Vol. 8 • Issue 35 • July - September 2011

News letter

Successful PhD Defence: Congratulations Dr. Sigrid Winkler

IES researcher Sigrid Winkler successfully defended

her PhD thesis on 4 July on “A Question of Sover-

eignty? The EU’s Policy on Taiwan’s Participation

in International Organizations” (promoter Prof. Dr.

Bruno Coppieters).

Her thesis tackles the question of how the EU deals

with Taiwan’s efforts to take part in a number of

international organisations, despite the European

“one China” policy. None of the EU member states

recognise Taiwan as a sovereign country as they all

have mutually exclusive diplomatic relations with

the People’s Republic of China. While the EU eyes

Taiwan’s approaches towards international organisa-

tions with the suspicion of trying to establish itself

as a fully-fledged sovereign and independent state,

Taiwan is also a sufficiently established international

trade partner that cannot be left out of the interna-

tional system without endangering fundamental EU

interests. From an EU perspective, Taiwan’s prob-

lematic sovereignty is the overarching problem when

trying to formulate support for Taipei’s participation

in international organisations.

Read more on p. 2

Successful PhD for Dr. Sigrid Winkler

Joachim Koops and Peace Building

Eva Gross on Afghanistan

Luis Simon on India

Cluster report on UACES conference

Sigrid wins prize

ABS Governance Conference in Norway

Nuclear Stress Test Debate @ the IES

E-waste in developing countries

WISC Conference in Porto

Energy Security in a multipolar world

IES Lecture Series: Making Malmö Real: EGovernment In The EU

Trisha Meyer abroad

Jamal and the eGovPoliNet initiative

Who we are and what we can do for you

8th Summer School on the European Decision Making Process

EDU team l aunches Wednesday Webinars

Alexandra in Cardiff

ECPR Conference in Reykjavik

Migration & Diversity cluster on the move

Cem Tintin on the move

Selen Gueren at the Belgian Trade Workshop

2 4 6 7 8 10

Foreign & Security PolicyEnvironment

Sustainable Dev’tInformation Society Migration & Diversity Educational Development European Economics

New P

ublicat

ions:

p. 11

New S

taff:

p. 1

2

Studen

ts: p

. 15

2European Foreign & Security Policy

Joachim Koops and Peacebuilding

On 7 July, IES Associate Researcher Joachim Koops

took part in two expert workshops on Peacekeeping

and Peacebuilding in Berlin. He presented a paper

on ‘New Horizons, Persisting

Peacekeep ing Prob l ems :

Lessons Learned from the UN

Standby Arrangement System

and the Standby High Readiness

Brigade for UN Operations

(SHIRBRIG)’, at the Expert

Workshop, ‘New Horizons

and Old Problems for UN

Peacekeeping’, organized by

the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. He

also presented a paper on The

United Nations Peacebuilding

Commission: Lessons Learned and future prospects

for EU-UN ‘Effective Multilateralism’, at the Expert

Workshop ‘Making Multilateralism Effective: The

Role of the European Union’, organised by the

Istituto Affari Internazionali.

Eva Gross discusses Afghanistan, conflict prevention in international security

IES Senior Research Fellow Dr. Eva Gross contributed

her expertise on Afghanistan and conflict prevention

to a number of events over the summer. On 27/28

September, Eva attended the 3rd India-EU Forum

on Effective Multilateralism that was held at the

Indian Council of World Affairs in New Delhi and

contributed a presentation on the potential for

security cooperation in Afghanistan.

On 13 July, she participated – alongside

representatives from NATO, the EU and the

US Mission to the EU – in a lunch debate on

‘Afghanistan: Criteria for a Military Withdrawal of

the International Community’ hosted b y t h e

Böll Foundation in Brussels.

O n 8 S e p t e m b e r , s h e

participated in an evening

panel discussion at the

conference ‘10 Years

after 9/11: Lessons

Learned for Combating

a n d P r e v e n t i n g

I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Terrorism’ hosted by

the Friedrich Ebert

Foundation in Berlin.

Anna Stahl & Joachim Koops in Geneva

Anna Stahl and Joachim Koops attended the

Geneva Summer Workshop ‘The EU in the World.

Towards Global Partnerships in Peace Operation’,

organised by the Geneva Centre

for Security Policy (GCSP) in

July 2011. Joachim gave a

keynote lecture on ‘Inter-

organisational Cooperation

i n P e a c e a n d S e c u r i t y :

Theoretical Rationale and Policy

Implications’ whereas Anna

presented a paper on ‘EU and

Chinese approaches towards

governance and security in

Africa: contrasting rhetoric and

common interests’. Further,

Anna participated in a course taught by Dr Giles

Mohan on ‘The Rising powers: China and the Future

of International Development’ at the 2011 Oslo

Summer School. Not only did this course allow Anna

to discuss her research with other PhD students, but

she also received feedback from one of the leading

scholars on Chinese involvement in Africa.

Luis Simon Reports on India

L u i s a t t e n d e d a

c o n f e r e n c e a t

J a w a h a r l a l N e h r u

University in Delhi

(22-23 September) on

European Identity After

the Lisbon Treaty. The

conference consisted

of six panels. Luis

presented a paper ‘Offshore Power Europe: Buffering

Eurasia to Balance East Asia’ on the last panel (EU-

Asia relations). The paper explored the implications

of the rise of Asia for Europe and the European

Union. The presentation was followed by a lively

discussion on the geopolitics of eastern Eurasia and

the role of Europe and the European Union in that

part of the world.

In order to better categorise Taiwan’s inter-

national status as well as its foreign policy

strategies, Sigrid introduces in her research an

innovative tripartite conceptualisation of sover-

eignty: international legal sovereignty based on

the recognition of statehood; domestic sover-

eignty, understood as a domestic government’s

authority and control over its own territory and

population; and functional sovereignty, meaning

the ability of a non-recognised state to conduct

international relations, but usually only on spe-

cific issues. Viewing sovereignty from this per-

spective not only helps to explain the EU’s stance

on Taiwan’s quest for greater participation in

international organisations – Sigrid also uses it

to analyse the factors most likely to shape EU

policy on Taiwan’s efforts in several case-studies.

In the case-studies of the World Trade Organi-

zation (WTO), the Agreement on Government

Procurement (GPA) and the World Health Or-

ganization (WHO), Sigrid studies six factors

that shape European policy on Taiwan’s par-

ticipation in international organisations. Two

of these factors are internal to the EU: its own

decision-making processes and its interest in

Taiwan’s participation in particular international

organisations. Four external factors also influ-

ence EU policy: the membership criteria of the

international organisations in question; changes

in the Taiwanese campaign in relation to these

organisations; the Chinese position, and the role

of the United States.

After her PhD defence, Sigrid stayed at the IES

for three more months of postdoctoral research,

which she now continues as a recipient Taiwan

Fellowship granted to her by the Taiwanese Min-

istry of Foreign Affairs. For this purpose, she has

left Brussels and now conducts her work from

the Centre for Chinese Studies at the National

Central Library in Taipei, Taiwan. But she sure

misses the chocolate!

(story continued from p. 1)

Sigrid wins prize

The cluster is proud to announce that Dr Sigrid

Winkler was awarded second prize in the Young

Scholar Award by the European Association

of Taiwan Studies (EATS). The prize is for the

paper ‘A Question of Sovereignty? The EU’s

Policy on Taiwan’s Participation in International

Organizations’ that Sigrid presented at the 8th

EATS Annual Conference in Ljubljana earlier

this year.

3EFSP reports on UACES Conference

Four members of the EFSP cluster presented papers

at the 41st UACES Annual Conference, at Robinson

College, University of Cambridge, 5-7 September

2011.

Prof. Dr. Amelia Hadfield presented two papers,

the first of which, entitled ‘The Russians are…

Going? An Analysis of the Political Implications of

Russia’s Termination of the Energy Charter Treaty’,

was at the invitation of the BASEES working group

(British Association for Slavonic and East European

Studies). The context for the paper was the 2010

decision – in the wake of the Yukos case fracas – by

Russia to terminate its provisional application of the

Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), a treaty established in

1991 with the enthusiastic support of the EC and its

Member States. It is not the first time that a state has

withdrawn from a major international treaty. That

the event passed so unnoticed however was odd,

both for its own merits, and from the perspective

of the impact on EU-Russia relations. The paper

first set the context for the Russian withdrawal from

the ECT; it then pursued an extended analysis of its

impact on EU-Russian relations in general (in light of

both pre-Lisbon tools like the PCA and post-Lisbon

changes) and upon the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue

(now more than a decade long). The paper concluded

with observations as to whether this is still the case

as regards energy security, and in particular, in light

of the Russian withdrawal from the ECT.

Amelia’s second paper, entitled ‘Entrepreneur,

Reformer or Bully? The European Commission’s

Adventures in Energy Policy’ was at the invitation of

Julie Smith, Cambridge (and conference coordinator),

for a panel examining European leadership. The

paper investigated three facets of the European

Commission’s engagement with EU energy policy.

First, in setting the ideational foundation, the

Commission has acted as a discourse entrepreneur,

defining and disseminating with vigour the

norms and narratives of sustainable development

(amalgamating the social and commercial facets

of environmental and energy issues). Second, in its

crusade for greater liberalisation and willingness to

invoke anti-competition legislation, the Commission

has actively promoted itself as the chief reformer

of European energy markets, throwing down

the gauntlet to an array of commercial and state

enterprises. Third, by apparently enforcing the less

popular and palatable aspects of the Third Package

(like unbundling) on a wide variety of increasingly

unwilling Member States and actors, the Commission

has moved beyond reformer to something of an

enforcer of both market principles and European

energy security ambitions. Do the Commission’s

actions confirm the increased attenuation of

member state sovereignty or represent reformist

boldness in a policy area where collective action is

now imperative?

At the UACES AGM, Amelia also presented her final

Officer’s report as UACES Secretary. Amelia also

convened, with colleague Richard Whitman (Kent),

a CRN panel that presented updated perspectives

on the successes and challenges of researching

both the geopolitical and policy-specific aspects

of the Foreign Policies of the European Union

Member States. The CRN, entitled ‘European Foreign

Policies in Transition: Continuity and Change in

the European Union New Member States’ Foreign

Policies’ is in its third and final year of activity, with

a usable, wide-ranging and multi-authored text as

the primary output. Lastly, Amelia chaired Plenary

Session 3 ‘Can Europe Regain the Lead on Climate

Change’, which featured the IES’ own Dr Sebastian

Oberthur, John Mitchell from Chatham House (RIIA,

London), and Stephen Tindale, from the Centre for

European Reform.

On the third day of the conference, Dr. Alexander

Mattelaer and Alina Christova presented a joint

paper with the title ‘In Between Improvisation and

Doctrine: Planning EU Civilian Crisis Management

Operations’ in the framework of the panel The

Common Security and Defence Policy II – Exploring

the Civilian Dimension. The paper presented a state

of the art regarding the way the European Union

plans and conducts civilian crisis management

missions. It firstly described the planning process

taking into account recent institutional changes,

focusing on the creation of the Crisis Management

Planning Directorate (CMPD) and the Civilian

Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC). Secondly,

the paper analysed the delineation of competences

within the current institutional set-up and the

extent to which a common planning methodology

is emerging. Thirdly, the paper showed that

although past mission experience is characterised

by a significant amount of improvisation, a parallel

process of doctrinal codification is taking place on

the basis of best practices evaluations. Nevertheless,

the paper highlighted that a number of challenges

remain, such as staffing issues, planning timelines

and the discrepancy between political ambition

and operational constraints. The presentation was

followed by valuable comments from the panel

chairman Geoffrey Edwards and a discussion with

the panel and the audience. Moreover, Alina chaired

the panel ‘Post-Crisis Financial Measures and Policy

Making in the EU’.

Last, but not least, Dr. Luis Simon also presented

two papers: ‘Offshore power Europe: buffering

Eurasia to balance East Asia’ and ‘Grand Strategy

and shifting Franco-German conceptions of the

EU’. The first paper explored the meaning of

‘multipolarity’ in an early 21st century context and

assessed its implications for European geopolitics

and the geostrategy of the European Union. The

presentation was followed by a lively discussion

among the panel chairman (Geoffrey Edwards), the

co-panelists (Sven Biscop and Thomas Renard) and

the public. The second paper examined how grand

strategic considerations in France and Germany

have shaped their conceptions of the EU between

1990 and 2011, and the evolution of the EU itself.

The paper will be part of the second edition of The

Foreign Policies of the EU Member States, edited by

Ian Manners, Richard Whitman and Amelia Hadfield.

More information can be found on the website of

UACES: www.uaces.org/networks/foreignpolicy

4Environment Sustainable Development

IES Co-organises ABS Governance Conference in Norway

IES and the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI –

Oslo, Norway) co-organised the international

workshop entitled “Access and Benefit Sharing

(ABS) Governance after the Nagoya Protocol:

Architecture and Actors”, 26-27 September 2011.

The workshop took place in Lysaker, west of Oslo

(Norway), at the former residence of Fridtjof Nansen

- famous Norwegian polar explorer, interdisciplinary

scientist, diplomat, international humanitarian

activist and Nobel Laureate. It was supported by

the European Science Foundation’s COST Action on

Transformation of Global Environmental Governance

and endorsed by the Earth System Governance (ESG)

project of the International Human Dimensions

Programme on Global Environmental Change

(IHDP), an international and interdisciplinary science

programme that fosters social science research on

the human dimensions of global environmental

change.

The wo rkshop was

dedicated to the issue of

the governance of access

to and benefit sharing

from genetic resources

after the Nagoya Protocol

on ABS to the Convention

on Biological Diversity

(CBD) that was adopted in

October 2010. The value

of genetic resources

h a s i n p a r t i c u l a r

increased with the rise

of biotechnology. How

to share the benefits

thus created between

those countries and

communities particularly rich in such genetic

resources and traditional knowledge about them,

on one side, and mainly industrialised countries

and relevant industries interested in utilising

these resources, on the other, has been an issue

in international politics for more than 20 years.

A number of international fora are relevant for

international ABS governance, including (in addition

to the CBD) the World Trade Organization (WTO),

the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The focus of the workshop was on assessing

the particular features and the functioning of

international ABS governance in general and the

Nagoya Protocol in particular as well as the role of

a range of actors (including non-state actors, the EU,

Switzerland as a ‘small power’) in the emergence

of the Protocol. The format of the workshop in

which some 15-20 researchers (many of them with

longstanding expertise on the issue) allowed for

in-depth discussion of the 10 papers presented.

From the IES side, Florian Rabitz, Justyna

Pozarowska and Sebastian Oberthür attended the

workshop. Justyna presented a paper co-authored with

Sebastian assessing the impact of the Nagoya Protocol

on the evolving ‘institutional complex’ of global

ABS governance (i.e. on various other international

o r g a n i s a t i o n s a n d

agreements relevant

for ABS governance).

F lor ian presented a

paper co-authored with

Sebastian exploring the

EU leadership role in

the negotiations on the

Nagoya Protocol. Justyna

acted as a discussant

for two other papers;

Florian was discussant

of another presentation;

and Sebastian served as

co-chair and moderator

of the overall meeting

(together with Kristin

Rosendal from the FNI).

Two very productive days of discussion were

possible thanks to the funding of the COST Action.

Furthermore, the charming atmosphere of the

Nansen house and the hospitality of FNI and its

staff resulted in the idea of pursuing an edited

book covering the workshop topics. We agreed on

a draft work-plan to finalise the book manuscript in

the course of 2012.

Nuclear Stress Tests

The Environmental Cluster organised a policy

forum on the nuclear stress test debate on 21

September. The meeting was chaired by Junior

Researcher Radostina Primova and featured

three speakers from relevant policy fields: Mr

Luc Vanhoenacker representing Foratom and

chairing the European Nuclear Installations

Safety Standards Initiative (ENISS) Committee;

Ms Magali Smets, Deputy Director of AREVA

representing the nuclear industry; and Mr Eloi

Glorieux, former MP of the Flemish Parliament,

representing Greenpeace.

Mr Vanhoenacker focused on an assessment

of the various safety standards that ENISS

has introduced so far in tandem with the

European Commission. ENISS, representing 16

nuclear power countries within the EU, also

collaborated extensively with WENRA to this

effect, harmonising existing national regulations

throughout the EU. The presentation included

further analysis on technical and practical issues

concerning nuclear safety and the conditions

for its effective implementation on the basis of

ENISS’ three safety pillars: prevention, control,

and mitigation.

The second speaker, Ms. Magali Smets assessed

the risk implications with regard to the Fukushima

accident. The nuclear industry, it was argued,

has continuously improved the development of

safer nuclear power installations culminating in

the so-called 3rd generation power plants (i.e.

GEN3 level). The idea is, via best practices and

information exchange, to promote cooperation

in the sector among operators to ensure better

outcomes. Particular initiatives were proposed to

include specific budget allocations to ENSREG,

a common system of ‘quick response’ and

international standard setting.

The third speaker, Mr. Eloi Glorieux, referred

to the potential risks in the use of nuclear

energy, which are not incorporated in the risk

equations of industry and policy makers. He also

mentioned the costs that EU citizens would incur

in a hypothetical scenario of a nuclear accident.

Furthermore, there was also criticism of the

non-transparent policies of the industry, raising

the subject of accountability, and ultimately,

questions concerning democratic governance

and legitimacy.

5

Amelia on Energy Security

On 20 September 2011, Amelia Hadfield attended

a 1-day workshop organised by Chatham House

and the Energy Security in a Multipolar World

(ESMW) research cluster (ESMW) in London,

entitled ‘EU-UK Energy Security: Perceptions and

Realities’. The purpose of the workshop was to

explore in depth issues of energy security in Britain

and Europe. After presentations by ESMW Cluster

H e a d C a t h e r i n e

Mitchel l (Exeter ) ,

and Yolanda Garcia-

Mezquita (European

C o m m i s s i o n ) ,

Amelia’s presentation,

entitled ‘Perceptions

of energy security threats to the EU and wider

Europe’ examined both long-standing and recent

energy policy drivers facing EU Member States

including Russian withdrawal from the Energy

Charter Treaty, east-west geopolitical divisiveness

regarding Gazprom, and the heightened

negotiating status of the European Commission.

Further info on the workshop, including the

presentations can be found at: http://www.

chathamhouse.org/events/view/176691.

E-waste problem in developing countries aggravates– can EU’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies be transferred to provide solutions?

The increasing amounts of e-waste – used electronics

such as TVs, computers and mobile phones – in

developing countries has become a well recognised

environmental problem. Informal sector recycling

in countries in the East Asia and Africa releases

toxic substances that are dangerous to health and

detrimental to the environment. But how should we

address this problem?

One part of the problem is that huge amounts of the

e-waste in ‘developing’ countries has been in fact

generated in the ‘developed’ Western countries. To

address the problem, policies that incentivize and

regulate the proper take back and treatment of waste

locally are already in place in the EU and elsewhere.

There are also stringent rules on the export of

e-waste from developed to developing countries,

although their enforcement remains challenging.

The US has not even ratified the international

Basel Convention on Transboundary Movements

of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. It is still

legal in large parts of the US to export e-waste to

developing countries.

The amount of e-waste generated locally in the

‘third world’ countries is however also increasing

drastically. Consequently, these countries have

started to develop e-waste policies. An important

question is to what extent the e-waste policies

developed over the course of years in the developed

countries can contribute to the process. Are the

e-waste policies and laws in the EU, for example,

transferrable to other jurisdictions? Which policies

are most suitable for such policy transfer? Through

which mechanisms does the transfer take place?

These questions are practically important and

academically challenging. On September 9, PhD

candidate Panate Manomaivibool defended his PhD

thesis on this issue in Lund University, with IES’

Prof. Harri Kalimo as a member of the doctoral jury.

Mr. Manomaivibool’s thesis focused on the role that

the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility

(EPR) may have in the e-waste policies of non-OECD

countries. EPR means that assigning producers the

financial and/or physical responsibility for their

end-of-life products, producers are led to internalise

waste management considerations in their overall

product strategies. The considerations can relate

to the qualities of the product, as well as its

collection and treatment mechanisms. Because the

‘developing’ countries (still) have moderate levels of

e-waste, ill-developed waste infrastructure, as well

high levels of corruption, private sector participation

through EPR may offer unique advantages. On the

other hand the omnipresence of the unofficial

recycling sector diverts large quantities of waste

away from EPR-based systems. There are also

challenges inherent to EPR and its implementation

through multiple levels of governance, as the work

of Harri Kalimo has indicated.

The process of transferring e-waste policies appears

multi-faceted and complex, and can only be steered

to a limited degree. Indeed, another IES researcher,

PhD candidate Katja Biedenkopf, has argued in

her work that the successful transfer of e-waste

policies depends on multiple factors relating to

the mechanisms of transfer, factors internal to

the adopting jurisdictions and the attributes of

EPR policy. This research project is currently in its

completion phase, and Katja will defend her thesis

at the IES in the coming months.

WISC conference, 17-20 August 2011, Porto, Portugal.

by Claire Dupont and Radostina Primova

From the 17th to the 20th August 2011, IES researchers

Claire Dupont and Radostina Primova attended

the Third Global International Studies Conference

(WISC) in Porto, Portugal. The overall theme of

the conference was ‘World Crisis. Revolution or

Evolution in the International Community?’

This broad theme allowed for a large participation

of researchers from various disciplines, including

European Studies, International Relations,

Economics, Peace and Development Studies,

International Law, Environmental Politics, among

others.

Claire and Radostina attended the conference

to present their co-authored paper, entitled:

Combating governance complexity: the integration

and coordination of EU climate and energy policies.

With a total of three papers in their panel, there was

plenty of time for discussion and comments. Both

authors felt that they benefited from the comments

and questions of the audience, which will help them

to fine-tune their research further in future.

In addition, both Claire and Radostina chaired

a panel at the conference, which gave them the

opportunity to learn about other fields of research

other than their own. Radostina chaired a panel on

“cooperation in Latin America”, and Claire chaired

a panel discussing the “responsibility to protect”.

The conference provided much opportunity for

discussion and exchange of ideas with scholars and

researchers from around the world, resulting in an

enriching experience for both Claire and Radostina.

6Information Society

Making Malmö Real: E-Government In The EU

From October to December, the IES organises a

lecture series on eGovernment in the EU. The lecture

series raises a number of timely and pertinent

issues relating to the

adoption of eGovernment

at the local, European

and international levels.

The lectures address the

need to link research and

policy, not only in the

‘technological’ sense, but

also in terms of getting

to grips with the societal

context in which public

administrations now

find themselves. This

has been shifting due

to a large number of

influences, including the

growth in NGOs, financial crises, developments in

ICT in general, and the impact that all of this has

not only on service delivery but also on engagement

and policy formulation.

Some of the lectures take the key ‘building-block’

policy areas in the eGovernment Action Plan,

and critically examine different aspects of these.

Implementation of this at local level is a key input

into achieving policy objectives and thus the

discussion will revolve around the importance of

the local level in implementation.

The lectures examine the role of post-NPM approaches

i n u n d e r s t a n d i n g

and applying public

administration reforms

in EU state. They also

examine the importance

o f in te roperab i l i t y ,

looking specifically at the

role of global standards

bodies in European,

national and sub-national

policy for eGovernment.

Thirdly, they examine

the role of key enablers.

The question here is to

attempt to understand if

key enablers can actually

provide the desire and interest in eGovernment

uptake, or whether other variables are of far more

importance. This has important consequences in

terms of eGovernment provision.

The series aims to feed the insights gathered into the

Poznan Ministerial Conference. It directly addresses

transformations in European policy, taking a broad

overview from the ‘Bangemann Report’ to the

Digital Agenda, with specific attention to the Malmö

declaration. Attention is paid to the state of the art

and future challenges for the eGovernment Action

Plan, and plans to ‘make Malmö real’.

The lecture series provides a chance to reflect upon

the outcomes from Poznan and the impact on local

government and European policy and action. Given

the current context of the European eGovernment

policy debate, it is envisaged that ‘collaboration’

will provide a topic that will be highly discussed

during the Ministerial Conference. Thus, the final

two lectures focus on this issue. To wrap up the

lecture series, a closing keynote speech will be

given on the topic of ‘mutual learning’, which should

dovetail with some of the experiences of the lecture

series itself.

All lectures are conducted in English. The lecture

series is free and open to all, but registration is

required for organisational purposes. The series

take place on Wednesdays between 18:00 and 20:00,

at the IES premises.

 

Information Society Cluster on the move

Over the course of

the summer, many

researchers at the

I E S t r a ve l ab road

for conferences and

s u m m e r s c h o o l s .

Here’s a snippet from

IES Researcher Trisha

Meyer, who visited Canada, the UK, Slovenia and

the US in the past four months. She reports, “it’s

been an important summer for me in terms of

making headway in my PhD research. In July I

had the privilege of attending a doctoral summer

school at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), where

I received high-quality teaching on the implications

of the Internet for society. Then in August, I went to

a second doctoral summer school, organised by the

European Communication Research and Education

Association (ECREA). This summer school was

structured to encourage many formal and informal

discussions on dissertation topics. I left with a feeling

of immense gratitude for the amount and variety

of feedback I had received on my PhD. My summer

was topped off with a quick trip to the US, where I

presented a paper at the Telecommunications Policy

Research Conference (TPRC) in September. These

summer travels have been a wonderful opportunity

to test the theoretical framework of my PhD. Now,

it’s back to the drawing board and time to write

down those thoughts in chapter format!”. Trisha

has just started her third year and researches online

copyright enforcement policy in France and the UK.

I n A u g u s t , I E S

postdoctoral researcher

Dr . Jamal Shah in

attended the kick-

off meeting of the

eGovPoliNet project

<http://www.policy-

community.eu/> in

Delft, The Netherlands.

eGovPoliNet is a project funded by the European

Commission under the 7th Framework Programme.

eGovPoliNet sets up an international community in

ICT solutions for governance and policy modelling.

The international community of researchers and

practitioners will share and advance research and

insights from practical cases around the world. To

achieve this, eGovPoliNet will build on experiences

accumulated by leading actors bringing together the

innovative knowledge of the field. IES’ role in the

project is to provide input into the policy debate,

particularly at the EU level.

The Information Society cluster at the IES carries out research on legal and policy aspects of the

information society and knowledge economy. Its vision is to provide high-quality research, education

and academic services in two central areas: the EU internal market and public service governance, for

media digital services, ICT and electronic communications in a global context. Please consult our web

page http://www.ies.be/research/InformationSociety for more information.

7Migration Diversity

Ilke Adam & Hannelore Goeman report on ECPR Conference in Reykjavik

Senior Researcher Ilke Adam and PhD Researcher

Hannelore Goeman attended the ECPR conference

in Reykjavik, 24 -27 August, where they both

presented papers.

Hannelore presented her paper, ‘Towards an

agenda-based model for EU policy-making,’ on a

panel on agenda-setting processes in the EU based

on her doctoral research. Ilke made a presentation

under the section on ‘Themes and Challenges

to multi-level and Regional politics” on a panel

concerning ‘Devolution and Public Policy’. Ilke’s

presentation discussed devolution of migrant

integration policy to the regions in Belgium in 1980

after which policy divergence might be expected

to occur. From the end of the 1980s onwards,

when immigration became a politicised issue,

migrant integration policy frames did indeed start

to diverge. The main difference is related to the

interventionist versus the laissez-faire character

of the regions’ cultural citizenship policies. After

having highlighted the different institutional and

society-based factors commonly put forward in the

literature on public policy and devolution in general,

and on Belgium and migrant integration policies

in particular, Ilke’s presentation indicated that,

although these variables might predict divergence

after devolution, they do not yield an insight into

how the policies actually diverge. After presenting

her paper,‘Migrant integration policies of the Belgian

Regions. Explaining divergence after devolution,’

Ilke benefitted from constructive criticism, both

from the discussant and the audience, and had

the opportunity to meet people working on similar

topics.

Migration & Diversity Cluster on the road

Neepa Acharya has spent

recent weeks preparing for her

field work in India regarding the

elite diaspora. She will shortly

be taking up a scholarship

with the Bucerius Foundation

preceded by a two week preparation conference in

New York and washington DC.

Senior Researcher Richard Lewis

participated in the Internalional

Steering Committee of the

Metropolis Project following

on from its annual conference

in Ponta Delgada, Azores. The

Azores, with a current population of 250,000 have a

diaspora of 1.5 million people. Discourse on islands

and their diasporas was one of the main themes of

discussion.

Richard also chaired a one-day seminar organised

by the Centre for Parliamentary Studies entitled

‘Improving the Health and wellbeing of Migrants

in Europe’. An important part of the discussion

concerned the education of migrants on which a

paper was presented by Prof. Anthony Heath of the

University of Oxford.

P ro f . Al i son Woodward

participated in a two-day

conference of the national

government of Kosovo on

‘Accession to the European

Union and European Union

policy on equality and non-discrimination’ attended

by officials of research and higher education

institutes, public administration, cabinet officials,

broadcasting and media, as well as international

NGOs active in the region.

More than 3000 people attended the 10th European

Sociological Association meeting in Geneva, the

biggest one yet, on the theme ‘Social Relations in

Turbulent Times’. Alison presented a paper and

chaired sessions on European civil society.

8EDU Educational Development Unit

Who we are and what we can do for you!

During summer 2011, the former E-learning

and Training Unit has gone through a process

of re-thinking its priorities and strategic place

in the IES, in order to build a stronger and more

coherent presence. The main visible outcome

was the rebranding: we are now the Educational

Development Unit (EDU).

The name was chosen to

best convey the large range

of educational activities as

well as the research in the

field of educational science

undertaken by the members

of the team.

With our primary activities

focused on e-learning and

teaching/training we aim to

reach various target groups,

from students to professionals,

by offering them both our

off-the-shelf products, like

the Summer school and EU

in close-up and tailor-made

programmes, like the Hendrix

semester abroad and the European Public Policy

course that we are currently teaching at the

University of Kent in Brussels. At the same time,

we are gradually updating and developing our

E-modules into a Postgraduate certificate, currently

in the process of being accredited by the VUB.

Moreover, a new and interactive element has been

added to the mix: in September EDU launched

its Wednesday Webinar series, offering one or

more webinars per month on current EU affairs,

by bringing together, in our virtual classroom,

academics, policy makers and everyone eager to

use their lunch break and learn something about

the EU.

The main philosophy guiding our activities

is based on a blended learning pedagogical

approach, whereby we mix traditional classroom

teaching with technology-enhanced

learning, currently under the form

of the E-modules and the webinars.

The idea behind this is to try and

capture the best of what each

medium has to offer and include it in

our teaching methods with the goal

of increasing students’ motivation

and satisfaction. Not only are

the EDU activities connected to

blended learning, but the members

of the team are currently active in

the technology enhanced learning

research community, presenting

the IES’ approach at numerous

conferences, with very positive

feedback and publishing their

research in specialised e-learning

journals and books.

We look forward to discussing and collaborating

with you in the future!

From left to right: Alexandra Mihai, Amelia Hadfield, Alina Christova.

Alexandra in Cardiff

On 13-14 September, IES

Researcher Alexandra Mihai

participated in the annual

Political Studies Association

(PSA) and British International

Studies Association (BISA)

Teaching and Learning Group

Conference. The conference was

organised by the Centre for Excellence in teaching

and Learning (CELT) of Newport University and

brought together around 30 academics mainly from

universities in the United Kingdom (departments

of Politics and International Relations) all sharing a

passion for teaching and learning.

Thanks to its reduced size, the conference

adopted a workshop format and a very

interactive approach, encouraging the

exchange of best practice in an informal and

relaxed atmosphere. Some interesting debates

focused on topics such as “the ideal politics

curriculum”, the challenges of teaching and

training professionals and how can students’

interest in a politics degree can be increased.

Moreover, there was a lively discussion about how

academics behave in a more and more market-like

Higher Education system and what the implications

are for their pedagogical activity.

The second day was dedicated to curriculum

design and teaching approaches, including

presentations and discussions on student feedback,

the practicalities of integrating key skills in politics

programmes, as well as cultural diversity and

internationalisation, and the challenges of using

technology in teaching and learning. Alexandra

presented the blended learning approach of the

IES, trying to further explore what role technology

enhanced learning tools can play in teaching politics

and international relations. After her presentation,

she was asked to record a 5-minute podcast about

the IES experience of blended learning, to be

included in a repository of best practices on the PSA

and BISA Teaching and Learning Group websites.

Last but not least, as the conference was hosted in

the iconic building of the Welsh National Assembly,

participants had a very interesting guided tour and

presentation on the Welsh political system, and

had thus the chance to be exposed to a very pure

example of how subsidiarity works in practice.

9

Wednesday Webinars Series

During the period 4-15 July 2011, the EDU conducted

the 8th Inter-University Summer School on the

European Decision Making Process, which took

place for one week in Brussels and one week

in Vienna. The Summer School is organised in

cooperation with the University of Vienna and the

Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. This year, 9 students

from 7 different countries participated. The students

had a very intensive week in Brussels encompassing

various lectures on the theory and practice of

EU decision making given by Christine Neuhold

from Maastrich University, the EDU team (Amelia

Hadfield, Alina Christova and Alexandra Mihai),

Jamal Shahin, Alison Woodward, Irina Tanasescu,

Ruben Lombaert and Frank van Loock from the

European Commission. This was complemented

by visits to the EU institutions. During the second

week in Vienna, the students attended

lectures of Hubert Isak, Werner

Neudeck, Gerhard Hafner and Stefan

Lehne and also visited the EU Agency

for Fundamental Rights. The highlight

of the Summer School were the two

days, during which the students

simulated, under the auspices of Alina

and Anthony, Council negotiations

regarding a pandemic of avian

influenza threatening Europe and a

crisis management scenario in a fictional country in

Northern Africa. The Summer School was concluded

8th Summer School on the European Decision-Making Process

On 14 September, the Educational Development Unit

launched its Wednesday Webinar Series.

The concept behind the Webinar is to break down

barriers such as location and time constraints that

could otherwise make attendance difficult, and at

times even impossible. Given the hectic schedules

of professionals and students alike, the Webinars

conveniently take place over the lunch hour, from

12-13:15. Just grab a laptop, some lunch and make

sure you have an internet connection.

To kick off what will undoubtedly become

another successful and important IES

endeavor, the EDU had the privilege of

welcoming Prof. Dr. Doris Hildebrand as

the Webinar’s inaugural Guest Speaker.

Dr. Hildebrand lectured on State-Aid: EU

Governance in the Crisis, providing her

audience with an in-depth look at EU State

aid policies, rules, provisions and procedures,

while sharing her expertise on the financial crisis.

The second Webinar, entitled “Taiwan’s Status in

International Relations” took place on 28 September

and was a true testament to the global reach of the

Webinar with our Guest Speaker, Dr. Sigrid Winkler,

located in Taipei,

while participants were scattered across Europe.

Dr. Winkler’s lecture, covering the origins of

Taiwan’s awkward international status and looking

forward to future developments, was followed by a

lively Q&A session.

The Educational Development Unit would like to

thank all those involved for their time, support,

and tireless efforts in what has been a successful

debut to the Webinar Series.

The next Webinar, entitled “EU-China Relations”

is set for 26 October when the EDU will have

the pleasure of welcoming Prof. Dr. Gustaaf

Geeraerts, Director of the Brussels Institute

of Contemporary China Studies, as Guest

Speaker.

www.wednesday-webinars.eu

with very positive

feedback from the

participants. A

special thanks

goes to Laila for

the support!

10European Economy

The economics cluster continued to actively

participate in several international conferences and

carry out research in the area of EU trade, trade

policy and foreign direct investment.

Researcher Cem Tintin participated and presented

his first PhD paper at the International Conference

‘Economies of Central and Eastern Europe:

Convergence, Opportunities and Challenges’

between 12-14 June 2011 in Tallinn-Estonia. The

title of the presented paper was “the Determinants

of Foreign Direct Investment Inflows in the Central

Eastern European Countries: An Institutional

Approach”. The paper empirically analyses the role

of institutions as a determinant factor of FDI inflows

in the CEEC. The findings of the paper revealed

that the institutions (e.g economic freedoms, state

fragility) affect FDI inflows in a significant way

along with the size of the host country GDP in the

CEEC. The conference was held under the auspices

of the Eesti Pank (the Central Bank of Estonia) and

the Society for the Study of Emerging Markets

(USA). The conference attracted more than forty

pre- and post-doctoral researchers from a variety

of European countries and served as a platform to

exchange the recent research results in economics

and finance, especially in the Central and Eastern

European region.

Cem also attended the Euro Conference 2011:

‘Crises and Recovery in Emerging Markets’, 27-30

June 2011 in Izmir, Turkey. There he presented

his research paper “Does FDI Trigger Productivity

and Economic Growth? Evidence from Developed

and Developing Countries”. The conference was

organised by Izmir University of Economics and

was supported by the Central Bank of Turkey and

the Scientific Research Council of Turkey and the

Society for the Study of Emerging Markets. More than

seventy researchers from all over the world shared

their economic research findings on emerging

markets.

Cem presented an extended and updated version

of his first PhD paper at the 3rd Annual ETSG

Conference, 8-10 September 2011, in Copenhagen,

Denmark. The conference was organised by

the Copenhagen Business School, University of

Copenhagen and ETSG (European Trade Study

Group) and attracted numerous trade economists

from all over the world. Cem presented a paper

entitled “Do Institutions Matter for FDI? Evidence

from Central and Eastern European Countries”. The

paper highlights the role of strong institutions in

attracting FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the

Central and Eastern European Countries in addition

to the economic factors such as trade openness and

size of the host economy.

In September, Cem also attended the Brixen

Workshop & Summer School on International Trade

and Finance in Italy. Cem was selected among 80

applicants to participate in the summer school and

was awarded a scholarship by Fondazione Manlio

Masi to cover the tuition fee of the summer school.

The summer school hosted several renowned

trade theorists such as Jonathan Eaton (PennState

University, US) and Peter Neary (Oxford University,

UK). About 17 PhD students and postdocs spent and

enjoyed a whole week in Brixen, Italy to update their

knowledge about the recent developments in trade

theory and empirics in a cosy atmosphere.

Senior Research Fellow Selen Guerin presented

her work on the impact of bilateral investment

treaties on foreign direct investment at the 3rd

Belgian Trade Workshop, which was held at

ECARES, ULB. The findings of her work indicate that

bilateral investment treaties have been effective in

encouraging foreign direct investment flows into

developing countries. Selen also presented the

results and recommendations of a study on policy

coherence between the EU’s development goals with

its trade, migration, climate change and agriculture

policies to the Committee on Development of

the European Parliament. She was also a guest

speaker at a roundtable discussion in the European

Parliament on policy coherence for development

(PCD) and trade organised by MEP Birgit Schneiber-

Jastram (CDU), the rapporteur of the PCD. Selen

recently gave an interview to the Deutsch Welle TV

on the prospects of the EU-South Korea Free Trade

Agreement (FTA). The EU-South Korea FTA came

into effect on 1 July 2011. It is expected to boost

exports by 80 per cent for the EU, as well as having

a positive impact on EU income and welfare.

11IES Publications

S. Oberthür, Globale Klimapolitik nach Cancún.

Optionen für eine Führungsrolle der EU, in: Transit

41 (Summer 2011), 98-116.

Above mentioned article is a translation and

elaboration of: Sebastian Oberthür, Globale

Climate Governance after Cancun: Options for EU

Leadership, in: The International Spectator 46: 1

(March 2011), 5-13.

M. Pallemaerts and A. Gouritin “Environmental

The Europeanization of

National Foreign Policy:

Continuity and Change

in European Crisis

Management by Eva Gross

On the Road to EU membership: The economic transformation of Turkey by Selen Sarisoy Guerin, Ioannis Stivachtis (editors)

Managing Institutional

Complexity. Regime

Interplay and Global

Environmental Change

by Sebastian Oberthür and Olav

Schram Stokke (editors)

Institutional Interaction and

complexity are crucial to

environmental governance

and are quickly becoming

dominant themes in the

international relations and

environmental politics

l iteratures. This book

examines international

institutional interplay and

its consequences, focusing on two important issues:

how states and other actors, including the EU, can

manage institutional interaction to improve synergy

and avoid disruption; and what forces drive the

emergence and evolution of institutional complexes,

sets of institutions that cogovern particular issue

areas. The book, a product of the Institutional

Dimensions of Global Environmental Change

research project (IDGEC), offers both theoretical and

empirical perspectives.

ISBN: 9780262015912 www.mitpress.com

Enlargement is one of the most established

policies of the EU given the success of the past

waves of enlargement. Turkish membership of

the EU, after more than forty years in discussion,

is today a hot topic that has generated many

concerns and challenges at both the EU and in

national parliament levels. Since accession talks

commenced in October 2005, this significant

debate among politicians, policy-makers and

academicians has mostly focused on economic and

political factors as well as concerns over Turkey’s

large and growing population and its questionable

record of human rights and democracy. These

concerns are closely linked with the potential

impact of eventual Turkish membership on EU

decision-making as well as the economic costs on

the EU budget and EU’s absorptive capacity.

Political concerns over Turkish membership already

generated vast literature as well as the economic

costs of enlargement for the EU. However,

there continues to be a lack of information and

understanding regarding the economic costs for

Turkey.

This book focuses on the experience of Turkey to

date in fulfilling its EU membership requirements

and its impact on Turkish economy. It begins

by evaluating the economic dimension of the

EU-Turkey enlargement negotiations process;

it follows by assessing the current strengths

and weaknesses of the Turkish candidature by

outlining how well Turkey has fared so far and

finally, it details the implications of the accession

negotiations for various sectors of the Turkish

economy.

This book is of interest to both policy-makers and

all scholars of the EU enlargement process as it

provides an in depth stock-taking exercise of the

economic transformation of Turkey, much of which

currently takes place away from media coverage.

ISBN: 9789054878612

www.aspeditions.be

With the creation of the Common Security and

Defense Policy (CSDP) member states can rely on

more than one institution when it comes to matters

of international security. Britain and France, but

also Germany, were instrumental in creating CSDP

– but experience has shown that these three EU

member states do not automatically consider the

EU as an appropriate institutional framework for

crisis responses. Under what conditions, then,

do EU member states privilege European security

institutions in their crisis decision-making? This

book analyzes British, French and German decision-

Academic Articles

making processes in

four in ternat iona l

crises to delineate

t r a n s a t l a n t i c a n d

European influences

that act on policy-

makers . A l though

transatlantic pressures

have become less

important when i t

comes to reservation

against using the EU

as a platform for military crisis management

operations, this has not resulted in moves towards

more ‘Europeanized’ crisis decision-making.

Europeanization, therefore, continues to only

partially account for national policy choices.

ISBN: 9780230309135

www.palgrave.com

rights standards. The EU’s self proclaimed global

‘green’ leadership in question?”, in La protezione dei

diritti fondamentali, Carta dei diritti UE e standards

internazionali, L. Serena Rossi (Ed.), Società Italiana

di Diritto Internazionale, Editoriale Scientifica, 2011,

pp. 93-112.

A. Stahl, The EU’s Policy Response to China’s

Resource Diplomacy in Africa, in: EU-China Observer,

issue 4/2011, College of Europe, pp. 16-23.

12IES in the mediaThe following articles were published by IES researchers:

26/09 Eva Gross: Brussels has faced an uphill battle to assert its position.

source: EU Institute for Security Studies

21/09 Amelia Hadfield : European Foreign Policies in Translation.

source: UACES Newsletter (nr. 69)

15/09 Luis Simon: Sidestepping the UK over EU military headquarters?

source: European Voice

08/09 Anna Stahl: The EU’s Policy Response to China’s Resource Diplomacy in Africa.

source: Atlantic Community

07/09 Alexander Mattelaer: Het spook van Kadhafi zwerft nog rond

source: De Morgen

13/07 Joachim Koops: Auf dem Papier kann ein Land viel sagen.

source: Frieden sichern

IES in the media

New IES Communications Officer

Marie Tuley took up

the newly created

position of External

Communicat ions

and Recruitment

O f f i c e r o n 1

September.

Passionate about

communication (in

the broadest sense)

and Europe, she will take on the challenge

of helping to give form to a Communication,

Marketing Recruitment Plan, which will be

created and implemented together with the

Brussels University Alliance. Marie is originally

from the UK, and has lived in Belgium for four

years, where she has worked in the European

Commission, European NGOs, and also as

International Officer of a Student Union. She has

a BA (Hons) in Languages & Literature from the

University of Nottingham, as well as an Advanced

Master in Anthropology & Development Studies

from the K.U. Leuven.

Marie’s tasks will include: reviewing and updating

textual information, running recruitment

campaigns, researching potential marketing

possibilities, communicating with potential

students, management of IES’ social media, and

the review & creation of promotional material.

The overall aim is to increase the visibility of

the IES, both in its research capacity and its

educational merits.

New IES Events Manager

A t t h e e n d o f

September, Kristof

Rogge took over

the job of IES Events

M a n a g e r f r o m

Lawrence Steenstra,

who left the IES

to start working

at a headhunting

c o m p a n y .

Kristof studied Commerce Engineering

(Handelsingenieur) at the VUB, and will combine

work with his postgraduate studies Business

Informatics. Kristof is not unknown to the

Institute, as he had been working as a student

for the IES for about one year. He succesfully

helped the Institute move premises last spring,

and helped out with many of the administrative

and logistic tasks at the IES.

Geeks gather in London Drupalcon 2011

There is an interesting phenomenon in the world

of geekdom, more specifically in the world that

surrounds the mysterious ‘leader of the pack’ Dries

Buytaert. What Steve Jobs was for Apple, Dries

is for the Drupal Community, he is the – albeit

less enigmatic – inventor of Drupal. Drupal is the

content management system that runs websites

such as the twitter development community,

the White House webpage, the World Economic

Forum, the House of Representatives and, closer

to home, ING, Telenet and… the Institute for

European Studies. Every six months geeks – or

drupalistas as they are called in this case - from

all over the world (in London, participants came

from 55 different countries) gather to listen, learn

and discuss the future of Drupal, to learn about

new possibilities, and see in what direction it

evolve, and help decide that on different levels.

Klaas Chielens, the IES Electronic Communications

Officer, attended the conference in London so

that he could keep up to date with the latest

developments in the online content management

system (you might want to spot him in the group

picture below).

This is no small conference. In San Francisco, about

a year ago, 3000 Drupal fans were present, in

London there were 1750 (due to space limitations,

the conference was sold out with a long waiting

list). There were several parallel sessions about

site-building, site design, ux and theming, business

and best practices and coding for Drupal. Klaas

participated in several sessions, mostly centred on

the building of sites, usability and design. It was

a much-needed time for re-thinking the content

management system that IES uses and to keep up

to date with what is going on in the Drupal world.

Support Staff

13Visiting fellows @ the IES

Niklas Novaky received his

first degree from the University

of Kent in Canterbury in 2009,

where he studied three years

for a BA (Hons) in Politics

and International Relations.

After his undergraduate studies, he did a one-year

masters degree in ‘Politics and Government in the

European Union’ at the London School of Economics

and Political Science. During his time at LSE, he

applied for a PhD studentship on European security

at the University of Aberdeen that was funded by

the European research Council. Prof. Michael E.

Smith was looking for someone to do research

with him on the EU’s CSDP, and Niklas was luckily

offered the position. His doctoral research focuses

on burden-sharing between EU Member States in

military operations conducted in the framework of

the Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy

(CSDP). He aims to create a model that would provide

tools to provide answers to two related research

questions: Why do EU Member States participate

in CSDP military operations?; and how do they

determine the specific resources they choose to

commit to them?

Jelena Vasic recently joined

the Educational Develoment

Unit. She will mainly work

on the promotion of the

c u r r e n t E D U p r o j e c t s

such as the Webinars, EU

i n c l o s e - u p , a n d t h e E U m o d u l e s .

Jelena recently graduated with an MA in Political

Strategy and Communication from the University

of Kent, BSIS. Her thesis concerned the relations

between Serbia and NATO at the communication

level (“Living a Discursive Reality: An Evolving Story

of Communication Between Serbia and NATO (With

an overview of the principles and elements of the

eventual Communication Strategy)”. She holds a

Bachelor’s degree in International Law from the

University of Belgrade as well a Master’s degree

in Advanced European and International Studies

from the Institut Européen Des Hautes Etudes

Internationales (France). (Thesis “Communication

Strategy of the Republic of Serbia Aimed at

Enhancing Public Awareness on the European Union

and Creating Positive Public Attitude Towards the

European Integration Process”). She has ten years

of experience in the field of media and four years

in public relations and marketing in Serbia. Jelena

previously worked as a TV presenter and journalist

at RTV “Studio B” and from time to time wrote

articles for several Serbian magazines and websites.

From 2004 onwards, Jelena carried out a number of

successful PR campaigns in Serbia: campaigns for

the concerts of the popular artists (including Sting,

Phil Collins, David Copperfield, Bryan Adams, and

Eros Ramazotti). She also carried out PR campaigns

for events organised by “Belgrade Cultural Network”

in association with the Belgrade City Assembly

(this included Exit festival as well as PR campaigns

for promoting the films of Paramount Pictures,

Universal Pictures, DreamWorks and Buena Vista

International etc.)

V e r o n i k a J u r c o v a h a s

recently graduated from

M a s a r y k U n i v e r s i t y ,

B r n o , C z e c h R e p u b l i c .

She studied a Bachelor’s degree

in International Relations and

European Studies. She then went on to study

a Master’s degree in International Relations,

specifically on energy security issues. At IES she will

work primarily with Prof. Dr. Amelia Hadfield as an

intern specialising in energy security, probably also

linking up with the climate change cluster.

Eva Kubrichtova is an intern

in the Information Society

Cluster. She recently graduated

with an MA in European

Studies from the University of

Amsterdam where she wrote

her thesis on the EU’s influence on the educational

chances of Roma in the Czech Republic. Before

going to the Netherlands, she completed her BA in

Contemporary European Studies at the University of

Southampton in the UK. At the IES, she will mainly

be working on the organisation of the lecture series

in the coming semester and helping to organise

the EUIA conference in May 2012. Apart from this,

she would like to gain further knowledge about the

information society in the EU, focusing especially on

the role of the internet in today’s society and the EU

digital agenda from a global perspective. However,

she is also very keen to explore other new areas and

learn as much as possible during her time at the IES.

Medl i r Mema i s a PhD

candidate in the department

of Political Science at the

George Washington University

and a Visiting Research Fellow

at the IES. His dissertation

analyses the role of transnational advocacy networks

in the negotiation of the Rome Treaty of the

International Criminal Court. The project identifies

the consequences of inter/intra transnational

advocacy network competition and contestation

for the articulation and institutionalisation of

the most prominent features of the International

Criminal Court. In particular, Medlir’s work attempts

to provide an answer to the broader questions

of how and under what conditions advocacy

networks shape international institutions and state

behaviour. From 2010 to 2011, Medlir joined the

International Law Center at the Swedish National

Defense College as a guest scholar. Previous to

that, he worked as a Graduate Research Fellow at

the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian

studies in Washington DC. Medlir earned an MA

in European Studies and International Economics

from Johns Hopkins University - School of Advanced

International Studies (SAIS), during which time he

also worked as Editor-in-Chief of the Bologna Center

Journal of International Affairs and as a Research

Assistant at the Center for Transatlantic Relations.

Paul Brooks is an intern in the

Educational Development Unit.

He will mainly work on the

transition of the E-modules to

the Chamilo 2.0 open-source

platform. After graduating

from the University of Windsor (ON) with a BA degree

(major in Political Science), Paul moved to Poland.

After a short stint in Translation, and an even shorter

one in Human Resources, Paul was recruited by

the Consulting firm Accenture and assigned to the

OneFinance project to oversee Procurement related

matters in their client’s Benelux divisions. Paul is

currently enrolled at the University of Kent: BSIS,

and is pursuing a Master’s degree in International

Conflict and Security.

Elena Azcue graduated this

year from the VUB. She recently

started a two-month internship

at SMIT and IES. She intends

to carry out an analysis of Ley

Sinde, the new Spanish law

included within the Ley de Economía Sostenible,

which is an economic law whose main aim is to

improve the functioning of the Spanish economy.

Ley Sinde deals with copyright and the protection

of intellectual property rights. In her analysis she

will focus on the Internet arena and the policy

making process.

Benjamin Faude is a Research

Fe l low a t the Graduate

School ‘Markets and Social

Systems in Europe’ at the

Otto-Friedrich-University of

Bamberg, Germany. Benjamin

studied Political Science, Statistics, Public Law

and European Community Law at the University of

Bamberg. Before coming to IES, he was a Visiting

Scholar at the Institute for European Studies at the

University of California, Berkeley. Since October

2008, he has been conducting a PhD thesis on

interactions among international institutions. His

thesis develops a theoretical approach toward the

study of the developmental dynamics of institutional

complexes and their structural effects. He is joining

the IES for 4 months.

14Master Programmes: Law & Politics

Students awarded the LL.M. of International & European Law (2010/2011)

With the grade of Greatest Distinction – Summa

Cum Laude

MANIATIS Byron

PETRIKOVA Viktorija

POREBSKA Emilia

With the grade of Great Distinction – Magna

Cum Laude

CIRLIG Ramona

DAVIS Patricia

LAKLIA Nandor

LEGRAND Anaïs

NOUSINANOU Flora

PFLÜGER Matthias

ROSSO Roberta

SEMERTZI Aliki

STOMEL Alan

With the grade of Distinction – Cum Laude

ARISTIZABAL RAMIREZ Alejandra

CREMADES ROCAMORA Alberto

DEDIC Dajra

FONTAINE Elisabeth

HRSTKOVA SOLCOVA Olga

KROLIKOWSKA Ilona

LOUKACHENKO Olessia

POPOVIC Tanja

SEMERCI Tugba

SLAPAKOVA Veronika

YAKIMOVA Nataliya

With the grade of Satisfaction – Satisfecit

CHRONOPOULOU Eleni

FLASIKOVA Dorota

GAIDAK Nadiia

HELOU Gabriel

LIU Xinrui

NIEMIER Magdalena

OTIS Lindsay

RUSHKOVA Elizabeth

Students awarded the title of Master of European Integration and Development

With the grade of Greatest Distinction - Summa

Cum Laude

WILBORN Stella

With the grade of Great Distinction - Magna

Cum Laude

ALVES FERREIRA GUIDA Maria

BOON Pieter

CANETTI Valeria

GRUCHY Céline

HORTA PEREIRA DA SILVA PINTO Miguel

MAYNOU PUJOIRAS Laia

PIOTROWSKA Kamila

SCHUSTER Martin

With the grade of Distinction - Cum Laude

BORODANKOVA Olga

EKE Ekin

GUERRA Giuliana

MATAITYTE Juste

PROCA Roxana

SIAMPANOPOULOS Konstantinos

SILVA Alessio

VUKOTIC Marija

YAVORSKA Anna

ZAPIETAL Jirka

ZHANG Bicheng

With the grade of Satisfaction - Satisfecit

AFSHAIKH Mohammed

BAJRAMI Enisa

GROCHOVIAK Elzbieta

GÜMÜS Bilal

JIRICKOVA Olga

TAYEH Eziddeen

In February 2011, Atomoaei Ana-Maria succeeded

with satisfactory results

Since 2010, the Institute has been running its two

Advanced Master programmes through Service

Level Agreements with the Faculty of Economic,

Social and Political Science and the Faculty of

Law and Criminology. These agreements give

full delegation of the programmes to the IES and

enable the Institute to fully coordinate the LLM in

International and European Law (also referred to

as PILC) and the MA in European Integration and

Development (EuroMaster).

Although the IES has been involved in the LLM

since its inception in 2002 (and although it

has coordinated the EuroMaster programme

since 2006), the academic year 2010/2011

was the first under the full auspices of the IES.

The Institute welcomed a total of 97 students

to its two programmes: 62 students enrolled

for the EuroMaster, and 35 for the LLM. Both

programmes seem to attract more women than

men, as close to 70% of students are female.

103 potential students applied for the LLM

programme, with the Academic Board originally

selecting 64. Eventually, 35 new students enrolled

on the programme. Now that the academic year has

finished, we are pleased to report that 31 students

have graduated (see list below).

The Master in European Integration and

Development is an evening programme, and can

be followed either full-time or part-time (option

taken by approximately 30% of students). In

September 2011, we are delighted to report that 27

Euromaster students were awarded their Advanced

Master diploma (see below), the remaining students

will continue their part-time studies or will have to

re-take the year in 2011/2012.

15

I h a v e

been in Brussels since June but it

was not till the first day of class that I ventured

down to the VUB. As has been pointed out to me

on many occasions, I was first to arrive in Brussels

but definitely the last to complete the many

administrative tasks associated with the start of

term - I have just registered and everything else is

still on the to-do list!

First day at the Institute, Gerry and I arrived

characteristically late but Professor Devuyst soon put

an end to this with his firm mantra “9.00 is 9.00”!

Our first day began with an interesting talk with

Professors Kalimo and Joris. Everyone introduced

themselves and I was immediately struck by the

multinational nature of our class, composing of

26 nationalities in total, with Greece emerging as

the most represented. After a quick coffee, classes

commenced immediately and were by no means

introductory. Professor van Thiel gifted us a group

assignment and designated our break in between

classes as “reading time”, this, on our first day was

a shock to say the least. It did however set the

tone for what is shaping up to be a demanding

LLM, a prospect which I relish (excluding obviously

the 9am classes). On Wednesday, we loaded onto

the bus for a tour of Brussels accompanied by

Marleen as photographer and Prof. Kalimo. The

Arriving in Brussels three

days after I finished

work in Ireland and

off the back of several

celebratory send-offs,

I found myself slightly

at sea with the vagaries

of moving country. For

instance I managed to rack

up a 50 euro taxi trip from the

airport into town! I mean it was La Journee sans

Voitures but come on, it takes something special

to be so spectacularly shafted. Still the taxi driver

was very pleasant and I was delighted to be on the

cusp of city exploration.

First up was the Palais de Roi and Place Royale,

Place du Petit Sablon, the Bourse and so on. Walking

around without a map, I managed to miss La Grand

Place!! But then again I found quiet gorgeous spots

like the Abbaye de la Cambre which might not

have been high on every tourist’s go-to spots. Early

insights into Brussels were very favourable and have

remained so.

Mixed in with the

above was extensive apartment hunting which

obviously took a lot of time but happily the

neighbourhood close to the VUB seems to be good

to live in and I consequently found an apartment

near Place Flagey.

Our first morning in the IES was filled with multiple

handshakes, unintentional cultural knee-slappers of

the kind found in lost in translation moments, and

congenial welcoming talks from Professors Kalimo

and Joris. We also got to meet our course organiser,

so to speak, Marleen who proved to be very helpful

with registrations etc.

Our course in International and European Law

avoided the bonding sessions common to early days

in many academic courses and threw us headlong

into project work on globalisation, international

law and sustainable development, together with

discussions on the master thesis and so on. This is

exactly what we came here for and so we all plunged

in contentedly, for the most part!

We were also taken on a city-wide tour of Brussels

on the Wednesday of the first week which was

informative and enjoyable, and which let us play at

Students in the picture

Commissioners in the Berlaymont which we were

grateful for. Thereafter followed an agreeable wine

and nibbles reception back at the IES where we met

some more of the academic staff and our institute

colleagues.

At the moment the various practicalities of

registering in the commune, sorting out wi-fi access

in one’s apartment, joining gyms and sinister-

looking societies comes into play. In all of this

getting to know our affable classmates, terrorising

library staff, and learning how to mentally map

Brussels as a serious of bacchanalian places are

healthy and welcome distractions.

Now if only we could somehow manage to get hold

of the rare security cards allowing access to the IES

then we will at least avert the inevitable sliding-door

frustration charge ...

Gerry McElwee

tour began with a historical

explanation of one of the

VUB’s buildings leading me

to contemplate how enjoyable

the tour would be but luckily

it quickly improved with

views of the Atomium

and the Royal Palace.

T h e v i s i t t o t h e

Commission, where

we were welcomed by Prof. Hoffmeister was

undoubtedly the highlight. We then returned to

the Institute for refreshments which were quickly

devoured by all.

The week ended with a cancelled Friday afternoon

lecture to the delight of all. The weekend was spent

getting to know each other and of course working

on our assignment.

I like the city of Brussels, though the

footpaths need to be evened and the hairdressers

leave a lot to be desired. We have enjoyed spending

time in the various places of the city and will no doubt

have visited them all by the end of the LLM. I am also

very satisfied with the IES, the fact that we have our

own room, lockers and Marleen down the corridor is

very convenient. The professors are knowledgeable

and friendly, one even baked us waffles which were

greatly appreciated after a night spent on Place Lux!

I am looking forward to the weeks ahead especially

to the classes of one Professor who operates on the

basis that classes start a quarter past the hour - my

kind of guy! Now all that remains is to choose a

Masters thesis...

Marie-Alice Cleary

IES LL.M. StudEntS and aLuMnI

SavE thE datE ! CELEbratE

yEarS of PILC

on Saturday 5 May 2012

40

16Contributions to this Newsletter:

Neepa Acharya •Ilke Adam • Anthony Antoine •

Klaas Chielens • Alina Christova • Marie-Alice Cleary

• Claire Dupont • Hannelore Goeman • Eva Gross

• Selen Guerin • Amelia Hadfield • Harri Kalimo •

Joachim Koops • Richard Lewis • Alexander Mattelaer

• Gerry McElwee • Trisha Meyer • Alexandra Mihai •

Sebastian Oberthür • Justyna Pozarowska • Radostina

Primova • Florian Rabitz • Jamal Shahin • Luis Simon

• Anna Stahl • Cem Tintin • Marie Tuley • Sigrid

Winkler • Alison Woodward

Edited by:

Marie Tuley, Anthony Antoine and Laïla Macharis.

Pictures courtesy of IES

Newsletter of theInstitute for European Studies

Published by

Anthony antoInE

Institute for European StudiesVrije Universiteit Brussel

Pleinlaan 2 (IES)B-1050 Brussels (Belgium)

http://www.ies.beies@vub.ac.be

Date Event

Wednesday

30 November 2011

12:00 - Online

Wednesday Webinar

Jean Monnet Webinar: Quo Vadis EU - the dilemma of definitions

Wednesday

30 November 2011

18:00 - IES

Lecture Series

The ISA Programme: Governance Structure and Role in the EU

Tuesday

06 December 2011

12:00 - IES

Research Colloquium

Adapting to Institutional Complexity - the EU’s Strategy in the global

governance of genetic resources

Wednesday

07 December 2011

18:00 - IES

Lecture Series

Performance Management and ICT: potentials for cross-cutting research

Wednesday

14 December 2011

18:00 - IES

Lecture Series

Closing Lecture

Tuesday

20 December 2011

12:00 - IES

Research Colloquium

Unsuitable EU VAT Place of Supply Rules for Electronic Services; Proposals for

an alternative approach - by IES Researcher Marie Lamensch

Wednesday

18 January 2012

14:00 - IES

Training Programme

Workshop EU Research Funding

Friday

27 January 2012

09:00 - IES

Call for Papers - Expert Workshop

Inter-Organisationalism in International Relations: Theories and Cases

Mon - Wed

06-08 February 2012

IES

Training Programme

The EU in Close-Up

Thu - Sat

03 - 05 May 2012

Academy Palace

International Conference

The EU in International Affairs III

Mon - Sat

02 - 14 July 2012

IES & DAK Wien

Inter-University Summer School

The European Decision-Making Process / Eurpean Policy Making

Events Calendar

More information at http:/ /www.ies.be/conference2012

Conference themes:

The EU and International Institutions: Theories, Processes, Actors

The EU in a Globalizing World: Policy Dimensions

The Interplay between EU Member States, the

EU and International Affairs

Interregionalism and Bilateral Relations of the EU

The European Union inInternational Affairs

3 r d I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e

Brussels • 03 - 05 May 2012

Paleis der Academiën