University Center for International Studies European Studies Center
University Center for International Studies European Studies Center

Conversations and Commentaries on Europe: Video Resources

  1. Resources
  2. Conversations and Commentaries on Europe: Video Resources

 

ESC has online video offerings for select items from its extensive programming.  These resources are meant to ehance transatlantic conversations happening and enrich understandings of Europe here in the United States.

Resources can be used as classroom aids, out-of-classroom assignments, or as background for research papers.  Please provide proper citation of any of the resources used (examples below). Please let us know how you are using the videos! Send a message to europeanstudies@pitt.edu with your stories. 

You can also watch our collection on the UCIS YouTube Channel.

Citation examples:

  • MLA
    European Studies Center. "Title of Video." University of Pittsburgh, Date it was posted, URL.
     
  • APA
    [European Studies Center, University of Pittsburgh]. (Year, Month Day it was posted). Title of the Video [Video file]. Retrieved from URL.
     
  • Chicago
    European Studies Center, University of Pittsburgh. "Title of Video." YouTube video, length. Date published. URL.

 

Trade, Technology, and the Transatlantic Relationship
A conversation with European Commission Executive Vice Preseidnet Valdis Dombrovskis

September 30, 2021

 

 

 

 

Conversations on Europe: "The History of Environmentalism: Right, Left, Center"

CoE History of Environmentalism
Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Event was on September 3, 2024. Reactionary? Progressive? Localist? Globalist? How do our climate politics line up? This panel will explore the history of environmentalism as a way of thinking about the spectrum of political positions in climate response. Recall that the oil shock, acid rain, nuclear energy protests at Wyhl, concern over DDT, all in the 1970s generated a new environmental activism: citizens initiatives in civil disobedience against business and state. In Germany and elsewhere very disparate interests came together to form what was understood as a new progressive political party: the Greens. Yet was it so progressive? Many people in the party came from a far-right political position, and with their entry into parliament, the Greens did not fit easily into the historic right-left spectrum. Such is not new. Indeed, environmental concerns have a longer and even a predominately conservative history. Romanticism praised pre-industrial bucolic patriarchal society. While climate change denialism may have become recently a hallmark of conservative politics, yet back to nature, back to the soil, survivalism, and prepping, are restoring environmentalism increasingly to conservative politics. And as with the Greens before, movements like Fridays for Futures and Last Generation do not align with any existing political party. Moderator: Randall Halle Panelists: Iza Ding, Northwestern University Patrick Manning, University of Pittsburgh Stephen Milder, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society

Conversations on Europe: The History of Environmentalism: Right, Left, Center

The History of Environmentalism: Right, Left, Center
Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Moderator:  Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh 

Panelists:
Iza Ding, Northwestern University of Michigan
Patrick Manning, University of Pittsburgh
Stephen Milder, Rachel Carson Center in Munich

Conversations on Europe: "Elections 2024: European Parliament Elections across the 27 Member States"

Elections 2024: European Parliament Elections Across the 27 Member States
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
MODERATORS:
Jae-Jae Spoon, University of Pittsburgh
Zeynep Somer-Topcu, The University of Texas at Austin
 
PANELISTS:
Kai Arzheimer, University of Mainz
Catherine DeVries, Bocconi University
Jan Rovny, Sciences Po-Paris
 
During this session of our Conversations on Europe, we will focus our discussion on the ongoing election campaign to the European Parliament, as the elections will take place between June 6th and 9th. With looming economic slowdown, increasing migration both on the southern and eastern border of the EU and growing support for populist and nationalist parties, what are the prospects for the EU integration?  What are the main topics of the campaign and how will they impact the elections?  Which parties will gain a majority in the upcoming 5 years term and shape the future of the EU?

EU Enlargement - Cyprus

EU Enlargement: Spotlight on Cyprus
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Moderators:

Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh
Erica Edwards, University of Pittsburgh

 
Panelists:
Maria Hadjipavlou, University of Cyprus
Dr. Hadjipavlou is an assistant professor in the Department of Social and Political
Sciences, University of Cyprus. Her research interests include the Cyprus conflict, international conflict resolution, reconciliation in divided societies, gender and
conflict, and feminist theory.
 
James Ker-Lindsay, LSE European Institute
Dr. Ker-Lindsay research focuses on conflict, peace and security in South East Europe (Western Balkans, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus), European Union enlargement, and secession and recognition in international politics. He has played an active role in the development of South East European Studies, both in Britain and internationally. He is a former coordinator of the BISA Working Group on the region and is on the editorial boards of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, and Ethnopolitics.

 

EU Enlargement - Cyprus

EU Enlargement: Spotlight on Cyprus
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Moderators:

Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh
Erica Edwards, University of Pittsburgh

Panelists: 

Maria Hadjipavlou, University of Cyprus
Dr. Hadjipavlou is assistant professor in the Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cyprus. Her research interests include the Cyprus conflict, international conflict resolution, reconciliation in divided societies, gender and conflict, and feminist theory.

 
James Ker-Lindsay, LSE European Institute
Dr. Ker-Lindsay research focuses on conflict, peace and security in South East Europe (Western Balkans, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus), European Union enlargement, and secession and recognition in international politics. He has played an active role in the development of South East European Studies, both in Britain and internationally. He is a former coordinator of the BISA Working Group on the region and is on the editorial boards of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, and Ethnopolitics.

Conversations on Europe - Understanding the Human Impact of the Russian War in Ukraine

The Russian War in Ukraine: Displaced People and Changing Security Concerns
Tuesday, March 12, 2024

MODERATORS: 

Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh
Erica Edwards, University of Pittsburgh
 
PANELISTS: 
Svitlana Babenko, Malmö University (*unable to attend)
Joachim A. Koops, Leiden University
Kseniya Yurtayeva, University of Michigan
 
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine transformed European security concerns dramatically. It has disrupted the lives of countless people in the region. It triggered a new wave of rapid forced migration throughout the EU and in other neighboring countries. Displacement from the war impacts not only Ukrainian women and children fleeing to Poland, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, and other neighboring countries. It has also affected Russians avoiding mobilization or Russian intellectuals avoiding repressions in their home country. Unfortunately, at a time of record numbers of internal and external displaced persons worldwide, numbers of people seeking asylum have now risen in Central Asia and Caucasus. In addition to considering the overall security situation resulting from the war, this Conversation on Europe will ask: how do these movements of people affect the current situation in the EU and in receiving countries? How have societies and state apparatuses reacted to this migration and what can we learn from these dynamics? What role does “security” and securitization play in these processes? 

EU Enlargement: Hungary

EU Enlargement: Spotlight on Hungary
Thursday, February 29, 2024

Moderators: 

Gabriella Lukacs, University of Pittsburgh
Erica Edwards, University of Pittsburgh

Panelists: 

Zsuzsanna Szelényi, Founding Director: CEU Democracy Institute Leadership Academy 
Ms. Szelényi is a former politician from Hungary, foreign policy specialist, author, and founding director at the CEU Democracy Institute Leadership Academy. She is conducting research about how autocratic politics is influencing and shaping the future of the European Union. In the framework of the Democracy Institute Leadership Academy her team develops curriculum supporting pro-democracy activists in Central and Eastern Europe. Her book 'Tainted Democracy, Viktor Orbán and the Subversion of Hungary' was listed among the best books in 2023 by Foreign Affairs.
 
Stefano Bottoni, University of Florence
Dr. Bottoni, PhD in Modern and Contemporary History (University of Bologna, 2005)is an Associate Professor at SAGAS
Department of the University of Florence. Between 2009 and 2019, he has been Senior Research Fellow at the
Research Center for the Humanities of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He was visiting fellow at the Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung (Potsdam, 2012), and Fellow of Imre Kertész Kolleg (Jena, 2015).  His current research focuses on the historical legacies of illiberal rule in contemporary Hungary. He is the author of Orbán. Un despota in Europa (Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2019) and Obsessed with Power: Orbán's Hungary, published in Hungarian by Magyar Hang Könyvek in 2023.

 

Conversations on Europe: Mis/disinformation Security: Protecting EU Values and Democracy

“Mis/disinformation Security: Protecting EU Values and Democracies”
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

MODERATOR:

Erica Edwards, University of Pittsburgh
 
PANELISTS:
Ralitsa Kovacheva, Sofia University
Julia Partheymüller, University of Vienna
Elena Bruni, LUISS Guido Carli, Italy, Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer, University of Pittsburgh 
 
Not to be confused with misinformation, meaning inaccurate information, disinformation is false material meant to intentionally mislead or misinform individuals. Brought to the fore in 2016 with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, disinformation threatens to erode trust in democratic systems, weaken individual freedoms, and increasingly undermine governments around the world. While the U.S. has yet to make meaningful progress in addressing disinformation, Europe has moved forward with new legislation and initiatives.
Join us for this session of Conversation on Europe in which we ask what steps Europe is taking to shore up EU values and counter disinformation.

EU Enlargement: Slovenia

EU Enlargement- Spotlight on Slovenia
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Moderator: Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh 
 
Panelists:
Simona Kukovič, School of Advanced Social Studies in Nova Gorica
Dr. Simona Kukovič is an Associate Professor of Political Science and works at the School of Advanced Social Studies in Nova Gorica, Faculty of Information Studies, and the University of Ljubljana. Dr. Kukovič’s area of expertise is political and administrative leadership at the local level. She also conducts research in the areas of leadership, comparative regional and local government, local democracy and participation, public administration, and administrative and political processes and institutions. She is Slovenian representative to the COST networks, a member of the executive board of the Central European Political Science Association (CEPSA) and general editor of the international scientific journal Journal of Comparative Politics.
 
Miro Haček, University of Ljubljana
Dr. Miro Hacek is a Professor at the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences. He runs courses such as Introduction to Political System, Introduction to Public Administration, and Local and Regional Government. From 2005 to 2007 and 2013 to 2017 he was the Head of political science department; from 2007 to 2011 he was also Head of policy analysis and public administration department at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana. From 1999 to 2009 he was General Secretary of the Slovenian Political Science Association, while in May 2009 he was elected President of the Association and in June 2011 for the vice-president of the Association. Between 2012-2018 he served as the Vice-President of Central European Political Science Association (CEPSA), and from 2018 he is current President of the Association.

 

EU Enlargement: Baltic States

EU Enlargement: Spotlight on Balti States (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia)
Thursday, December 7, 2023

Moderator:
Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh

Panelists:
Daunis Auers, University of Latvia
Dr. Auers is a professor of European studies and Jean Monnet, Chair of the University of Latvia. He studied at the London School of Economics and defended his PhD at University College London. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California-Berkeley (2005-2006) and a Baltic-American Freedom Foundation Scholar at Wayne State University in Detroit (2014). His book on The Comparative Government and Politics of the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the 21st Century – was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2015. He is currently working on a monograph analyzing Nordic-Baltic integration and is a Fulbright program Visiting Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle during the fall and winter of 2023/2024.

Ivars Ijabs, PhD, Member of the European Parliament
Dr. Ijabs is a Member of the European Parliament, elected in 2019 from the electoral alliance “Attīstībai/Par!”. Before entering politics, he was a widely known political scientist, publicist, associated professor at the University of Latvia and a researcher at the Advanced Social and Political Research Institute of the University of Latvia.  In the European Parliament, Dr. Ijabs is active in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), and the Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA), representing the “Renew Europe” group. His priorities are with legislative proposals that would bring more EU funding for science, research, and innovation in Latvia.