
Director, Night Ride (Noćna vožnja)

This is a three-part seminar that focuses on what makes a film visually distinctive, and
how mood boards and storyboards can be used in the pre-production process to
help the director, the cinematographer, the costume designer, the art director, and
the rest of the crew envision the right atmosphere for the film - and choose the
right tools to do so.

The goal of this seminar is also to encourage even Screenwriting students to
develop mood boards for their stories, as they can be a useful tool during the
screenwriting process as well.

FEB 14, 2023 @ 10:00-11:30 AM EST- Required
PART I: MOOD BOARDS - What are mood boards, and why are they important? Can
they be useful for screenwriters (during the development phase) as well, and how?

FEB 21, 2023 @ 10:00-11:30 AM EST (2nd Half-Optional)
PART II: STORYBOARDS – How do mood boards influence storyboards? How do we
make a storyboard?

FEB 28, 2023 @ 10:00-11:30 AM EST (Optional)
PART III: THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG? WHICH COMES FIRST? Are mood boards
useful only in the later stages of pre-production? Is there even a right way to
approach the development and pre-production process, or can we shake things up
and start with the parts of pre-production which are usually reserved for the later
stages in the process of making a movie, only after a story (or script) is already set
in stone?

REQUIRED WORK: Participants will be asked to produce mood boards and
storyboards for their own projects. We will discuss their own exercises and work
during the seminar. They will also be asked to watch Vida Skerk's short film “Night
Ride” beforehand, as this film and the material made during the preparation for
this project will be used as examples during the seminar.

Take a break from studying and enjoy free drinks and snacks from around the world! Instructors and students from the Less-Commonly-Taught Languages Center (LCTL) and Pitt's many language departments will teach you how to order in Swahili, German, Modern & Ancient Greek, Quechua, Hebrew, Irish, Chinese, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Ukrainian, English, and many more of the nearly 30 languages offered at Pitt. Then, you can place your order at the Language Coffeehouse and enjoy free drinks and snacks from around the world.

Kaija E. Schilde
Jean Monnet Chair of European Security
Associate Professor, Pardee School of Global Studies
Director, Center for the Study of Europe
Project on the Political Economy of Security
Pardee School Initiative on Forced Migration and Human Trafficking

The EU is a non-unitary security state of international significance and is threat responsive to challenges to its interests. It has become a security state through a combination of incremental institutional layering and shifts in international threat, primarily the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea and intervention in Eastern Ukraine, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The security studies debate on European strategic autonomy has so far ignored and dismissed the infrastructural power of the EU. The EU’s infrastructural power comes from regulatory, monetary and market instruments, and a nascent but increasing direct procurement of military materiel. EU infrastructural power complicates EU-related state formation theory debates. Traditional security states extract resources from their society, directly tax their populations, and have formal authority to generate military capability. Historically, the EU has done none of these things. Scholars using the conventional lens of state security authority have concluded that the EU is not yet a security state, because it does not tax and spend to generate military capacity on its own (Kelemen & McNamara, 2022). However, this misdiagnoses the sources of infrastructural security power in the 21st century, and only compares the political development of the EU to the generation of military power in earlier centuries. Moreover, this position fails to consider the comparative: how do contemporary non-EU states generate military capacity? To what are we comparing EU state formation? I theorize a broader definition of security state to align with 21st Century generation of military power and evaluates the shifts in EU infrastructural power in light of changes.

Prior Title: EU Defense Cooperation and the War in Ukraine

The revolutionary prospect of socialism inspired homosexual emancipation and the growth of toleration toward same-sex relations in the first quarter of the twentieth century in many countries, including the UK, US, Hungary, and USSR. However, the development of LGBTQ+ rights within socialism was never linear and even.

The conference seeks to address those discrepancies and the reasoning behind them. It aims to discuss the LGBTQ+ experience and its political, social, and cultural implications under state socialism from a global perspective. What was the place of queerness under socialism? Was socialist ideology generally more responsive to queer people’s agenda and empathic towards them? How did legislation relate to same-sex activity change over time in socialist countries? How did the Cold War and geopolitical tensions between socialist and capitalist counties influence and inform sexual politics toward queer people and their perception? Why did some socialist countries, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the GDR decriminalize homosexuality as early as the 1960s and the Polish People’s Republic never criminalize it? What strategies of networking and concealment did sexual and gender non-conformists adopt in the socialist countries where homosexuality was still illegal, such as Soviet Republics, China, and Cuba? What was the attitude towards gender and sexual dissidents among the left-leaning movements in capitalist countries? Why decriminalization of homosexuality and homosexual emancipation that followed it was subsequently cut off in some post-socialist countries such as Russia?

The main goal of the symposium is to reflect on the broad spectrum of topics related to the conjunction of queer and socialist ideology from a global and comparative perspective. The symposium aims at the broader public, including students, scholars, and activists.

The Undergraduate Model European Union is an annual event that gives students a chance to learn about the workings of the European Union through preparation for and participation in a hands-on two-day simulation of a meeting of the European Council. Model EU enhances students’ understanding of the issues and challenges facing the 27 member nations of the EU. Awards will be given to the most effective delegations and best individual position papers.

Presenter: Nicholas R. Micinski
Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Maine

Moderator: Paweł Lewicki, Associate Director
European Studies Center

Migration has become an important area of cooperation within the European Union and has faced several recent refugee crises, including people seeking protection from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Ukraine. This lecture will discuss the ways in which cooperation within the EU has evolved over the last 20 years, focused on the starkly different responses in 2015-17 and 2022. The lecture will build on the findings in Micinski's book, Delegating Responsibility: International Cooperation on Migration in the European Union (2022).

Are you looking to take your job application to the next level? We will teach you how to make your resume and cover letter stand out, ace your interview, and showcase your skills and experience in the best way.