EU at Crossroads
Graduate Student Workshop
EU at Crossroads
15 May 2009
Currently, European integration is being put to test in many respects. The global financial crisis is testing the EU’s ability to generate a collective response, and maintain the precarious balance between stability and growth, and regulation and competitiveness. The defeat of the Lisbon Treaty in the Irish referendum once again brought to the foreground the growing gap between European citizens and EU Institutions, and raised further questions about the post-enlargement functioning of EU Institutions. As there are growing expectations from the EU on the world stage, the differences among member states continue to stifle EU action, as in the case of unilateral declaration of Independence by Kosovo, and the Russian intervention in South Ossetia. In this neighborhood, the EU has to balance demands for membership with the increasingly felt enlargement fatigue within. The success of the 2004 and 2007 enlargements is shadowed by growing concerns about post-accession compliance in the new member states.At the same time, especially since 2006, EU-Turkey relations is yet at another period of uncertainty. As support for EU membership in Turkey falls, the government’s commitment to the negotiation and political reform process has waned, and positive legislative developments continue to be marred by implementation problems. In the context of the complications raised by the Cyprus issue, open opposition by some member states, and within European public opinion writ large, whether Turkey can be a member continues to be debated, despite the continuation of accession negotiations.
At this important juncture, we are inviting interested MA and Phd level students to submit original papers (see specifications below) to be evaluated for presentation at the Graduate Student Workshop at Koc University, 8-9 May 2009. We are especially interested in papers that analyze the challenges described in above abstract, in the fields of European Economic Integration, European Law and Institutions, European Social Policy, European Foreign and Security Policy, Comparative Perspectives on Europeanization, and EU-Turkey Relations.
