The First Euroacademia Convention of European Studies

Naming the Crisis of Europe and Assessing its Impact

24-26 October 2013, Brussels, Belgium

The expression ‘crisis of Europe’ used to be reserved for profound and elaborated cultural diagnoses coming from various reflective attitudes of concerned intellectuals. Now it is becoming part of common sense and one of the most used discursive or explanatory elements for a diverse variety of events. Governments, politicians, economists, intellectuals, institutions, civil society actors, and most of all the European citizens, they all invoke in a quotidian fashion the crisis. A general agreement seems to install that Europe and even more the European Union, are no longer the same. Commonality, solidarity, unity, cooperation, shared values and the future of a united Europe are more often challenged and questioned since the crisis emerged and the questioning proliferates as the crisis has deepened. Many scholars claim that new ways of looking at Europe and the EU should be formed as old models are no longer sufficient or efficient in showing a path out of the crisis. Others indicate to existing paradigms that should only be reframed and applied more consistently for better outcomes. Anyone agrees however that is the time to seriously think at the future of Europe.

The Euroacademia Convention of European Studies ‘Naming the Crisis of Europe and Assessing its Impact’ aims to address the ongoing challenges, to map the current state of reflection on the topic of the European crisis and to look at available scenarios for the future of Europe. No other field than European Studies has a larger portfolio of available disciplinary instruments, models and paradigms that are expected to provide answers to unfolding realities. If no single disciplinary trend can provide neither sufficient explanations of the ongoing events nor reasonable predictions, a dialogue between schools, trends, paradigms and models in European Studies could forward a mosaic of alternatives for reflection at hand.

Euroacademia aims to bring together a wide and worldwide network of academics, researchers, practitioners and activists that identify their concerns and practices with the generic field of the European Studies. Contested in epistemological terms as an autonomous field, the European Studies generated however starting the 20th century disciplinary and inter-disciplinary scientific communities, particular interests, methodologies and puzzles, schools, specializations, interests and academic events that indicate a dynamic framing of its particular identity.

The First Euroacademia Convention of European Studies aims to bring in an open floor for discussions, debates, reflection and sharing the features, topics, puzzles, methods, trends, schools and heresies within the field of European Studies that can account for the state of the field in times of crisis. The conference searches to address the European Studies identity as a field of studies through providing a framework for researches and practitioners to present their certitudes and dilemmas, their topics and inquiries, their claims and counter-claims that bring to live the European specificity of exposing itself to constant constructive criticism and reevaluation.

The Convention of European Studies starts from the assumption that in the 21st Century, Europe preserves its long-lasting saliency for researchers and practitioners, that specific dynamics of change and/or resistance to change inside Europe influences contemporary manners of addressing social, political, cultural or any other type of reflection. However, the formation of the European Studies as a more or less autonomous field for research relied and often still does on substantial conceptual imports from a wide variety of established fields and often of non-European provenience. These imports and the specific way of reshaping the research apparatus opened the way for both assertive attitudes and contestation. It is the aim of The Convention of European Studies to create an opportunity for assessing the state of the art today, the pros and the cons, the added value and also the question marks that might strengthen or weaken the profile of European Studies as a distinctive field in confronting current events.

The conference is opened to the widest variety of topics understood or perceived as being connected with the field of European Studies from meta-analytical views, to on-going puzzles, methodological proposals and/or assessments, specific topics, issues or shared experiences. The Convention of European Studies aims also to become a meeting point and an opportunity for dissemination, valorization, socialization, contact making and research agenda shaping that will to generate a future collaborative framework for all those involved in understanding Europe in its past, present and future dimensions. The Convention of European Studies is intended as a pretext to provide a dialogical opportunity and experience for all the participants to address and express their views, works, puzzles or criticisms regarding the state of the art and the specific concerns for European Studies today. It is also a good chance to see whether European Studies are able to provide consistent solutions to ameliorate or reasonable ways out of the crises.

The First Euroacademia Convention of European Studies is organized yet by no means restricted to the following orientative panels:

• Debating the Identity of the European Studies as a Field of Research
• Conceptual Imports Versus Specific Vocabularies for European Studies
• Epistemological Assessments
• Puzzles and Trends inside European Studies
• Re-Defining the Field
• Failures in European Studies or Questioned Accomplishments
• Distinctiveness of Europe/EU as Regional Integration Project
• Europeaness: Mirroring Europe in Terms of Norms and Values
• Towards a European Identity
• Political Organizations and Distinctive Logics of Appropriateness in Europe
• Insights of Practitioners: Putting Europe on the Map
• Europe East and West, North and South
• Europe in the World
• European Union and Challenges for Research
• EU as a Sui Generis Type of Polity
• Addressing New Puzzles Inside European Studies
• European Studies and its Power to Shape Policies
• EU as an Empire
• Europe and its Constitutive Others
• Europe and Globalization
• EU and the Process of Europeanization
• EU and Models of Regional Integration
• International Relations and the European Studies
• Comparative Models for European Studies
• Constructivist Approaches in European Studies
• Addressing the Quantitative/Qualitative Nexus Inside European Studies
• EU Enlargements and Their Lessons
• The Future of EU Enlargement
• The Impact of Theories of EU Enlargement on European Studies
• EU’s External Influence and Democratization
• EU and Foreign Policy
• EU and the Balkans

However, if you are willing to propose and/or chair a particular panel we welcome you to do so until 1st of September in the Propose a Panel section on the conference website.

Each Panel may contain a maximum of 5 speakers and a Chair that will act also as a Discussant.
Deadline for Panel Proposals is Closed as of 30 July 2013.

Participant’s Profile

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.

The participation fee includes:

- the registration fee,
- participant’s package with 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
- daily welcome coffee with snacks and unlimited conference drinks (water/sodas)
- coffee brakes with snacks for all the duration of the conference
- sparkling wine opening reception with snacks on 24th of October 2013
- a 4 course dinner on 24th of October 2013
- a 4 course lunch on 25th of October 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 20th of September 2013 and until the 25th of September 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

PARIS 17 ETOILE, 30 AVENUE NIEL 75017 PARIS FRANCE

The participation fee can be paid only through bank transfer. A confirmation of receipt with the 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 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.

Social Activities and Publication

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 typical Belgian cuisine restaurant 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 individually 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.

The First Euroacademia Convention of European Studies

24-26 October 2013, Brussels, Belgium
Deadline for applications was closed on 15th of September 2013