Reviewing the Trends: The European Union from a Regulatory Institution to a Post-national Cosmopolitan Order

18-20 July 2013, Brussels, Belgium

Historically, the EU is both curious and controversial: it is hard to explain from a state-centrist view the delegation of sovereignty and the fragile agreement on the gradual extension of the EU powers together with externalizations of the decision making to a polity that can be described, as Jacques Delors expressed it, as an unidentified political object. However, in the last 60 years the European Union absorbed increasing amounts of intellectual and political energies that attempted to singularly or complementary explain the nature of the beast and the logic of the processes unfolded within. A large amount of theoretical assumptions, methodological choices and explanatory techniques were imported from different fields of research to constitute what gradually took the shape of the EU studies. Still today, the European Union is seen as a unique project of regional integration that is unsettled and unfinished and yet a particular scientific vocabulary takes shape and influences research and policy making. The present conference aims to take into account the enormous creative energies invested in understanding and shaping the project of the European Union from the limited competences granted at the creation of the European Economic Community till the current formulation of the post-national understandings of its evolution.

From neo-functionalism to constructivism as IR theoretical imports to the EU seen as a political system in itself or as a post-national order, an overwhelming variety of puzzles and controversies animate the arena of the EU studies and bring partial agreements, alternative explanations, mutually exclusive proposals and unpredicted consequences regarding vital factors that shape the EU as a polity. Even the explanatory models often considered outdated prove to be resourceful in confronting determined policies, processes or institutional choices inside the EU. The innovation together with constant reevaluation, reformulation and revisiting of the past accounts seem to be the trademark of the EU studies. The plurality of approaches stands as the optimal choice in dealing with the diverse, multileveled, multitiered and multicentered reality of the European Union. Yet the advantage of plurality was also often used to blame the epistemological weaknesses and inaccuracies resulted from fragmentation and limited empirical applicability of particular trends inside European studies. The excessive conceptual imports from other fields and the limited methodological creativity were also established as skeptical positionings towards the European studies seen as a cohesive field of research and scholarship.

The Euroacademia International Conference ‘Reviewing the Trends: The European Union from a Regulatory Institution to a Post-national Cosmopolitan Order’ aims to bring openly on the floor of debate and discussion both the past and the contemporary trends in the study of the European Union trough the use of the magnifying glasses. The conference seeks to create an opportunity for evaluative accounts of essential developments within the study of the European Union. These accounts are to be understood as creative moments for articulating current concerns in the frame of disciplinary dialogue and methodological constrains or opportunities provided by the established traditions in the field of European studies. It is an opportunity for revisiting and assessing the persistent epistemological challenges in the field, the inheritances and their creative potential, the orthodoxies but also the heresies.

The conference welcomes paper proposals dealing with one or multiple traditions, trends and methodological choices within the arena of European Studies. The panels and papers are expected to provide a critical assessment or a comprehensive valorization of one of the central or out of the mainstream approaches applied to the European Union. Papers that address new puzzles, alternative theoretical choices or methodological corrections/innovations are welcomed. Both theoretical and empirical inquiries are equally considered.

The conference is organized yet by no means restricted to the following orientative panels:

Each Panel may contain a maximum of 5 speakers and a Chair that will act also as a Discussant.
Deadline for Panel Proposals is 5 June 2013

Panel Proposal

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The conference is addressed to academics, researchers and professionals with a particular interest in Europe and European Union from all parts of the world. As the nature of the conference is intended to be multidisciplinary in nature different academic backgrounds are welcomed.

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 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.

Participation fee: 245 Euro

The participation fee includes:

- the registration fee,
- all the materials for the conference
- a copy of the electronic volume
- access to Euroacademia discussion group and newsletters
- discounted rates for participation in the future Euroacademia conferences
- coffee brakes with snacks for all the duration of the conference
- wine reception and a cocktail with buffet dinner for 18th of July 2013 – the opening day
- a 3 course lunch on 19th of July 2013
- certificate of attendance
- optional social program.

A registration form will be sent to accepted participants that must be filled in and sent to [email protected] until 23rd of June 2013 and until the 28th of June 2013 the payment of the participation fee through bank transfer is requested and considered as the final confirmation of attendance. No paper will be introduced in the program without confirmation and payment of the participant fee.

The evaluation of the paper proposals is made in an ongoing basis and answers to applications are given in a maximum 5 days interval from the moment of the received applications.

Please be aware that the final confirmation of attendance will be considered upon payment of the participation fee in the Euroacademia account:

Euroacademia

Credit Mutuel
IBAN: FR7610278060470002073210155
BIC: CMCIFR2A

Branch PARIS 17 ETOILE – 30 AVENUE NIEL 75017 PARIS FRANCE

The participation fee can be paid ONLYthrough bank transfer. A confirmation of receipt together with a scanned invoice will be sent to you by e-mail and the original invoice will be delivered to you on site at the conference.

Unfortunately, Euroacademia has no available funds for covering transport and accommodation to/in Brussels. Participants are responsible for finding funding to cover transportation and accommodation costs during the whole period of the conference. Official letters can be sent by Euroacademia to the financing institution to confirm the selection and participation in the conference upon request.

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.

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.

An optional dinner and a social event will be organized for the second evening of the conference in a restaurant in Brussels as optional program for the willing participants. The social dinner will be held based on participant’s confirmation and it costs around 30 Euro to be covered by participants.

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.

The conference will take place in Brussels. The exact conference setting will be decided based on the final number of participants and announced as soon as possible with all the necessary directions.

The conference will take place in a high standards location. A map with all the directions will be uploaded in this section prior to the conference.

Discounted rates for specific hotels can be arranged by organizers and announced to selected participants upon request.