2017 Conference

24th International Conference of Europeanists

University of Glasgow, UK, July 12-14, 2017
Organized by the Council for European Studies

In 2017, CES will host the 24th annual International Conference of Europeanists at the University of Glasgow from July 12-14. Each year, CES brings together more than a thousand scholars and policy experts from dozens of countries to discuss the most pressing issues that Europe faces. The 2017 conference focuses on sustainability and transformation. For three days, experts will convene in Glasgow to present and debate new research on critical, timely topics such as Brexit vote, the immigration crisis, the stability of the Eurozone, the resurgence of populist political movements, and the opportunities and challenges of technological advances in artificial intelligence and data gathering. The conference also features a set of exhibits, digital and print advertising, and numerous sponsored special events.

CES encourages a global, multidisciplinary approach to the study of Europe and supports cutting-edge research on these topics at institutions on four continents. CES’ strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic allows it to coordinate a range of events, publications, research networks, and grant-making activities. From its offices in New York (Columbia University in the City of New York) and Barcelona (the Institut Barcelona D’Estudis Internacionals), CES supports innovative work in the humanities and social sciences through highly competitive pre-dissertation and dissertation completion grants, as well as numerous publication and travel prizes that highlight critical research on Europe. Its members enjoy participation in a number of themed research networks that bring together scholars despite disciplinary, generational, or national borders.

 

Keynote Speaker —Lord Jack McConnell — July 13, 2017

July 13 | 6:00 – 7:45 P.M., Bute Hall, University of Glasgow
“Transforming approaches to Conflict and Development. Where now for Europe?”

Lord McConnell’s keynote will look at recent failures in the multilateral system and public disillusionment with institutions and leaders across Europe and beyond. It will address the future of multilateral institutions including the European Union, advocating new approaches to development and peacebuilding to meet today’s global challenges. He will argue that conflict prevention needs a new direction for the 21st Century, understanding causes and embracing different identities, within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Jack McConnell was First Minister of Scotland from 2001 to 2007 and UK Special Representative for Peacebuilding 2008-2010.

Lord McConnell is a Board member of the UK/Japan 21st Century Group and the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin. He acts as an international consultant and guest lecturer to companies, universities and others; is Trustee or Patron of several charities engaged in development and conflict prevention, including as Chair of the McConnell International Foundation, with a particular interest in the life chances of vulnerable young people. He currently serves as Vice President of UNICEF UK, and he is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the UN Global Goals.

From 1999 to 2011, Jack McConnell was the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Motherwell and Wishaw. He was Scotland’s Minister for Finance 1999-2000 and Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs 2000-2001. Lord McConnell was a leading member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention from 1989 to 1998; President of the Legislative Regions of Europe 2004; and was appointed to the House of Lords in 2010. He grew up on the Island of Arran in Scotland and was a Mathematics teacher in Secondary (high) Schools before entering Parliament.

 

Keynote Speaker — Judy Dempsey — July 12, 2017

July 12 | 6:00 – 7:45 P.M., Bute Hall, University of Glasgow
“Europe. Wake Up! Sleep Walking is Over.”
Until 1945, Europe was a wretched battlefield. Wars, rivalries and ambitions had robbed the Continent of stability, of prosperity, of peace and of a special identity.The end of World War Two changed the dynamics.

The establishment of what is today’s European Union bestowed an extraordinary sense of hope, of peace, of reconciliation and of democracy, all along supported by the United States.

This is what the Europe now has to defend – not only against outsiders, but from within. Europe is torn between doubters, populists and sceptics who even question the EU’s relevance and those, like Emmanuel Macron, Wolfgang Schaueble and a handful of others who stand up for a Europe that is based on values, on progress, on facing the future, although they may differ about the direction. They share two things. The transatlantic relationship, the bedrock of post-1945 Europe, cannot be taken for granted. Europe can no longer piggy back on American security. And Europe cannot close down shop to globalization or digitilization.

If Europeans don’t embrace change and are not prepared to defend their values, they will undo what the founding fathers set out to achieve when it was founded 60 years ago in Rome. Non-democratic countries will be gleeful. It would usher in the decline if not eclipse of the West as we know it. Sleep walking has run its course.

Judy Dempsey is a nonresident senior associate at Carnegie Europe and editor-in-chief of its blog, Strategic Europe. For further information, please visit Carnegie Europe.

 

Discussant  —Anand Menon

Anand Menon is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London. He also directs the Economic and Social Research Council Initiative on the UK in a Changing Europe (www.ukandeu.ac.uk). Previously, he has held positions at Sciences Po, Columbia University, and NYU, and has written on many aspects of contemporary Europe including the EU politics and institutions, as well as European security. Menon is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of the European Union (OUP, 2012) and author, amongst other things, of Europe: The State of the Union (Atlantic Books 2008). He has written widely on European integration for publications including the Financial Times, Prospect, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and Le Monde. Menon is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and an associate fellow of Chatham House.