See the conference panels with abstracts below by clicking on the panel no.

Thinking Europe: Philosophy, Autonomy and Culture

(Chair: Emanuel Crudu, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Italy)

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  R. Raj Singh, Brock University, Canada
  Europe’s Early Encounters with Eastern Thought: Schopenhauer This paper will elucidate the connection between Schopenhauer's system and Buddhism and Vedanta and will examine whether his interpretation was valid and whether it contributed toward a trans-cultural understanding within philosophy of the nineteenth century Europe.

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  Louis Chenard, Independent Researcher, Ontario, Canada
  The Notion of Dignity in European Culture This paper argues that personal dignity, or a dignified moral orientation, results from a constancy of intellectual efforts aimed at a positive expression of individuality in a given community. It makes the point that dignity is a feature of the moral character that attaches to the individual who strives to make an honest use of talents to live a respect filled existence.

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  Peter Latka, University of Toronto, Canada
  “This Whole Great Universe Serves as a Theatre”: Pan-European Trojan Origins In this excerpt from his 1588 essay “Of the most outstanding men,” Michel de Montaigne describes Homer’s influence as contributing to a Europe-wide contemporary social phenomenon. These observations call attention to three central elements linking Troy with the historical imaginary of late sixteenth-century Europeans: the remarkable popularity of the Troy legend.

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  Emanuel Crudu, IMT Insititute for Advanced Studies
  Europe as a Category of Thought: Autonomy as an Unfinished Project This paper aims to revisit precisely this patrimony of critical thinking. It is the belief implicit in this paper that contemporary understandings of Europe should be placed more firmly within this tradition of aspiration for autonomy as putting into question the imaginary institutions of the society and their emanated representations and shake the walls of their cognitive closure. This is because, autonomy as unlimited questioning is a premise and not an outcome of European culture.

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The European Way: Identitarian Representations of Europe in Visual Arts, Performing Arts and Literature

(Chair: Lorena Morales, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Fairfield, USA)

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  Lydia Schmuck, University of Hamburg, Institute of Political Sciences, Germany
  Europeaness vs. Non-Europeaness: ‘Europe’ as Category of Collective Self-Description in Spanish and Portuguese Literature Considering the reference to ‘Europe’ and ‘European’ in Spanish and Portuguese literary texts, this paper aims at giving an answer to the principle questions: What kind of configurations of the world and which ideas of community and diversity are transmitted via ‘Europe’ as category of collective self-description? And: To what extent ‘Europe’ serves as instrument of politicization of collective identities?

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  Maria Aivalioti, Independent Scholar, Drapetsona, Greece
  Greek Symbolism: The Quest of its European Identity: The Representation of a Movement in the Hellenic Art The goal is to demonstrate how are the subjects of the thematics, the style and the expression of Symbolism, as we find them in the European centres, traced in the paintings of the Greek Symbolism. How can we detect the perception of the Symbolism in the hellenic area (‘‘correspondances’’) and the attempt of the Greek artists not only to attribute a european allure to the movement but also to configure the Greek Symbolism, assigning to it a very special particularity (differences)?

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  Lorena Morales Aparicio, idsva / Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Fairfield, USA
  Pipilotti Rist’s ‘I Couldn’t Agree With You More’: The Ethical Integrity of Being Swiss This paper culminates in the impunity of Rist’s video art with respect to Bergson’s durée, a conception of time, space and processes occurring in intellectual tensions and deferrals, or Aristotelian means, for an integrity of Rist’s subjective and Swiss wholeness in plurality. Rist’s impunity is confirmed by Levinas’ theory of the integrity of objective subjectivity in sacred discourse with the other.

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  Lucy Tallentire, Sheffield University, UK
  Remembering and Transforming: A Study of Art and Culture in Berlin Since 1989 My paper considers the important role that contemporary art plays in remembering Berlin’s turbulent history and also how the art scene and the urban landscape of the city are being transformed as a consequence. To refer to a quotation from Memorylands(McDonald, 2013) “Memory has become a preoccupation […] implicated in justifications for conflicts and calls for apologies for past wrongs”.

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Europe and Identities: Inclusion and Exclusion Nexuses

(Chair: German Mendzheritskiy, Librarium Archives Russe de la Presse Ancienne)

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  Catherine MacMillan, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey
  Self or Other? The Eurozone Crisis in British Discourse The paper aims to explore the discussion of the Eurozone crisis in British political/media discourse through the lens of Foreign Policy Discourse Analysis, based on the work of Foucault. The paper examines how traditional discourse on state and nation and on Britain's relationship to Europe/ the EU is reflected in contemporary debate on the Eurozone crisis.

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  Ekaterina Bagreeva, Russian Economic University of G. V. Plekhanov
  The Old Soviet Style in the New Socio-Cultural Context of Europe This paper will explore how the value system in a country is reflected in the way people dress, and if the Russian-speaking migrants would leave their Soviet style in search of their Europeanness, or stay true to their previous socio-cultural context. We also explore how different aspirations and reasons for migration corresponded with the migrants’ every-day practice, as well as their identity and dress styles in Norway and Germany.

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  Bahar Taseli, Cyprus International University
  Imaginations of Europe in Turkish Cypriot Media Discourses In this paper I will examine the ways in which Europe and Europeanness are imagined in Turkish Cypriot media discourses. By focusing on the aftermath of the Annan Plan referendum (April 2004), I will explore how different columnists represented the failure of the Annan Plan as well as the missed opportunity to join the European Union.

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Europe and the European Union: The Multiple Faces of Europeanization as a Process

(Chair: Emanuel Crudu, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Italy)

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  Adrienne Héritier, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence

  Yannis Karagiannis, Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals, Spain
  Connecting Europe with the World: Transaction Costs, Institutional Solutions, and Democratic Deficits In terms of clarifications, we do not dispute the transaction cost-economizing logic; yet we argue that a more convincing theory of international regimes must imperatively name the precise kinds of actors who seek to economize on transaction costs. In terms of empirical tests, we select cases on the basis of the variation of one independent variable at a time, and show that the European Union (EU) may indeed be systematically trying to economize on transaction costs.

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  Giorgio Oikonomou, University of Athens, Greece

  Manolis Assimakopoulos, University of Peloponnese, Greece

  Ioannis Galariotis, Athens University of Economics & Business, Greece
  Aspects of Europeanization of Foreign Policy: The Case of Greece from 1996 Onward The aim of this paper is to identify to what extent Greece’s foreign policy has influenced and most importantly shaped by the policies produced at the European level with regard to the issue of Turkey’s European perspective. Focus is given on various theoretical approaches.

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  Yannis Karagiannis, Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals, Spain

  Nikitas Konstantinidis, University of Cambridge, UK
  European Conditionality, Reform Capacity, and the Differential Performance of Spain and Greece During the Last Financial Crisis This paper focuses on the differential ability of southern European debtor countries to respond to high-powered incentives created by creditor countries and the European Central Bank during the crisis of 2008-2013. While some countries like Spain seem to have responded positively to external incentives to reform, others like Greece have done so much more reluctantly, without anyone really taking ownership of the reforms.

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  Gerhard Eichweber, Value Group, Switzerland
  Up to New Frontiers of Continued Prosperity and Peace: A Europe of Self Determined Demarcation Lines. But without Borders… In this paper, the author draws a sketch of a Europe of prosperity for all based on appreciation of distinction: qualitative diversity not abused for ill arguments of superiority and inferiority, but as source of innovation and uniqueness of offers in their diversity precisely fitting the specific diversity of preferences and dreams of minorities.

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Europe and Its Internal and External Others: Europeanization and Migration

(Chair Ekaterina Bagreeva, Russian Economic University of G. V. Plekhanov, Moscow)

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  Dimitris Skleparis, Queen Mary, University of London, UK
  Rationalizing Human Rights Violations in Immigration Enforcement: The Case of Greek Security Professionals This paper argues that the repetition of illicit practices by Greek security professionals derives to a great extent from deeply embedded negative attitudes towards various key issues related to migration in their field. In this respect, this paper provides an overview of the security professionals’ understanding of the Greek ‘migration-security nexus’, the migrant ‘other’, the ‘self’, globalisation and multiculturalism.

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  Thodoris Kouros, University of Cyprus
  Religion and Immigration in Cyprus: A Comparative Study The main research questions I will address in this paper are: Is religion a barrier or bridge for immigrant integration? Does religion obstruct or promote social integration? How is religion related with social identity, cultural identity, and public opinion? I will attempt to answer these questions by focusing on immigrants’ religion and its role in integration, religious assimilation and adaptation.

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  German Mendzheritskiy, Librarium Archives Russe de la Presse Ancienne
  Twentieth Centrury Russian Migration to Europe: Between Assimilation and Preserving of Russian Cultural Heritage The migrants to Europe at the end of the 20-th century were mostly ethnic or economic migrants escaping uncertainty and economic problems of the countries of the former Soviet Union. Although because of other reasons part of them also is devoted to preserve the Russian culture in European surroundings. The report is devoted to the analysis of the difference between the waves of the Russian migration in Europe and its modern situation.

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  Elvira Fetahu, University "Aleksander Xhuvani" of Elbasan, Albania

  Ilir Bejtja, University "Aleksander Xhuvani" of Elbasan, Albania
  Immigrant Entrepreneur Challenges Toward Trade Europeanization: The Dynamics of Albanian Experience in the Province of Milan, Italy in this paper I want to analyze some elements and phenomena that can be touched and considered for possible change and development between Albanian immigrants abroad, based on findings of a sample studied by the Albanian immigrant group of Lombardy, Italy. These changes can relate to education, professional skills, marketing and economic skills, sociological training especially to socialization and enlargement of ties.

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European Politics and Economic Development: The Domestic Dimension – Opportunities and Distortions

(Chair: Gerhard K. Eichweber, Value Group, Switzerland)

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  Giorgio Oikonomou, University of Athens, Greece
  Europeanization Pressures and Administrative Reforms in Greece: Europe’s Influence on Subnational Institutions The proposed paper seeks to identify the EU’s impact on key administrative reforms of the Greek Regional and Local Authorities throughout the period 1986-2013, regarding their capacity for successfully implementing the European cohesion policy.

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  Fejzi Kolaneci, University of New York in Tirana, Albania

  Xhulia Dushku, University of New York, Tirana, Albania

  Juxhen Duzha, University of New York, Tirana, Albania

  Renaldo Rasa, University of New York, Tirana, Albania
  Detecting Speculation in Inflation Process by Testing Fair Game Hypothesis: Albania’s Case, January 2000 – January 2014 The present study is an attempt to investigate whether the monthly inflation rate in Albania during the period January 2000 – January 2014 follows a normal distribution and whether the fair game hypothesis is accepted for the inflation process in Albania over the specified period.

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  Brunela Trebicka, Universiteti Aleksander Moisiu, Durres, Albania
  Empirical Models for Analysis of the Black Economy Despite the high number of paper analyzing the Black Economy, this is a difficult field to study. This paper analyzes several models used to evaluate the size of the black economy. Unlike the direct model approaches, as the currency demand approach, that are used to evaluate the black economy, empirical models offer an opportunity to analyze the black economy and corruption, as well as their interconnection.

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  Gerhard Eichweber, Value Group, Switzerland
  Questions Leading to Re-Thinking of Democracy: The Sum of All Minorities is the Majority Abstract: Dealing with diversity as a fundamental right not to be repressed by anyone, also not on the grounds of quantitative criteria, be it because of being "better" or because of being "more" – and less because of being "more – and, thus, better" (or "more right" because of an incidental majority), leads to rethinking some of the basic concepts of current understanding of democracy. Moreover, the same fundamental right of diversity, which in the end leads to all people being minorities and, thus, serving economy and prosperity with their different demand, dealing with d

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The European Way: Identitarian Representations of Europe in Visual Arts, Performing Arts and Literature – Section Two

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  Harold Hinsinger, Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)
  The Inner Guide: Victor Burgin’s Exploration of European Topoï In his most recent videos such as A Place to Read (2010), Burgin virtually rebuilds, thanks to computer technology, a past that has vanished. It is not merely an archeological gesture but a testimony of his 'will to art' (kunstwollen). Through Burgin's practice, this paper aims to interrogate the interactions between History and Memory in the European context.

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  Elisa Garrido, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
  Depictions of America in Humboldt’s Work: The Art Dialogue Vues des Cordillères is a work from different contributions and disciplines, which creates a collective document of American space on the move, in a time when America and Europe were exchanging their world knowledge. This paper will explore the depiction of different cultures in one book, through the European imaginary.

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  Vera-Simone Schulz, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz - Max-Planck-Institut, Florence, Italy
  Florence in The Middle East – The Middle East in Florence: Old and New Challenges for Art History This paper will show how major figures in the canon of European painting such as Masaccio have intriguingly and creatively dealt with these non-European artifacts in their artworks, thus questioning the ›Europeanness‹ of Italian art and the borders and the role of ›Europe‹ in the middle ages and early modern period.

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