Europe's Role in the World: How the EU Is Seen by Other Global Players
– Call for Conference Proposals –
The Cologne Forum for International Relations and Security Policy (KFIBS), a registered association, is hosting its international conference ‘Europe’s Role in the World: How the EU Is Seen by Other Global Players’ to take place from 3 to 4 February 2012.
The increasing role the European Union (EU) plays in the world today is, at the same time, increasingly becoming a subject of discussion and analysis in the political and social sciences. Given that, until now, the political science mainstream has taken a predominantly Eurocentric perspective on Europe’s role in the world, our conference aims to take a different direction and a more diverse approach to the topic. Thus, rather than focus on actor-centric concepts or images such as ‘Europe as an Economic Power’ or ‘Europe as a Global and Military Actor’, the conference aims to explore particularly non-European perceptions of Europe’s role. Accordingly, the guiding questions to be discussed and analysed at the conference include:
• How is the EU perceived in Africa, Asia, Australia, Latin and North America?
• On the one hand, which expectations and hopes can be identified in the world’s regions with regard to the growing influence of the EU?
• On the other hand, which are the areas that non-Europeans identify as critical topics and trends for their own regional development and their own political models with regard to the EU?
The conference will be organised into five regional panels, each of which will be divided into the following three thematic sub-panels:
• Foreign and Development Policy
• Economic Relations from a Political Economy Perspective
• Civil Society – Culture and Religion
The working language will be English.
We are especially looking for contributions that explore aspects often neglected or overlooked, both in the theoretical discussion of the EU’s role in the world and its regional perceptions as well as in the policy-making domain.
Please submit proposals (250-500 words) to Mr Fabian Erwig (fabian.erwig AT kfibs DOT org) by 1 December 2011, midnight.
Further information on registration, accommodation, transport, etc., will be posted on the KFIBS web site www.kfibs.org soon.
