The 8th Euroacademia International Conference

The European Union and the Politicization of Europe

25 – 26 October 2019

Europa Hotel, Ghent, Belgium

Conference Description

 
The European Union was described by Jacques Delors as an ‘unidentified political object’ and by Jose Manuel Barroso as the first ‘non-Imperial empire’. The descriptors assigned to the European Union are creative and diverse. Yet, the agreement on what is the actual shape that the EU is taking is by no means an easy one to be achieved. Historical choices shaped and reshaped the size and functioning of the EU. The goal of an emerging ‘ever closer union’ is still in search for the paths of realization while pragmatics compete with ideal goals setting. The agreement seems to come when it’s about the growing impact of the decisions taken in Brussels on the daily lives of the European citizens and the increasingly redistributive outcomes of the policy choices inside the EU. These dynamics created the framework for the politicization of Europe and opened a vivid debate about the direction and proportions of such a process.

The politicization of Europe is a process that takes various shapes and addresses significant puzzles. While it is clear that the EU doesn’t resemble a state, it is less clear if the decisions that shape its policies are configured by Pareto efficient outcomes or by dynamics that are intrinsic to a political system and defined by emerging party politics within the European Parliament. The democratic problem or the democratic deficit issue was and continues to be one of the main challenges facing the European Union in any terms or from any position is understood or described. As some argue, the lack of fully democratic procedures led to Brexit while many European citizens largely are disenchanted with the way decisions are made in the EU. The problem of accountability for the decision making inside the EU was there from the beginning and it emerged gradually as more emphatic on the agenda of vivid debates as the powers of the EU have grown after the Maastricht Treaty. This was concomitant with a growing disenchantment of citizens from member states with politics in general, with debates over the democratic deficits inside member states, with enlargement and with a visible and worrying decrease in voters’ turnouts at both national and especially European elections. To all that, recent times added the economic crisis and a re-emergence of nationalism in many European countries and an increase in anti-EU sentiments. The optimist supporters of EU believe in its power to constantly reinvent and reshape in deepening integration while the pessimists see either a persistence of existing problems or a darker scenario that could lead in front of current problems even to the end of the EU as we know it.

The 8th International Conference ‘The European Union and the Politicization of Europe’ aims to survey some of the current debates in EU studies and addresses once more the challenges of the EU polity in a context of multiple crises that confronted Europe in recent years. It supports a transformative view that invites to dialogue balanced weights of optimism and pessimism in a belief that the unfold of current events and the way EU deals with delicate problems will put an increased pressure in the future on matters of accountability and will require some institutional adjustments that address democratic requirements for decision making. However in its present shape and context the EU does not look able to deliver soon appropriate answers to democratic demands. In a neo-functionalist slang we can say as an irony that the actual crisis in the EU legitimacy is a ‘spillover’ effect of institutional choices made some time before. To address the EU’s democratic deficit however is not to be a skeptic and ignore the benefits that came with it but to acknowledge the increasing popular dissatisfaction with ‘occult’ office politics and with the way EU tackles daily problems of public concern while the public is more and more affected by decisions taken at the European level. The question to be addressed in the conference is weather the increasing politicization of the EU will lead to a full democratization of EU politics or to increasing fragmentation and division. Of course, the scenarios regarding the future of the EU, the impact of Brexit and re-emerging nationalism and far right politics will be at the center of the debate in the conference.

Is the EU becoming an increasingly politicized entity? Is the on-going politicization of Europe a structured or a messy one? Do political parties within the European Parliament act in a manner that strengthens the view of the EU as an articulate political system? Are there efficient ways for addressing the democratic deficit issue? Can we find usable indicators for detecting an emerging European demos and a European civil society? Does a Europeanization of the masses take place or the EU remains persistently a genuinely elitist project? Did the Lisbon Treaty introduced significant changes regarding the challenges facing the EU? Can we see any robust improvements in the accountability of the EU decision making processes? Are there alternative ways of looking at the politicization processes and redistributive policies inside the EU? What is the impact of Brexit for the future of the EU? Can we expect a future of European solidarity or division? These are only few of the large number of questions that unfold when researchers or practitioners look at the EU. It is the aim of the 8th International Conference ‘The European Union and the Politicization of Europe’ to address in a constructive manner such questions and to offer a platform for dissemination of research results or puzzles that can contribute to a better understanding of the on-going process of politicization within the European Union.
 
The conference welcomes papers advancing contributions from the widest areas of inquiry related to the EU, from theoretic contributions and methodological proposals to case studies at EU level and regional or national levels. It aims to be an interdisciplinary event that adds value to the debate about the present and future of the EU based on the firm belief that deepening the specialized dialogue on EU topics leads to asserting the European critical thinking and to a better understanding of European realities. Papers addressing current challenges from the Eurozone crisis to Brexit or re-emergence of nationalist parties and attitudes in member states as well as security studies and IR papers are especially welcomed.

Participant’s Profile

 
The conference is addressed to academics, researchers and professionals with a particular interest in Europe, Europe related and European Union topics from all parts of the world. As the nature of the conference is intended to be multidisciplinary in nature, different academic backgrounds are equally welcomed. Cultural approaches, political studies, critical studies, out of mainstream approaches and artistic/literary contributions to the better understanding of Europe in its past present and future dimensions are all equally welcomed. Euroacademia favors alternative and innovative thinking proposals and non-mainstream methodologies.

Post-graduate students, doctoral candidates and young researchers are welcomed to submit an abstract. Representatives of INGOs, NGOs, Think Tanks and activists willing to present their work with impact on or influenced by specific understandings of Europe and/or the European Union are welcomed as well to submit the abstract of their contribution.

Abstracts will be reviewed and the participants are selected based on the proven quality of the abstract. The submitted paper for the conference proceedings is expected to be in accordance with the lines provided in the submitted abstract.

Registration and Fee

Registration Process is Now Closed

The Participation Fee Includes:

• the registration fee
• participant’s package with all the materials for the conference
• full access to the conference proceedings
• eligibility for inclusion in the conference proceedings published volume
• a copy of the published volume
• access to Euroacademia discussion group and newsletters
• coffee brakes for all the duration of the conference
• lunch on 25th of October 2019 at the Europa Hotel Restaurant
• lunch on 26th of October 2019 at the Europa Hotel Restaurant
• certificate of attendance
• access to optional social program

 
 
 
Unfortunately, Euroacademia has no available funds for covering transport and accommodation to/in Ghent. Participants are responsible for securing funding to cover transportation and accommodation costs during the whole period of the conference.
 

Social Activities

 
 
A specific spot in the conference program will be dedicated to social networking and therefore all the participants interested in setting or developing further cooperation agendas and prospects with other participants will have time to present and/or promote their project and express calls for cooperation based on prior request to organizers.

A specific setting (Social Corner) for promotional materials connected with the topic of the conference will be reserved for the use of the participants. Books authored or edited by the participants can be exhibited and promoted during the whole period of the conference and can also be presented within the conference package based on prior arrangements.

 
Photos and videos will be taken during the conference and the organizers will consider through the participation of selected presenters or members of the audience that the agreement for being photographed or filmed during the event was granted through registration to the event. Please notify the organizers in written form prior to the the event if you are a confirmed participant and would prefer otherwise.

An optional dinner and a social event will be organized for the first and second evenings of the conference in a typical cuisine restaurant as optional program for the willing participants. The social dinner will be held based on participant’s confirmation and its costs are to be covered individually by participants based on individual order.

Publication:

Selected papers will be published in an electronic volume with ISBN after the confirmation of the authors and a double peer-review process based on an agreed publication schedule. All the papers selected for publication should be original and must have not been priory published elsewhere. All participants to the conference will receive a copy of the volume.

Specific selected papers will be also published in CEJISS (Central European Journal of International & Security Studies)

About CEJISS
Formally launched in January 2007, CEJISS is designed as a double-destination scholarly bridge. The first bridge was constructed with Central Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in mind, focusing on increasing the audience for Central European scholars. In this regard, CEJISS is making a substantial impact as each issue attracts attention in some 45,000 people in nearly 160 countries. However, CEJISS is not Central European centric and invites scholars from around the world to contribute. This has meant that just as Central European scholars now have an easier time gaining a footing outside of the region, so international scholars also have an easier time getting in and making an impact here. With a mere two decades separating our times from the ‘darker’ Cold War years, CEJISS aims to contribute English language perspectives to the peoples of Central Europe and give the latter the amplification their research deserves.

Venue and Directions

The conference will take place in the conference premises of the high standard 3* Europa Hotel, a modern and trendy business and leisure hotel located on the beautiful banks of the Leie River in the green edge of Ghent, within a pleasant walking distance from the main attractions in the historical center or easily reachable by public transport available in the close vicinity. The walk to the historical center from the hotel offers a quiet and tranquil opportunity to take in the intimate beauty of Ghent in its natural joy and intimate residential streets. Ghent is a renowned city for its superb center, its museums, its eco-friendly attitude but also its restaurants and its pleasant streets intersecting numerous canals. Ghent has a particular appeal and atmosphere. Politically to the left, eco-friendly and a with a touch of bohemian atmosphere, the city has its own scenic waterways, soaring spires and a massive Gothic cathedral where you’ll find some of the most stunning paintings from the Middle Ages forming the world famous Ghent Altarpiece. Parts of the historic city center of Ghent are World Heritage Sites of UNESCO.

 
The 3* Europa Hotel is a modern hotel set on the side of Leie River, in an 20 minute walk from the main square and the Belfry with the Cloth Hall. The city center is restored and still breathes the atmosphere of a thriving late-medieval city state. During the Middle Ages, Ghent was one of the richest and most powerful cities in Europe. It was once considered the second largest city north of the alps, after Paris. The impact of this rich past can be clearly seen when viewing the imposing architecture of churches and the houses of rich traders.
 

Europa Hotel

Gordunakaai 59
9000 Gent – Belgium
 
 

How to get to Ghent

By Plane
The national Brussels Airport, one hour away by train or car, offers the best connections. A large number of carriers offer direct flights to Brussels. Belgium’s main airport has its own railway station. Ghent can easily be reached through the airports of Brussels, Charleroi (Brussels South) and Lille, so getting to Ghent by train is by far the easiest way. Direct trains from Brussels Airport are scheduled regularly. Take the airport train at level -1 at the terminal. No less than 4 trains an hour will take you from the airport to Ghent. An hour later you arrive at the train station in Ghent where taxis are waiting for you to take you to your hotel. From Charleroi Airport there is an Express Bus to Ghent station. Eurolines has buses from Ghent to destinations such as Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne and London. Flixbus offers also low cost stransportation to and from Ghent. Megabus operate services to/from London, Brussels and Amsterdam. Be aware that the Megabus bus stop for Ghent is at the Campanile Hotel Gent in Akkerhage, which is in the south of the city. Local buses 65 and 67 stop nearby.
 
By Train
Thanks to the high-speed Eurostar and Thalys trains, you are in Paris (2h), London and Amsterdam (3h) in no time. Traveling to Ghent on Belgium’s excellent rail system is a natural choice. Trains to and from Brussels leave every 20 minutes during the day. The journey from Brussel-Centraal (a.k.a. Bruxelles-Midi if you prefer French to Dutch) to Ghent takes about 30 minutes. The center of Ghent is quite small, so you can walk around on foot. However, the main station (Gent Sint-Pieters) is not in the city center, but takes a walk of about half an hour. The best option is to take the tram, which takes you directly to the center in 10 to 15 minutes.
 
See full information about the conference Location & Map:

HERE

Conference participants are responsible for arranging the accommodation and travel to/in Ghent.

Conference Program

The Conference Agenda is available in the right sidebar of this page.

The extensive conference program with abstracts and available draft papers is accessible below by clicking on the panel number tabs and links of individual presentations.

Thinking Europe: Philosophy, Intellectual History, Cultural Autonomy and the Making of the ‘Other’

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  Firat M. Haciahmetoglu, Husserl-Archives: Center for Phenomenology and Continental Philosophy, KU Leuven, Belgium
  The Sin of Indifference: Europe and the Ancient Greece This paper consists of two parts. In the first part, I will question the entrenched presuppositions behind the idea of Ancient Greece as the cradle of European civilization. On this account, it is widely argued that the defining and commencing difference of Europe is the invention of a theoretical, that is, a detached and disinterested, attitude whereby the totality of "the world" was, for the very first time in "history", has been discovered and thematized. This singular and unprecedented discovery, so it is further argued, consisted in a radical questioning which demanded of the "man" to take nothing for granted. Elaborating on this trite account, taken as the dogmatic understanding of what Europe is, I will try to unearth a myriad of experiences, ideas, and assumptions hidden in the seemingly unsophisticated deployment of the concepts "world", "history" and "man".

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  Corrado Claverini, University of Salerno, Italy
  A Philosophy for Europe: German Philosophy, French Theory, Italian Thought What are the characteristic features that distinguish “German Philosophy” from the “French Theory” and “Italian Thought”? The central research hypothesis of this paper is that, since its origins in Renaissance humanism, each tradition has particular characteristics. For example, in Italy, there has never been great attention paid to the philosophy of science and logic which is ever-present in the Anglo-Saxon context, nor a philosophy of the interior as seen in France from Pascal to Maine de Biran; nor again a highly metaphysical tradition as in Germany, from Leibniz, to Kant up to Idealism. The nature of the Italian tradition of thought is to be a “philosophy of praxis” (political and civic vocation, great attention to history, etc.). The structurally plural soul of European philosophy will be shown: the big difference between “German Philosophy”, “French Theory” and “Italian Thought” is only one of the several examples of the richness of European culture.

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  Dolores García, Department of Humanities of University CEU-San Pablo, Madrid, Spain
  European Social Thinking and the “Other” In the search for the European path ahead, philosophers have been exploring different approaches. The purpose is, firstly, bringing some little-visited approaches (Hanna Arendt, Simone Weil or Maria Zambrano) in a complementary manner and to replace the previous deductive method of modern ideologies with a more inductive bottom-up process that harvests, from their different essential contributions, a better understanding of the “other”. Secondly, it is suggested that the contemporary recognition of Europe should be placed more firmly within this tradition of aspiration for fraternity, putting into goal more in the people that in the institutions of the society that put up the walls of their cognitive closure. This is because, usually, fraternity is not considered as a premise and it could be not only the missing premise but a contribution of European culture.

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The Eurozone Crisis, Economics & Policy Making: Transformative Impact on the European Project and Model(s) of Capitalism

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  Simon Ganem , European Institute, London School of Economics, UK
  Negotiating the Third Greek Bailout: A Signalling Game with Double-Sided Incomplete Information In Spring 2014, Greek Prime Minister Samaras asked Chancellor Merkel to start debt talks in line with promises made by the Eurogroup in November 2012 but she turned down Samaras’ offer. So why did Merkel refuse to cooperate with Samaras in the first place? Using a signalling game-theoretical framework, we will show that double-sided incomplete information is a necessary condition for explaining the bargaining dynamics leading to the third Greek bailout. Even if both Germany (as representative of creditor countries) and Greece were more Grexit-averse than compromise-averse, incomplete information about each other’s preferences ordering induced the players to take risks, exchange threats and escalate a conflict in order to make the opponent yield first.

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  Clemens Pinnow, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain
  Legitimacy and EMU: Between Monetary Community and Monetary Association Which legitimacy criteria are appropriate for the institution in question? I develop two alternative criteria, one for international institutions we have moral duty to create, and one for those we are merely free to create. Institutions of the former, mandatory kind have to allow those they govern as much democratic control as is consistent with citizens’ willingness to take decisions with a view to the common good. Institutions of the latter, optional kind have to secure the continuous approval of concurrent majorities in their member states. If the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is of the mandatory kind, we may call it a monetary community; if it is of the latter, optional kind, we may call it a monetary association. Whether EMU is mandatory or optional, i.e. whether it is a monetary community or a monetary association, depends on the degree of interdependence in the policy areas it regulates and the degree of basic solidarity, i.e. willingness to take decisions with a view to the common good, of Eurozone citizens.

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  Achim Alan de Merlo, The Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland
  EU Ordo-Liberalism and Anti-Systemic Movements: The Disruption Potential Combined From different sides we are hearing in the academic milieu that the current European settings are somehow a situation similar to the twenties, and the consequential social response of the thirties of last century. Furthermore, along these lines, even Karl Marx thesis on capitalism has been recently resurrected from dusty bookshelves. Predicting such critical situation to happen, anyway soon or later, in the development of liberal capitalism. However, without taking these statements for granted, as right or wrong, the reflection in the paper tries to present if such methodological approach is consistent enough to analyse the current situation across Europe today. In other words, if the situation presented by scholars and in particular in the media today reflects, per-consequence, a social-psychological transformation that Europe has already experienced a century ago. I also conclude in proposing a tentative possible solution to the problem of divergence and discontent that is currently locking the progress of European integration.

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Populism, Nationalism and the Political Crisis of Europe: Assessing the Narratives, Conditions and Impact of Right-Leaning Parties in Europe

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  Burak Tangör, Department of International Relations, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
  Politicization of European Integration as a Source of Populism in Europe This study examines the political architecture of the European Union as sources of populist politics and the debates on democratic deficit within the EU. In this analysis, the dynamics of the politicization process within the framework of regional integration theories are revealed. It is argued that identity politics has become more decisive than economic considerations in a politicized European integration. Identity politics, therefore, is a source of populism through discussions of both sovereignty and democratic deficits in the European Union.

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  Michele Cantarella, Fondazione Marco Biagi, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia / European Central Bank

  Nicolò Fraccaroli, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy

  Roberto Volpe, Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MISE), Italy
  Does Fake News Affect Voting Behaviour? In this paper we investigate whether the spread of fake news has affected the results of recent elections, contributing to the growth of populist party platforms. We aim to quantify the causal effect of the spread of misinformation over electoral outcomes in the 2018 Italian General elections. The presence of Italian and German linguistic groups in the Trento and Bolzano/Bozen autonomous provinces offers a unique source of exogenous variation.

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  Pier Paolo Alfei, School of Advanced Studies "Giacomo Leopardi", University of Macerata, Italy
  Ordine Nuovo and the Idea of Europe There is still no examination of all the press produced by 'Ordine Nuovo', that is the major European neo-fascist movement of the second half of the 20th century. Through an analysis conducted between 2015 and 2019 with a critical-descriptive approach that considers all the articles published in over two decades in the newspapers connected to 'Ordine Nuovo', the aim of this paper is to detect similarities between the «battle for Europe» (Franco Mazzi, 1960) conducted by the militants of that movement and today’s radical right in Europe.

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  Ben Jack Nash, Independent Researcher / Independent Artist
  Is the Rise of European Populism a Backlash of Culture or a Backlash of Space? Changes have gradually been taking place over the last century and have now reached a tipping point. But rather than explain this phenomenon through the traditional socio-political or economic lens of relevant academic experts and commentators, it is told through the unusual and creative perspective of an established practicing artist. The talk will entertain how it might help to see them in terms of art, aesthetics, space and movement. Perhaps it is not a cultural backlash that can explain the rise in populism but a backlash of the physical against the abstract and its movement in space.

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EU and the Political Challenges of European Integration: Addressing the Models of Integration, EU’s Legitimacy Crisis, Public Perceptions, and Voting Behavior inside EU

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  Dorian Alt, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

  Erik Brandes, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

  David Nonhoff, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
  Europeans by the Polls. What Voter Motivation Tells Us about EP Accountability In light of conflicting theories and normative implications, we explore the motivations voiced by voters in regards to the 2019 EP elections and assess their meaning for the parliament’s accountability. We conducted 107 semi-structured interviews in France, Poland and Germany on Election Day with broad and open questions to explore voter heuristics, interpretative frames, and recurring themes. This qualitative approach allows us to develop a typology of six kinds of voter motivation. We find evidence of both second-order behavior and polity politicization, but also novel types of voter heuristics much less investigated so far

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  Matteo Rategni, FINO (Northwestern Italian Philosophy Consortium), Pavia, Italy
  Does Liberalism Need a Bit of Despotism? The traditional notion of sovereignty seems to be overpassed and partially replaced by over-national economic powers, which are far more extended and influencing than the sovereign states. This type of economic, personalistic power has an ill-fated influence on the inhabitants of the global polis. This latter is a kind of power with equal strength as the political one, but without the distinguishing degree of rationality. The order of the political sphere appears to be replaced by the disorder of an uncontrolled economic concurrence, generating in many citizens impotence and other disturbing feelings (nationalism).

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  Adam Cebula, Faculty of Christian Philosophy, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw, Poland
  From Legal to Political Constitutionalism? On Paradoxes Surrounding the Practice of Constitutional Adjudication in Newly (Re)Emerged European Democracies Considering the complex circumstances of a constitutional crisis is especially insightful in the case of EU member states experiencing a relatively quick, and thus more or less turbulent - even if nominally peaceful - transition to democracy from the system of a totalitarian oppression. In my paper I point out, in the first place, the highly politicized process of the creation and adoption of the constitution of the Republic of Poland.

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  Erisa Zykaj, SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
  Why the EU Integration Project is as Much about Emotion as it is about Rationality: An Analysis of EU Member States’ Communication Strategies Before National Referenda This paper focuses on the communication strategies of EU Member States ahead of the ‘No’ votes in national referenda on EU issues between 2005 and 2016. Its main research question is whether the Member States adopted communication strategies based on both factual and emotional arguments to defend the EU integration process. To answer this question, we adopted a methodology based on the triangulation of data: Literature, Eurobarometer data and 20 interviews (carried out between June 2018 and September 2019) with EU Member State experts and journalists involved in at least one of the referenda.

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The Making of European Identity through Visual and Narrative Practices: Cultural Diplomacy, Visual Synchronicity, Visual Hierarchies and Narrative Deconstruction of Dominant Culture

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  Emi Finkelstein, University of Pittsburgh, USA
  Synchronicity: Contemporary Europe as a Temporal Project My proposed paper explores the function of exhibitionary and visual culture in constructing Central European identity. Considering Central Europe not as a defined geographic space but rather what historian Ole Bouman’s calls “a synchronized experience in time,” this paper broadly divides the history of the region into four periods following the end of World War II in order to understand how the region has—and continues to—relate to the West, to the globe and to itself. Using moments of historical rupture—1989, 1999, 2004, and 2013—it is possible to use work by individual artists to visualize the historic construct of Central Europe as a fluid, ever-evolving mode of thinking and identity-constructing that works both in and out of time with the European Union.

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  Pedro David Massena Carreiro, Faculdade de Belas Artes, Lisbon University, Portugal
  Visibility Hierarchies: Santiago Sierra and the Homo Sacer The current article aims to assess the possibility of representing, in a visual scope, the figure of the homo sacer, a juridical term of the Roman law that the philosopher Giorgio Agamben recaptures when addressing biopolitical studies. Milena Tomic argues that any art project that addresses the issue of bare life, a condition where all the political and ethical representation was extracted by a non-mediated action of the State, must deal with its ubiquity, in the sense that Agamben sees the camp as both an anomaly of the past and the hidden matrix of the present. Tomic also argues that there is an unavoidable unrepresentability in the core of bare life, a dimension that this article aims to explore confronting it with the project of the artist Santiago Sierra who hires illegal workers, migrants or refugees in his installations and performances. The economical and ethical influence that this modus operandi creates among the figure of the homo sacer will constitute one of the axes of this paper, as well as its consequences within the process of the identity construction.

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  Katherine Peters, Faculty of Arts, Design and Technology, University of Derby, Derby, United Kingdom
  Europe and the ‘Other’ [Pakistan]: Deconstruction of the Dominant Culture by the ‘Other’ In this paper, the short poem, ‘Wasteland’ (1977) selected from her first collection Khushboo (Fragrance 1977), has been chosen for primary analysis. The poem written by Shakir in the twentieth century, under the influence of T.S.Eliot’s poem ‘The Waste Land’ (1971) also written in the twentieth century, gives Shakir a chance to have a dialogue with her own culture on the one hand, and with the English culture on the other. The paper will look at the intertextuality used by Shakir to examine how it connects the ‘Other’ east with the west and bridges the invisible divide of cultures, framing, what Mary Louis Pratt terms as transculturation (1999). The paper will also underline how the dialogic engagement deconstructs the dominance of the European culture when Shakir incorporates English themes into her eastern Pakistani culture and thus contaminates the supremacy of the west. The concept of hybridity, as framed by Bhabha, will also be applied as Shakir merges the western thought into eastern thought in the poem ‘Wasteland’.

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Europe and its Political Challenges: Assessing the Migration Crisis in Europe in Human Costs and Value-Driven Perceptions

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  Michele Cantarella, Fondazione Marco Biagi, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia / European Central Bank
  #Portichiusi: The Human Costs of Migrant Deterrence in the Mediterranean Using daily data on forced migration from the IOM and Frontex, I compare trends in flows and mortality across three major migration routes in the Mediterranean, analysing the effects of the introduction of rescue-deterrence policies in Italy. I find that the reduction in refugee migration flows in the Central Mediterranean has been modest, at best. At the same time, these policies have generated a permanent increase in daily mortality rates in the Central Mediterranean, having grown by more than 4 deaths per day. Finally, I investigate whether variations in mortality are sufficient to offset migration flows.

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  Apostolia Gkika, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece

  Gregorios Siourounis, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece
  The Rise of Far-Right in Europe: Refugees Crisis and the Role of Mass Media This paper assesses the degree and the channels through which European mass media coverage of random arrivals of refugees to European soil, and in particular in Greece, are associated with the voting intentions of European citizens for far right parties. In the early 2015 enormous random refugee flows have appeared in European Eastern borders mainly due to the civil conflict in Syria. We explore this random shock in arrivals and link it to mass media coverage in European countries and then associate this with voting intentions recorded in rolling polls to assess if cross sectional variation in coverage can potentially explain cross sectional variation in far right voting intentions.

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  Iryna Sofinska, National University ‘Lviv Polytechnic’, Ukraine
  European Identity and Citizenship: Challenges, Values and Allegiance in Time of Migration Depopulation, GDP per capita ranking, frozen arm conflicts, poverty, and unemployment force people to relocate, leave their homes to search for better future, security, and prosperity for themselves and their families. We count more than 20 million refugees globally; however, among them, 3.5 million are staying in the EU (Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, UK, Netherlands). It is not a question of integration and inclusion of newcomers into state and society anymore. It is about the arbitrary change of citizenship, as a genuine and effective link between a person and the state. This movement involves mutual relations between all the major players in the international arena, regardless of their role in it.

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  Adrian Kreutz, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  Aufstehen, Hinsetzen: Why the European Left Needs to Rethink its Pragmatism The first section of this paper analyses, what I call, the nationalist-argument against migration, put forward by an unsurprisingly astute European right which not only rekindles the old 'we-they-antagonism' between migrant workers and domestic workers, but is now also talking about class struggle; pointing to the recent fiascos of globalization, blaming the ruling elites and the ways they profit from open borders. In the second part of the paper, I expose the structural similarities between pragmatic anti-immigration arguments put forward by Aufstehen and the right nationalist-argument.

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Assessing the EU’s Claims of Normative Influence, International Identity and External Perceptions

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  Jilong Yang, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  A Paper Tiger or a Normative Power? The EU’s Construction of Its International Identity in Engaging an Assertive China This article contributes to ongoing debates on the EU’s normative influence in shaping China as a global actor and challenges those arguments that the EU’s normative foreign policies towards China do not work or those excessively pessimistic perceptions of the normative influence of the self-perceived Normative Power Europe in its relations with China. By examining the EU’s engagement with an increasingly assertive China in two China-sponsored global initiatives—the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), this article argues that the EU remains its efforts in diffusing its norms in engaging China in global economic governance. In managing the complexity of its engagement with an assertive China, this paper claims that the EU still can and also has many opportunities to diffuse its norms and construct its normative power identity. Facing an assertive China, the EU is not a paper tiger.

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  Elif Uçkan Dağdemir, Anadolu University, Turkey
  One Belt One Road Initiative Nexus to the European Union and China Relations: A New Economic Debunching? China’s willingness to make a substantial contribution to the so-called Juncker Plan made the OBOR Initiative more tempting for the EU. Last but not least, it comes across at a time of seeking for new-age partnerships so as to respond the deadlock of the multilateral trading system. The aim of this paper is to quest the conformity of the OBOR Initiative with the respective demands of the EU and China for their economic development and well-being. In this respect, prospective bridging role of the OBOR Initiative in enabling the economic connectivity between EU and Asia is evaluated. So as to conclude, probability of the OBOR Initiative in giving a fresh blood to the multilateral trading system via foreign direct investment veins is elaborated as a whole.

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  Emanuel Crudu, Euroacademia (Paris, Lucca & Brussels)
  Political Change in the EU, Brexit and External Perceptions 
  
  UPLOAD IN PROGRESS ...

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