On Monday, April 2, 2012, Prof. Birgit Mahnkopf of the Berlin School of Economics and Law will be at the Political Science Department on York’s Keele campus to deliver a lecture entitled “Geopolitics, Energy Imperialism and the Race for a ‘Green Economy'”. This lecture will take place in Ross South 674 (building # 28 on the map found here) and begins at 2:30 pm.

Birgit Mahnkopf is Professor of European Social Policy at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. She is one of Europe’s leading scholars on globalization and the political economy of work, social policy and ecology. Her major publications include: The Limits of Globalization (with Elmar Altvater, now in its 7th edition); Globalization of Insecurity: Working in the shade, black money and informal policy (2003); The Management of Globalization: Management, Structures, Perspectives (2003) as well as many articles and chapters in books on the EU social model being turned into the anti-egalitarianism of an aggressive commercial power. This presentation draws on her most recent research on EU energy strategies in the global economy.

All are welcome.

The European Union Centre of Excellence at housed at CCGES is pleased to present this year’s final lecture in the series “Whose (De)Fault is it Anyway? – The EU Crisis in Historical and Comparative Perspective”.  The lecture will be given by Prof. George Ross (ad personam Chaire Jean Monnet and Visitng Professor of Political Science at the Université de Montréal) on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 from 1:00-2:30 pm in room 305 York Lanes(building #24 on the map found here). The lecture will be titled “The Eurozone Crisis: To what degree are E.U. institutions and power relations to blame?”

Abstract: The Eurozone mess is obviously an important stage in today’s global capitalist financial crisis. This is far from being the full story, however, The institutions and power relations of the European Union have also been major culprits, transforming what might have been controllable problems into major threats to all of us. Discussing this story within the story and reflecting on what it means for the future of the EU are the main aims of this talk.

All are welcome and light refreshments will be served.

George Ross is Morris Hillquit Professor Emeritus at Brandeis University (USA), faculty associate at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University and presently ad personam Chaire Jean Monnet and Visitng Professor of Political Science at the University of Montreal. He has been Chair of the European Union Studies Association (2003-2005) and chair of the Council for European Studies (1990-1997). He is an editor of French Politics Culture and Society, Sociologie du Travail, Contemporary European Politics, and the Journal of European Integration. His honors and awards include the title of officier of the French Ordre des Palmes Academiques,and a Chaire Franqui from the Fondation Franqui of Belgium. His most recent books include The European Union and its Crises Through the Eyes of the Brussels Elite (Palgrave Macmillan 2011), What is Left of the Left?, edited with James Cronin and James Shoch (Duke University Press, 2011), Euros and Europeans: EMU and the European Model of Society, with Andrew Martin et al (Oxford University Press, 2005); Brave New World of European Labor with Andrew Martin, et al (New York: Berghahn, 1999); Jacques Delors and European Integration (Cambridge, England and New York: Polity/Oxford University Press, 1995); European Politics in Transition, with Mark Kesselman, Joel Krieger et al (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007)

This lecture series is a presentation of EUCE York and the Critical Research Laboratory in Law & Society at Osgoode Hall Law School and is intended to explore the intimidating dimensions of the European financial crisis from a variety of disciplinary perspectives including financial and economic history, political theory and European integration.

Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Time: 1-2:30 pm
Location: 305 York  Lanes

Together with partners at the German Historical Institute (GHI), Washington DC and the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies is pleased to a jointly organized workshop entitled “Models of Mobility: Systemic Differences, Path Dependencies, Economic, Social and Environmental Impact (1900 to tomorrow)”  at York University on March 23-24, 2011.

The workshop conveners are Matthias Kipping (Schulich), Christina Kraenzle (CCGES), and Christina Lubinski (GHI).
(CONTINUE READING)

The European Union Centre of Excellence project housed at CCGES along with the Centre for Refugee Studies and CERIS – Ontario Metropolis Centre are pleased to present a talk by Aga Szewczyk, a PhD candidate in the Geography at Loughborough University, U.K. Aga’s major research interest lies in graduate migration within the European Union. She holds Masters Degrees from Leicester University (Sustainable Management of Natural Resources) and Jagiellonian University (Human Geography) in Krakow, Poland.

The lecture is entitled “Polish graduate migrants in the U.K.”, this talk will address issues of career trajectories of Polish graduate migrants in theUK, with a focus on their skills attainment through education and work experiences both in Poland and in the UK, influencing their employability. In particular, it sheds light on the usefulness of higher education and further training in the labour market advancement of this cohort.

All are welcome and light refreshments will be served.

Date: Thursday, March 29th
Time: 12:30 to 2:00 pm
Location: 626 York Research Tower

The European Union Centre of Excellence project housed at CCGES is pleased to present Prof. Nikos Skoutaris (Assistant Professor, International and European Law, Maastricht University), an EUCE Visiting Scholar, for a lecture entitled “Accomodating the Cyprus issue in the European Union’s political and legal order” on Wednesday, March 7th from 12:30 to 2:00 pm in room 305 York Lanes (building #24 on the map found here).

Abstract: Despite the partial normalisation of the relations between the two ethno-religious segments on the island, Cyprus’ accession to the EU neither meant its reunification nor the restoration of the human rights or the complete lift of the political and economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community. Ironically enough, the accession of the island to the EU added a new dimension to its division. According to Protocol 10 on Cyprus of the Act of Accession 2003, the application of the acquis is ‘suspended in those areas of the Republic of Cyprus in which the Government of the Republic of Cyprus does not have effective control.’ The scope of the talk is twofold: on the one hand it provides for a concise but accurate analytical framework of the derogations to the suspension of the acquis and on the other, it assesses the pragmatic approach that the Union has adopted when dealing with issues arising from the conflict such as the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots, the “settlers” etc. The main thesis of the paper is that although the application of the acquis is suspended in northern Cyprus, the territorial character of the suspension has allowed a limited integration of those Areas within the EU.  In addition and with regard to a possible future settlement of the Cyprus issue, the paper argues that the Union is ‘ready to accommodate the terms of such a settlement in line with the principles on which the EU is founded.’

Nikos obtained his LL.B. from the University of Aberdeen, his LL.M. from Maastricht University and his Ph.D. from the European University Institute (Florence). He has worked at Amnesty International, the Council of the EU, the Academy of European Law and Tilburg University. At the moment he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International and European Law of Maastricht University where he teaches EU External Relations law and comparative constitutional law. He is an academic expert in the fields of EU constitutional law, EU external relations, comparative federalism and conflict resolution theory.

All are welcome and light refreshments will be served.

Date: Wednesday, March 7th
Time: 12:30-2:00 pm
Location: 305 York Lanes