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Vol. 8 • Issue 44 • October - December 2013
News letter
Two New Research Projects - King
Boudewijn Foundation
Charles Ullens Prize for Research on
Migration awarded to Dr. Goeman
“Regulation is here to stay - and for Good
Reasons”
European Leadership towards a 2015 Global
Climate Agreement
Warsaw Climate Conference
Launch event of EU-modules
EU in Close-up brought together
various sectors
Report of IES Mission to Japan and Korea
3 4
4 6-7
Economic Governance Environment & Devt Migration & Justice Education
.The State of Defence in Europe: State of Emergency?
IES co-organises high-level conference providing recommendations for the
19-20 December European Council on defence
European Foreign & Defence Policy
Report of the Autumn Lecture Series: “The
EU has lost some of its competitiveness”
EU Budget 2014-2020: Major Reform or
Status Quo?
Upcoming EP Elections: Policy Forum
- 5 March
The first IES PhD within the discipline of economics
is a fact. On 31 October 2013 Cem Tintin successfully
defended his thesis entitled “Essays on Foreign Direct
Investment and International Trade”. Another first at
the IES: Cem completed his PhD in three years, instead
of the usual four.
On the last day of October of 2013, many interested
people arrived at the IES premises to listen to Cem deliver
his findings in the field of foreign direct investment (FDI).
The jury consisted of Professor Bruno Heyndels (Chair of
the Jury, VUB), Professor Luc Hens (PhD promoter, VUB),
Professor Leo van Hove (Jury Member, VUB), Professor
Ludo Cuyvers (Jury Member, Universiteit Antwerpen),
and Assistant-Professor Annabel Sels (Jury Member,
Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel).
Cem’s PhD dissertation consists of four essays on the
causes and the effects of globalisation. Since the 1980s
the world economy has become increasingly integrated,
known as globalisation. This integration process in the
world economy has been triggered by foreign direct
investment and international trade. By using statistical
analysis and panel data regression methods, the essays
in the PhD dissertation investigate: the determinants
of foreign direct investment inflows in the Central and
Eastern European Countries (CEEC); whether and to what
extent foreign direct investment affects labour income in
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devel-
opment (OECD) member countries; the effects of foreign
direct investment and international trade on economic
growth and development in developed, developing, and
least developed countries.
In essay 1, the findings show that higher GDP size, more
trade openness, EU membership, and high quality insti-
tutions associate with higher FDI inflows to the CEEC.
In essay 2, the results reveal that FDI increases labour
income in the OECD countries. In essays 3 and 4, the
The First Economics PhD at the IES: Globalisation - a Force for Good?
8 3 5
2results confirm that higher stocks of inward FDI, higher
trade orientation and stronger institutions affect growth
and development positively and significantly.
Overall Findings
The overall findings of Cem’s PhD dissertation reveal
the following:
• Globalisation is not an evil. More integration with
the world economy via FDI and international trade
has brought more prosperity that has allowed millions
of people to reach higher levels of income and better
standards of living.
• However, the benefits of globalisation are not evenly
distributed across different groups of countries. For
instance, developing countries seem to benefit more
from the growth effect of FDI than developed and least
developed countries.
• Institutions would play a dual role in the development
process. A higher level of institutions would associate
with more FDI inflows. In addition, a better institutional
quality would lead to a higher per capita income and
development level since it allows economic activities
to become less time-consuming, less-costly and more
productive (amongst other benefits).
Road to the PhD
Cem wrote his PhD dissertation under the supervision
of Professor Luc Hens of the VUB. Selen Sarisoy Guerin (a former IES researcher) and Professor Leo van Hove, VUB, also contributed to the PhD dissertation by kindly
providing their comments and feedback on the earlier
drafts of the dissertation. During his PhD, two IES re-
search colloquiums and eleven international conferences
and workshops also helped Cem to collect vast amounts
of feedback from professionals both in economics and in
other fields. During the PhD defence process, the final
remarks and comments of Professor Bruno Heyndels (VUB), Professor Ludo Cuyvers (Universiteit Antwer-
pen), Assistant Professor Annabel Sels (Hogeschool-
Universiteit Brussel) helped Cem’s PhD dissertation to
get its final shape.
PhD Cem Tintin
Policy Implications
The essays in the PhD dissertation reveal the following
common policy implications:
• Pro-growth policies would enhance FDI inflows to
host countries that a larger market size is preferred by
foreign investors.
• Pro-FDI policies would lead to an increase in eco-
nomic growth and development. All countries including
least developed ones benefit from economic growth
and development effects of FDI. From a labour income
perspective, workers also benefit from the existence of
more FDI that higher inward stocks of FDI associate with
higher labour income.
• Pro-trade policies would lead to an increase in eco-
nomic growth and development. Any reforms towards
having a more international trade friendly environment
(e.g. removing quotas, decreasing tariffs and facilitating
trade bureaucracy) would enhance development. Addi-
tionally, as shown in Essay 1, more trade openness may
also be helpful to attract more FDI inflows.
• Policies to upgrade the institutional quality should be
prioritized since the institutional quality has positive ef-
fects on growth and development. By using the economic
freedoms index, the direct positive effects of having a
higher institutional quality are confirmed in Essays 3 and
4. As shown in Essay 1, having sound institutions would
also associate with more FDI inflows that would further
enhance economic growth and development. It is also
confirmed in Essay 2 that having high-quality labour
market institutions (e.g. stricter employment protec-
tion legislation) would be beneficial for development
by improving labour income.
The Man Behind the PhD: Plenty of Ambition
So who is Cem Tintin? Was it destiny that a young man
with the surname ‘Tintin’ should come to find his future
in Belgium?
Cem was born and grew up in Manisa, Turkey. After
obtaining his Bachelor degree in economics from Ege
University in Izmir, he began his postgraduate studies in
Ankara. He decided to move abroad (first to Sweden and
consequently to Belgium) to complete his graduate edu-
cation. This decision enabled Cem to better understand
the world, to learn about different cultures and to benefit
from different international educational institutions in
several respects.
In his spare time Cem likes reading books on politics, the
Ottoman history and self–development. He also enjoys
hiking and cycling in nature. During his time in Brussels,
the forest on the outskirts of Brussels has allowed Cem to
regularly practise his favourite sports. Contrary to com-
mon wisdom, he does not like talking about football nor
shopping. His understanding of life was well formulated
by George Bernard Shaw who once said: “the reasonable
man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man”.
After the completion of his PhD in economics at Vrije
Universiteit Brussel, Cem plans to stay in research in the
short- and medium-term. Meanwhile, Cem would also
like to contribute to the IES as an Associate Researcher.
In the long-run, Cem has ambitions to enter the world
of politics in order to serve his community, and indeed
humanity, from a different channel.
3European Economic Governancethere are indeed no simple solutions for this task. In the field of competition law in particular, the solution for solving value conflicts is often to leave the agency wide discretion both in terms of the means and the substantive outcome. The agencies tend to react by either simply quietly ignoring the non-efficiency agenda, by more vocally noting that such an agenda is not applied, or by pushing the decision to another (politically more legitimate) body. The big problem is, however, that the agency is rarely transparent in its choice. Fuzzy labels such as “consumer welfare” can be used to obscure the decisions, or the process can be named as “only a technical analysis”, artificially isolating it from the value choice at hand. On the rare occasion that a specific social clause exists in the law – Prof. Kovacic used the example of South Africa – it tends to remain a dead letter. The Canadian “total welfare statute” could be the furthest advanced in integrating non-efficiency considerations into the decision-making rationale. The general problem that ensues is the multiplicity of the variables, because it requires prioritisation, yet there is no guidance available on how exactly. Overall, Prof. Kovacic found the value reconciliation research of the eCoherence project intriguing, because
the “current, global indirection is a shabby way of doing
business”. The agencies should aim to clearly spell out their
decision-making rationales for reasons of monitoring and
oversight, predictability as well as legitimacy.
The EU Budget for 2014-2020: Major Reform or Status Quo?One of the hardest challenges for the EU in 2013 was to agree on a Multiannual Financial Framework
(MFF) for the years 2014-2020. The negotiations, which started officially in 2011, seemed to have no
end and were full of deadlocks and twists. The adoption of the MFF by the EP was postponed time
and again, finally taking place in the month of November, only several weeks before the start of the
budgeting period.
Soon after this pivotal decision, the IES organised a Policy Forum on the topic. For answers to this timely
question, Dr Magdalena Sapala invited expert representatives of the three EU budgetary arms: Patrizio
Fiorilli (the European Commission), Antoine Kasel (the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the
EU) and Ivailo Kalfin (the European Parliament, S&D).
The discussion focused on the role of the EU institutions in the negotiation process, the outcomes of
the negotiations and the future reforms of the EU financing system. It proved yet again that although
the EU budget may seem small in economic terms, it is politically very controversial, carrying in itself
all the strengths and weaknesses that also characterise the European construction.
“the EU budget may seem small in economic terms, it is politically very controversial, carrying in itself all the strengths and weaknesses that also characterise the European construction. “
Autumn Lecture Series
The sessions on different fields of economic law in
the time of crisis revealed interesting patterns and
commonalities between the different fields.
First of all, the crisis has forced Member states to
cooperate more closely as regards economic policies.
This development will require solidarity as we move
toward a banking union. Another pattern that could
be detected was the challenges developing for EU
in a global environment. The EU has lost some of
its competitiveness. In addition, value clashes have
escalated and in the fields of trade and public
procurement third countries are criticizing the EU
for protectionism. As a third and final observation,
the emphasis has been very much on the economy
and economic recovery. However, a related trend has
been the downplaying of social challenges. Social and
environmental problems have not been sufficiently
tackled at union level.
Upcoming Parliamentary Elections
As the 2014 European Parliament elections are fast
approaching, Elzbieta Kuzelewska (Uni Białystok,
Poland) and Dariusz Kloza (IES) edited a collection
of essays about these elections as a challenge for
democracy. The recently published book focuses on
democratic deficit, legitimacy crisis, low turnout,
European public space as well as uniform electoral
procedure. The book will be launched during a joint
Policy Forum on 5 March 2014 in Brussels and on 15
April in Białystok, Poland.
eCoherence workshop with Prof. Bill Kovacic
On 12 December a research workshop took place with the former U.S. FTC chairman and Commissioner, Professor Bill Kovacic of the George Washington University. The discussion was part of the eCoherence project in collaboration with the University of Turku, that focuses on the reconciliation of economic and non-economic (or non-efficiency) values in a multipolar society. In the session, Prof. Kovacic shared his view that
“The EU has lost some of its competitiveness ... Social and environmental problems have not been sufficiently tackled at union level.”
4“Regulation is here to Stay – and for Good Reasons”
Report by Johanna Kentala-Lehtonen
The IES Policy Forum on the EU and US Environmental Policy: Convergence, Divergence and Cooperation took
place on 23 October 2013 with two distinguished speakers: Professor David Vogel from the University of California
at Berkeley and Dr. Patrick Ravillard from the European Commission, DG Environment. While Professor Vogel
lectured about the findings of his award winning book, The Politics of Precaution: Regulating Health, Safety, and
Environmental Risks in Europe and the United States, Dr. Ravillard presented a practitioner’s view on the current
transatlantic trade negotiations from the perspective of environmental regulation.
Dr. Ravillard recognised many good opportunities in transatlantic trade negotiations, where environmental and
labour issues have been named as among the high level topics in the negotiations. “Regulation is here to stay
and for good reasons” Dr. Ravillard argued. Both the US and the EU have the right to protect their citizens from
environmental risks and should not be limited in their democratic choices. Prof. Vogel, however, was ready to
claim, relying on his years of research and experience, that the transatlantic trade agreement would most probably
not happen due to unresolvable disagreements on the issues of food and safety. The Policy Forum concluded with
a lively debate between the speakers and with the audience.
Environment Sustainable Development
“Both the US and the EU have the right to protect their citizens from environmental risks and should not be limited in their
democratic choices.”
Report by Ernesto Roessing Neto
On 11 December 2013, the IES convened a Policy Forum on EU leadership towards a 2015 Global Climate
Agreement. The Forum was chaired by Claire Dupont, who welcomed Jacob Werksman (EU Commission, DG
Climate Action), Sebastian Oberthür and Lisanne Groen on the panel of speakers. The debate focused on the
outcomes of the 19th Conference of the Parties of
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (COP-19), which took place in November 2013
in Warsaw, Poland, and its impact on the negotiations
towards a new international legal instrument to be
adopted in 2015. The challenges for the negotiations
and the potential leadership role to be played by the EU
were also discussed. Jacob Werksman presented the EU
stepwise approach to climate negotiations and shared
his impressions on what was achieved by the EU and
by the international community as a whole. Sebastian
Oberthür and Lisanne Groen presented their analysis of
the EU’s performance at COP-19 and its impact in the
future negotiations. They found that EU performance
was mixed, with partially successful results, although
it was actively engaged in climate diplomacy. They
also argued that the EU needs to advance its domestic
climate policies towards 2030 and there is a need to
form a ‘leadership alliance’ including the EU and other
progressive states. The Policy Forum ended with a debate
with the audience.
The analysis by Sebastian and Lisanne has since become available as IES Policy Brief 1/2014 “EU Performance in the International Climate Negotiations in 2013: Scope for Improvement”. See Publications
page for more info.
From Warsaw to Lima to Paris: European Leadership towards a 2015 Global Climate Agreement
“the EU needs to advance its domestic climate policies towards 2030 and there is a need to form a ‘leadership alliance’ including the EU and other progressive states.“
Warsaw Climate Conference
Lisanne Groen and Sebastian Oberthür attended the
19th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the 9th Conference
of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Conference
took place in the National Stadium in Warsaw (Poland)
from 11 to 23 November 2013.
Lisanne attended these negotiations for the first time
in her life to observe the European Union’s role and
performance, the major focus of her PhD research.
As a member of the Belgian delegation, she took the
opportunity to conduct several interviews.
Sebastian Oberthür attended the conference as a
member of the German delegation and outgoing
member of the Compliance Committee of the Kyoto
Protocol. His major focus of attention was on the
possible structure of a 2015 global climate agreement.
He also attended a meeting of the project team on
“Agreement on Climate Transformation 2015” (ACT
2015).
5Two New Research Projects Awarded with funding from the Belgian King Boudewijn Foundation
The ‘Migration, Diversity and Justice’ research cluster was awarded two new research projects funded by the Belgian King Boudewijn Foundation. Both projects will run in 2014 and will be run by Prof. Dr. Ilke Adam (promotor) and Mathijs van Dijk (researcher).
The first project will inquire into the multi-level governance mechanisms for immigrant integration in Belgium and other multinational and/or federal states (Canada, United Kingdom, Spain and Germany). For a few years now, the European Council has asked elgium to better stimulate the participation of immigrants in the labour market. The differences in employment rates amongst immigrants and natives are among the largest in the EU. While several causes can be hypothesized to explain the poor labour market outcomes of Belgium’s immigrants, the Belgian authorities often point to the complex multi-level governance structure on integration and labour, wherein competencies are divided amongst the federal and regional authorities. IES researchers Ilke Adam and Mathijs van Dijk will inquire into the strengths and the weaknesses of intergovernmental cooperation to try to partially answer the question, if indeed, the complex multi-level governance structure can be held responsible for poor labour market outcomes of immigrants. They will also propose recommendations to improve multi-level cooperation. To do so, the researchers will investigate best practices in other multinational/federal states. Results are to be expected in June 2014.
The second project awarded to the IES migration and diversity research cluster is a joint project with Université Libre de Bruxelles (in particular the research groups GERME and Diver-city). The study is a reply to a call for proposals of the King Boudewijn Foundation to acquire better knowledge of the integration patterns of two important immigrant communities in Belgium: the Belgo-Turcs and the Belgo-Moroccans. The objective of the study is to better understand the socio-economic profile of these groups and the link between their socio-economic profile and their political attitudes, identity, patterns of political participation and religious practices. The ULB team is primarily responsible for the quantitative part of the study (design and analysis of the questionnaires), while the IES-VUB team will head the qualitative work package wherein the results of the quantitative analysis will be discussed, in focus groups and interviews, with Belgo-Turkish and Belgo-Moroccan elites. Results are to be expected at the end of 2014.
Migration Diversity & Justice
Second Char les Ul lens Pr ize for Research on Migration and Immigrant Integration goes to IES Researcher
On 3 October 2013, former IES doctora l researcher Hannelore Goeman was awarded the Charles Ullens Prize for research on migration and immigrant integration f o r he r PhD the s i s ‘Integrating integration: the constitution of a EU policy domain on migrant integration’. She defended her thesis in December 2012 at IES- VUB. The prize was given by the King Boudewijn Foundation (Fondation Roi Baudouin) which manages the Ullens
Fund. Named after its generous donor Charles Ullens, this Fund aims to contribute to deepening knowledge on migration and immigrant integration with the objective of stimulating a knowledge-based policy debate. Dr. Goeman is the second IES researcher in a row to receive this prize. Last year the same prize was attributed to IES researcher Prof. dr. Ilke Adam.
PhDs on the road
Several PhD researchers within the cluster have been (staying) on the road during the last months of 2013. In November and December, Irene Wieczorek spent time at both the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg and at the University of Cambridge.
Neepa Acharya headed to Chicago where she presented a theoretical paper on Cosmopolitanism in a double-panel session on Keywords of Mobility at the American Anthropological Association annual conference. The aim of the panel was to craft an anthropology of mobility through several keywords. Cosmopolitanism, Neepa argued, should not be regularly cast off as
being eurocentric and elitist and thereby ‘re-claimed’ through a multiplicity of modifiers such as rooted, diasporic, vernacular to apply to those not fitting its commonly-associated ‘privileged’ definition. Instead, she suggests that if we engage in a genealogy of the term, cosmopolitanism is entirely cosmopolitan, going back to its worldly values expressed by the Ashokan empire and Tan dynasties, and its association with learning about the local from Hadramawat traders along the silk road in the 15th century. After Chicago, more Chicago awaited Neepa in Paris, where she presented her work at a conference for the University of Chicago campus workshop hosted at Sciences Po. French and American academics asked very different questions, which provided great feedback.
Conference contributions
Alison Woodward served as rapporteur for the conference Structural Change Promoting Gender Equality in Research Organisations organided by the Lithuanian Presidency in Vilnius 20-21 November. She participated in a European Research Council Executive Board conference ‘On the way to the top: Providing equal opportunities for men and women in science and technology: Concluding remarks.’ She represented the European Science Foundation during the ESF Exploratory Workshop, University of Warwick 9-11 December 2013 ‘The Crisis of European Cosmopolitanism in the age of austerity: Multiculturalism and Colonial Legacies’ and she was workshop and lecture- co-organiser for the conference ‘Intersectionality’ at the University of Antwerp and the Universitaire Stichting.
Mathijs van Dijk presented his paper Tussen migratie en mobiliteit: een begrippenpaar met uiteenlopende vooronderstellingen during the a workshop for the conference ‘Intra-Europese migratie of mobiliteit Andere tijden nieuwe wegen?’ organised by het Centrum voor Migratie en Interculturele Studies (CeMIS) of the University of Antwerp. The conference dealt with the increasingly scrutinized question of EU migration for Europe and Belgium in particular. During plenary discussions with representatives of public organisations, the freedom of movement of people in Europe was discussed as a raison d’être for the Union, yet at the same time the tension with abuses of the (Belgian) welfare state were stressed. All workshop papers will be published as a collected volume in spring 2014.
6
EU in Close-up 28-30 October
In October 2013 the EDU organised the second “EU in Close-up” session of the year. The three-day intensive training brought together participants from various sectors (public, private, non-profit) that work on EU affairs and are interested in learning how the EU policy-making mechanism works in practice. For this session a few changes were introduced to the programme, in order to provide the participants with a more complete and detailed picture of the EU decision-making process. The new lectures on EU law and its relation with national legislation as well as EU lobbying were considered an added value to the overall programme, facilitating a deeper understanding of how the EU legislation impacts the everyday life of EU citizens and how various organiations can try to influence EU policies to promote their interest. Moreover, son the third day, the participants were given the option to choose from two panels that went into more depth explaining two policy areas: EU environmental policy and EU foreign policy. Aimed to customize the programme and adjust it to the participants’ interests, the panels brought together academics and policy makers from the respective fields and concluded with lively debates.
The next EU in Close-up session will take place on 26-28 March 2014.
EDU Educational Development Unit
This past autumn the EDU finalised the year-long platform migration for the EU Modules. To celebrate and showcase this achievement the launch event was organised on 22 October. The inaugural five beefed-up EU Modules were presented to the interested public together with the general scope and aims of the e-learning and blended learning methods on EU matters. On this occasion, Mr Ricardo Ferreira from DG Education and Culture of the European Commission gave the keynote address, emphasising the challenges and benefits of opening up education in the European Union with the help of new technologies. The discussion was followed by a hands-on workshop where participants could test the new Chamilo platform. On 1 November the new EU Modules went online, welcoming students from all over the world interested to find out more about various aspects of the European Union.
Anthony Antoine, IES Executive Director, addresses the audience at the EU-Modules launch event, joined by Magdalena Sapala, Alexandra Mihai and Silviu Piros
“On 1 November the new EU Modules went online, welcoming students from all over the world interested
to find out more about various aspects of the European Union.”
Launch Event: EU-Modules Take off in Style
“The three-day intensive training brought together participants from various sectors
(public, private, non-profit) that work on EU affairs and are interested in learning how the EU policy-making mechanism works in practice.”
TEMPUS project - Innovating Teaching and Learning of European Studies
The EDU will take part in a project financed by the
TEMPUS funding stream starting January 2014. IES
is one of nine partners of the consortium led by the
University of Maastricht, involving universities from
the UK, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The ‘Innovating
Teaching and Learning of European Studies’ (INOTLES)
projects aims to promote the convergence of European
Studies core curricula between the EU and neighbouring
countries and to provide teacher training in innovative
teaching methods such as e-learning and blended
learning. The EDU will be involved in various ways
including organising a teacher training session in
Brussels, conducting a literature review on teaching
methods in European Studies and offering a course
on the EU institutional setup via the online platform.
A New PhD in the Making: Alexandra Mihai
Building on previous research
endeavours, Alexandra Mihai has
started her PhD in Educational
Science on “Teaching politics
and international relations with
technology? An analysis of teaching
practices in Higher Education in the
field of politics and IR.” The main research questions are:
how and why do teachers in politics/IR use technology
enhanced teaching methods, what tools do they use
and at what stage in their teaching process these prove
to be the most efficient. Her PhD research is closely
connected to the work of the EDU and the empirical
part will draw on the IES experience of teaching using
the e-learning and blended learning methods.
7 IES Educational Programmes
18-22 November 2013
Prof. Dr. Luis Simon, Senior Researcher in the EFSP cluster and Lynn Tytgat, Manager, IES Educational Programmes, travelled to Japan and Korea this past November. The main objective of the mission was to enhance academic ties with universities in Tokyo and Seoul and identify concrete possibilities for collaboration in the areas of research and educational exchanges.
In the context of his research on ‘European-Asian security cooperation’, Luis also visited the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Institute for Defense Studies (Japanese Ministry of Defense) and the Royal United Services Institute Japan branch.
Luis and Lynn visited the following universities in Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo University (Todai), United Nations University (UNU) and Waseda University (WU). In Seoul, Korea they visited: Yonsei University (YU), Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) and Sogang University (SU). Furthermore, they also visited: the Belgian Embassy in Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan, theNational Institute for Defense Studies, Japan, and the Royal United Services Institute, Japan. It was therefore a jam-packed trip. The following offers a flavour of their visits.
University of Tokyo
On Monday, 18 November, Lynn and Luis visited the University of Tokyo and met with Prof. Yuichi MORII (Associate Professor, Department of Areas Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) and Dr. Yoko AKIYAMA, (Assistant Professor, Center for German and European Studies and Institute for Advanced Global Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences).The University of Tokyo (Shanghai 21 /Times Higher 23), also known as “Todai” was established in 1877 as the first national university in Japan. Todai offers courses in essentially all academic disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels and conducts research across the full spectrum of academic activity. The Department Area Studies has a number of students with an EU interest and one course taught in English: ‘Japan in East Asia: Cultural Studies’.
Waseda University
Lynn met Prof. Hidetoshi NAKAMURA (Deputy Director, EU Institute in Japan at WU and Assistant Professor, Faculty of Political Science and Economics) of Waseda University on 20 November. Waseda University (QS Asia
Mission to Tokyo and Seoul
University Rankings 44) was founded in 1882 with the aim of fostering contemporary Japanese leaders. Today it is a comprehensive university with more than 50,000 students and staff, comprising 13 Undergraduate Schools, 23 Graduate Schools, and other Research and Affiliated Institutes. It has working agreements with another 400 institutions abroad and receives more international students than any other Japanese university.
Yonsei University
On 21 November, Lynn and Luis visited Yonsei University and met Prof. Yeonho LEE (Director, Institute of East and West Studies; Director, Yonsei-SERI EU Centre; and Professor, Political Science and International Studies), Dr. Yoojin Lim (Post-Doctoral Researcher (interest: welfare), and Mr. Jihoon JEONG, Associate Researcher and Financial Officer.
Founded in 1885, it is a private institution and is the oldest university in Korea, with a total of 4,000 faculty members and 35,000 students. The Yonsei-SERI EU Centre (partnership between Yonsei University and the Samsung Economic Research Institute) aims to energise the dialogue between the EU and Asia, by focusing on academic exchanges, teaching and collaboration with other EU Centres. The EU Centre focuses primarily on environment, energy and corporate social responsibility.
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
On 21 November, Prof. Dr. Luis Simon gave a lecture on ‘The US and the Future of Europe’ at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), founded in 1954, is currently teaching 45 foreign languages, and stands as the number one international university in Korea. Combining studies in the humanities, law, social sciences, business, and computer science,
students naturally grow as global leaders, equipped with both professional knowledge and language proficiency.
Sogang University
On 22 November, Lynn and Luis met with Prof. Kyu Young LEE (Professor, Graduate School of International Studies) and Ms. Kangyong CHUNG (Manager, Office of International Affairs) from Sogang University.
Sogang University was founded in 1960 and is one of the leading research and liberal arts universities in Seoul. The university was established by the Society of Jesus and has 266 institutional collaborations in 55 countries. Over 400 students study abroad every year and around 2,500 international students study annually in various academic programs. Sogang University was also a partner in the IEKC project.
In cooperation with the EU ISS, and the Korean Society of Contemporary EU Studies, Sogang University organised a conference in Brussels on ‘Bilateral cooperation and security challenges in North East Asia’. In 2014, a follow up conference will be held in Seoul.
Embassy of Belgium in Korea
Lynn and Luis were invited to the Belgian Embassy in Korea by the Ambassador Mr. François BONTEMPS and Consul Mr. Pierre STEVERLYNCK on 22 November. In order to contribute to the visibility of the VUB and its activities, the Embassy kindly requested to be informed about the different agreements signed between the VUB and its Korean partners. It would also like to offer its assistance in the follow up of IEKC by keeping the alumni, the ambassadors of the exchange project, informed about future (Belgian) activities in Korea. He also underlined the importance of current and future Belgian exchange students in Korea contacting the Embassy before or during their stay.
Overall, the mission was successful in identifying possible future partnerships and areas of collaboration.
For more detailed information on any aspects of the mission please contact Luis or Lynn:
[email protected]@vub.ac.be
8European Foreign & Security Policy
change, British, French and
German grand strategy and
the evolution of NATO and
the EU’s Common Security
and Defence Policy (CSDP)
between 2001 and 2010.
The book sheds light on
the nature and evolution
of European security. He
argues that throughout the
2001–2010 period, NATO and
CSDP remained the best thermometers of the powerful
tension between conflict and cooperation that defines
European security.
In November, Luis spoke at a seminar organised by the
Belgian Royal High Institute for Defence, the Geneva
Centre for Security Policy and the Egmont Institute on
America’s evolving force posture and defence strategy
in Europe.
On 13 November he took part in a roundtable at the
University of Amsterdam on the EU’s responses to the
latest developments in Syria.
From 15-23 November Luis conducted a research and
marketing trip to South Korea and Japan, where on 21
November he delivered a lecture on “The US and the
Future of Europe” at the Hankuk University of Foreign
Studies. On the basis of the trip he published a Long Post
with European Geostrategy on 18 December on Japan’s
renewed foreign policy and Europe.
On 3 December Luis was invited to be a discussant at
the ‘Transatlantic Security Symposium’ by the Italian
Institute for International Affairs, Rome.
Anna Stahl
At the beginning of December Anna participated in
an Executive Training Seminar on “The EU and Global
Governance”, organised by the Academy of Global Gov-
ernance of the European University Institute, Florence.
Following her participation at the Second China-Africa
Think Tank Forum last year, Anna’s paper presentation
was published in the book China-Africa Relations: Governance, Peace and Security, edited by the Institute
for Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University,
and the Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal
University.
Esther Marijnen in the DRCDuring November-December Esther Marijnen went to the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC) to conduct field research for her doctoral dissertation. She went together with Stephan Hochleithner, a PhD
researcher from the University of Zurich. They worked together on a common research project concerning the EU’s
support to the National Virunga Park, the oldest park in Africa that is situated within the province North-Kivu,
a region tainted by conflict for over more than two decades. The EU is the main institutional donor to the Park.
During the field research they interviewed multiple stakeholders in the region to assess the socio-political
consequences of the EU’s support to the park, especially for the communities living around the park. Conflicts
have existed between the guards of the park and the people that were dependent on the park for their livelihoods
ever since the creation of the park by the Belgium colonial administration in 1925. Since the EU supports the
park by equipping, training and financing the guards of the park from the Congolese state authority the Institut
Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), Esther and Stephan analysed how this impacted the political
and social situation on the ground.
While conducting field research in the DRC raises certain challenges, the trip went very well. Esther is planning
her next field research for a longer period of three months later on this year.
“Esther analysed how EU support impacted the political and social situation on the ground. “
On 16 December, Alexander Mattelaer, Luis Simón and
Daniel Fiott co-organised and
spoke at a well-attended and
thought-provoking event en-
titled “The State of Defence in
Europe: State of Emergency?”.
The conference was co-organ-
ised with the Egmont Institute,
and was based on a collection
of essays published by the IES and the Egmont Institute.
The conference provided input and recommendations
for the 19-20 December European Council on defence.
Alexander’s essays focused on modern European opera-
tions and capability development, Luis’ essay analysed
the United States’ (US) rebalancing to Asia and its
impact on Europe and Daniel’s contribution centered
on the European Defence Technological and Indus-
trial Base. Additionally, the three researchers featured
alongside the Belgian, German, Italian, Spanish and
Swedish defence ministers as well as a host of other
high-level policy-makers via an op-ed piece on the Eu-
ropean Council published by the Security and Defence
Agenda (SDA) and Europe’s World.
Alexander MattelaerOn 8 October, the IES hosted a Policy Forum at which Prof.
Dr. Alexander Mattelaer presented his recent book – The Politico-Military Dynamics of European Crisis Response Operations – alongside thoughtful commentaries on his
ideas by General Yves de Kermabon, Special Counsellor
to the European External Action Service (EEAS) Secretary
General, and NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General
Jamie Shea. In his presentation Alexander outlined the
three principal storylines of the book, pertaining to the
strategic instrumentality of crisis response operations,
the designing of modern military campaigns and the
state of civil-military relations in Europe. A summary of
Alexander’s presentation was subsequently published
on European Geostrategy.
In November, Alexander travelled to Madrid for the
second module of this year’s High Level Course organ-
ised by the European Security and Defence College and
hosted by the Escuela de altos estudios de la defensa.
His panel appearance focused on the EU’s indirect ap-
proach to crisis management. The presentation offered a
sneak preview of a forthcoming book chapter Alexander prepared together with Esther Marijnen.
Luis Simón
In late November, Prof. Dr. Luis Simón’s new book enti-
tled Geopolitical Change, Grand Strategy and European Security was published with Palgrave Macmillan. In the
book Luis examines the interplay between geopolitical
Contd. on p. 9
CONFERENCE
‘State of Defence in Europe’
9IES Publications
BooksKuzelewska, E., Kloza, D. 2013. Elections to the European Parliament as a Challenge for Democracy. European Integration and Democracy Series, Vol. 2. Warsaw: Aspra
Simon, L. 2013. Geopolitical Change, Grand Strategy and European Security- The EU-NATO Conundrum in Perspective. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Book ChaptersDevuyst, Y. 2013. The European Parliament and International Trade Agreements: Practice after the Lisbon Treaty. In The European Union in the World: Essays in Honour of Marc Maresceau, edited by Govaere, I., Lannon, E., van Elsuwege, P., Adam, S., Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers:171-189.
Gouritin, A. 2013. L’impact de l’adhésion de l’UE à la Convention européenne des droits de l’Homme sur le lien entre droits de l’homme et politiques climatiques de l’UE. In Changements Climatiques et Droits de l’Homme: les options politiques de l’Union Européenne, edited by Cournil, C.,Tabau, A.-S, Brussels: Bruylant. 243-270.
Stahl, A.K. 2013. Fostering African Development, Governance and Security through Multilateral Cooperation between China and Western Donors: The Case of the China-DAC Study Group, edited by Berhe, M.G., Hongwu, L., Addis Ababe: Institute for Peace and Security Studies. 74-96.
Vink, M., Bonjour, S. & Adam, I. (2013, in press), ‘European Integration, Consensus Politics and Family Migration Policy in Belgium and the Netherlands’, in Vollaard, H., Beyers, J. and Dumont, P. , Europeanization and Consensus Politics in the Low Countries, London: Routledge.
Academic Articles Adam, I. 2013. Immigrant Integration Policies of the Belgian Regions: Sub-state Nationalism and Policy Divergence after Devolution. In Regional and Federal Studies, 23 (5), 547-569.
Adam, I., Martiniello, M. 2013. Convergences et divergences dans les politiques d’intégration dans la Belgique multinationale. Le cas des parcours d’intégration pour immigrés. In Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, 29 (2), 77-93.
Gehring, T., Oberthür, S. and Mühleck, M. 2013. European Union actorness in international institutions: why the EU is recognised as an actor in some international institutions, but not in others. In Journal of Common Market Studies, 51(5), 849-865.
Gouritin, A. 2013. OMS, la pollution de l’air extérieur est un agent cancérigène. Quelles incidences juridiques au-delà du symbole? In Sentinelle, 362.
Groen, L., Niemann, A. 2013. European Union at the Copenhagen Climate Negotiations: A Case of Contested EU Actorness and Effectiveness. In International Relations, 27(3), 308-324.
Oberthür, S. , Poarowska, J. 2013. Managing Institutional Complexity and Fragmentation: The Nagoya Protocol and the Global Governance of Genetic Resources. In Global Environmental Politics, 13(3), 100-118.
Simón, L . 2013. Setting the Tone: The 2013 French White Paper and the Future of European Defense. In The RUSI Journal 158(4), 38-44.
Simón, L. 2013. Reaching Beyond the Indo-Pacific. In Comparative Strategy, 32 (4), 331-353.
Tolksdorf, D. 2013. EU Special Representatives: An Intergovernmental Tool in the Post-Lisbon Foreign Policy System? In European Foreign Affairs Review, 4, 471-486.
Policy Reports, Working and Occasional Papers
Biscop, S. Fiott, D. 2013. The State of Defence in Europe: State of Emergency? Egmont Paper, 62.
Biscop, S., Fiott, D. 2013. The European Defence Technological and Industrial Base: Five Suggestions. In The State of Defence in Europe: State of Emergency? Egmont Paper, 62, 73-78.
Fiott, D. 2013. China and the Common Security and Defence Policy. European Geostrategy, November 2013.
Fiott, D. 2013. The European Commission and the EDA: A Question of Bureaucratic Rivalry? Conference Paper EAEPE Annual Conference. November 2013.
Mattelaer, A. 2013. The Empty Promise of Comprehensive Planning in EU Crisis Management.In European Foreign Affairs Review, 18(4).125-145.
Mattelaer, A., Coelmont, J. 2013. Capability Development: The Times They Are A-Changin. In The State of Defence in Europe: State of Emergency? Edited by Fiott. D., Biscop, S. Egmont Paper 62. Brussels: Egmont Institute, Egmont Paper 62, November 2013, pp. 67-71.
Mattelear, A., Coelmont, J. 2013. Modern European Operations: From Phoney Wars to Sickle Cuts. In The State of Defence in Europe: State of Emergency? Edited by Fiott, D., Biscop, S. Brussels: Egmont Institute, Egmont Paper 62, November 2013, 33-37.
Daniel Fiott
Daniel made a tel-
evision appearance
on 19 November for
the European Council
TV Newsroom, where
he discussed the se-
curity situation in the
EU’s neighbourhood
and European military capabilities. On 5 December he
was invited by the SDA to speak alongside high-level
personalities from the European Defence Agency (EDA),
European Parliament and European Commission at an
event on “Europe’s Defence Outlook”. Following this,
Bloomberg News interviewed Daniel on the defence-
industrial consequences of the restructuring of EADS.
Finally, in advance of the December Council he published
an overview of European defence-related data with
European Geostrategy. On 9 November, Daniel presented
a paper on European Commission and EDA relations at
the 25th conference of the European Association for
Evolutionary Political Economy at the Université Paris
Nord 13. Daniel was also interviewed by Judy Dempsey
for Carnegie Europe’s “Strategic Europe” blog and by
the widely circulated Brazilian weekly CartaCapital. As
IES Policy Briefs
EU Performance in the International Climate Negotiations in 2013: Scope for Improvement 2014:1by Sebastian Oberthür and Lisanne Groen
The EU has long been an important player and even a leader in the international cooperation on climate change. In 2013, preparations for a new global climate agreement in 2015 moved centre stage in the international negotiations. This policy brief assesses the EU’s performance in 2013 culminating in the Warsaw conference in November 2013. We find that the EU was actively engaged in the negotiations and pursued partially ambitious/progressive policy objectives, which it was partly successful in realising. The policy brief argues that international EU leadership for a 2015 agreement requires (1) building an
international leadership alliance including the EU and other progressive countries and (2) serious homework by the EU to advance domestic climate mitigation efforts both by 2020 and 2030, and to enhance its position on climate finance.
a Senior Editor of European Geostrategy he published
articles on China and the CSDP, unmanned aerial vehicles
and a number of book reviews.
Associate News
The EFSP cluster has welcomed two new associates: Dr.
Isabelle Ioannides, Associate Researcher, is currently
part of the “European Dialogue” team at the European
Commission’s Bureau of European Policy Advisers; Hu-bertus Juergenliemk, Visiting Researcher, is currently
completing his PhD at the University of Cambridge on
the EU’s civilian crisis management.
10IES in the media
IES in the social media
•Daniel Fiott : Leaving the EU would harm the UK’s number one national interest – trade21 December 2013 in: Carta Capital
•Alexander Mattelaer : Hier zijn we goed in12 December 2013 in: De Standaard
•Daniel Fiott : No ‘Last Supper’ for EU Armsmakers Amid National Blinders11 December 2013 in: Bloomberg News
•IES and Egmont Conference : Conférence sur l’état de la défense européenne… Il y a urgence !5 December 2013 in: Bruxelles2 B2
•Daniel Fiott : Judy Asks: Has the EU Lost Both Its Neighborhoods?4 December 2013 in: Carnegie Europe
•Daniel Fiott : Interview with Lord Douglas Hurd26 November 2013 in: European Geostrategy
•Ilke Adam : Brussel wereldstad is rode draad van Nacht van de Kennis21 November 2013 in: Brussel Deze Week
•Daniel Fiott : Interview with Pierre Vimont17 November 2013 in: European Geostrategy
•Daniel Fiott : Statement by Researcher of Institute for European Studies - Part 215 November 2013 in: TV Newsroom - European Council - Council of the EU
•Daniel Fiott : Interview with Claude-France Arnould11 November 2013 in: European Geostrategy
•Ilke Adam : Versterken van grenscontroles is een zwaktebod24 October 2013 in: De Morgen
•Ilke Adam : Politique commune des migrations: une urgence absolue24 October 2013 in: Le Soir
•Magdalena Sapala : EU cohesion policy: ‘No more business as usual’22 October 2013 in: EUobserver
•Daniel Fiott : European Defence Under a Transatlantic Trade Pact14 October 2013 in: European Global Strategy
•Medlir Mema : The ICC on the ropes: What can the EU do about it?7 October 2013 in: EurActiv
•Greta Barbone @ IES Policy Forum : NGO says EU should push Kenya to cooperate with ICC2 October 2013 in: New Europe
•Alexander Mattelaer : Wordt de F-35 de opvolger van onze F-16’s?19 September 2013 in: Ter Zake
•Luis Simon : How France became Obama’s best friend in Europe on defence issues4 September 2013 in: The Globe and Mail
facebook.com/IESBrussels
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Join the debate.@IES_Brussels
11Klaudia Majcher joined the IES
as an intern within the European
Economic Governance Cluster:
“I recent ly completed the
LL.M. programme with a
specialisation in European Law at the Leiden Law School
in the Netherlands. As my prime academic interests
focus on the intersection of EU competition law and
IP law, I wrote my Master’s thesis on monopolists’
exclusionary conduct in form of unilateral refusals to
license an intellectual property. Prior to this, I obtained
two Bachelor’s Degrees, in European Studies and in
English and German Philology at Jagiellonian University
in Cracow. I will conduct research supervised by Prof.
Harri Kalimo and Max Jansson.”
Staff News
Wiebke Anton joins us as an intern in the
Environmental cluster:
“I did my Bachelor of Arts in
Polit ical Management in
Bremen and I am now in the final
term of my Master’s in Slavic
Studies (with a focus on Society
and History). My main research
interests are environmental movements (especially
anti-nuclear movements), change of values, and how
these movements influence society as a whole - both
in Eastern and Central/Western Europe (indeed very
interesting in a comparative perspective). The effect of
climate change on the Arctic as well as energy security
issues and interrelations between Europe and “the East”
are also some of my foci. I have always been interested in
lobbyism and lobbyist’s influence on political decisions.
Since I love exploring new places and ‘have the travel
bug’, I took a semester off and travelled through the US
and Southeast Asia. I spent a semester in Vilnius and
some time in Moscow. I am member of a FoodCoop and
worked in a cooking school. During my internship at the
IES, I am going to support Claire and Sebastian with their
publication on decarbonisation - and will finally start
writing my Master thesis. However I am still working on
my research question... I am always open for interesting
projects and issues!”
Diego Gandolfo is a visiting
researcher from Alma Mater
Studiorum – the University of
Bologna, in Italy, where he has
been a PhD candidate in Agri-food
Economics and Statistics since 2011.
In his PhD dissertation Diego analyses the problems of
the EU Cohesion Policy and the use of Structural Funds,
with a particular focus on Italy and the Convergence
Area. He also wrote and lectured on some other fields
of research: regional economies, community currencies,
organised crime in agriculture and environment,
Italian lobbyist groups. He holds a MA in Local and
International Development and Cooperation (2009) and
a BA in Political Science (2006) from the University of
Bologna. During his Master studies, he spent a year at
the Institut d’Études Politiques de Grenoble (France) as
an Erasmus student.
Andrea Hrzic is a Master student
in Communication Sciences at the
VUB. She arrived at IES at the end of
November and she will mostly assist
Marie Tuley, IES Communications
Officer and Anamaria Bacsin,
Communications Assistant, with Communication and
Marketing tasks. Andrea is originally from Croatia and
is currently working on her Master thesis regarding
smart cities, more specifically on cultural participation
of citizens in urban spaces.
Hubertus Jürgenliemk is a
Visiting Researcher at the IES and
currently completing his PhD at
the University of Cambridge on
the civilian aspects of European
Security and Defence Policy
and the linkages to development policy. His wider
research interests are EU cooperation with NATO
and the United Nations, civilian crisis management
and European security governance. Hubertus has
carried out research or taught at the Universities of
Cambridge (2010-14), Oxford (2010-11), King’s College
London (2010), the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB,
2013) and Vesalius College (2013-14). He has work
experience with the United Nations Democracy Fund,
the UNDP Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative, the
German Federal Ministry of Economics, the Public
Affairs Division of the OECD and a private sector
consultancy firm. Hubertus holds a BA from the
University of Konstanz and an MPhil in International
Relations from the University of Cambridge. You can
also follow him on Twitter @hjuer.
Monika Kokstaite will be
a Visiting Researcher at the IES
until November 2014. She is a PhD
Candidate in Institutions, Politics
and Policies at IMT Lucca, Italy.
She is writing her PhD thesis on EU
economic security policies and their effects. She holds
an MA in International Relations and European Studies
from the Central European University in Budapest. She
studied in various places: Frankfurt and Main (Germany),
Tartu (Estonia), Reykjavik (Iceland), Jerusalem (Israel)
and Xiamen (China). Her research focuses on good
governance, human security, globalisation, regionalism,
democratisation and sustainable development. She
worked as a journalist and policy analyst for several years.
Moreover, she has organised conferences and workshops
with German Cultural Foundations.
Upcoming EU in Close-up Training Seminar26-28 March 2014
Concept
An intensive training seminar on the EU institutions and the EU policy process offered twice a year (spring and autumn sessions)
What is EU in Close-Up training?
A 3-day intensive programme designed for both new and seasoned professionals seeking an advanced understanding of the EU institutions and decision-making
EU in Close-Up training offers you:
• In-depth analysis of each institution, with a special focus on its functioning and role within the EU structure overall
• A detailed insight into the various types of decision-making methods, according to the field of EU action
• Choice between two comprehensive case studies on specific EU policies in practice
• A hands-on guide to various types of EU information sources in the form of an online module
12Events Calendar
Contributions to this Newsletter:
Ilke Adam - Anthony Antoine - Claire Dupont - Daniel
Fiott - Lisanne Groen - Max Jansson - Harri Kalimo
- Esther Marijnen -
Alexander Mattelaer - Alexandra Mihai - Sebastian
Oberthür - Silviu Piros - Magdalena Sapala - Jamal
Shahin - Luis Simon - Anna Stahl - Cem Tintin -
Lynn Tytgat - Mathijs Van Dijk -
Alison Woodward
Editing & layout by:
Marie Tuley
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)
Date Event
11 Feb 2014
12:00 - 14:00Explaining EU effectiveness in the international biodiversity and climate change negotiations
11 Feb 2014
19:00Science Bar Brussel: Klimaat in de media
13 Feb 2014
15:00IES-HCSS Policy Forum – Future Airpower: Benelux Air Cooperation in a European Context
13 Feb 2014
17:30Public PhD Defence Ioannis Spyridakis: Delegation and Control. A critical analysis on Principal-Agent theory in the context of EU external policy making
5 Mar 2014
12:00Joint Policy Forum Brussels-Bialystok: Elections to the European Parliament as a Challenge for Democracy
6 Mar 2014
12:00The implementation of the Blue Card Directive: what, why and what next?
26 Mar 2014
12:00Wednesday Webinar: EU Foreign Policy Vehicles & Partners
26 - 28 Mar 2014 The EU in Close-up: 3-day Training Seminar
22 -24 May 2014 The European Union in International Affairs IV
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Brussels22-24 May 2014
The Single Major Stopover of the Academic Conference Circuit in Brussels
The EU in International Affairs IV
www.ies.be/conference/euia2014