Below you will find a series of webinars, involving panellists who are experts in their fields and audience Q&A. The MU Social Sciences Institute support our Seminar series, which can be watched below. (most recent on top)
On 1 January 2023 Ireland reached a historic milestone - the fiftieth anniversary of its accession to the European Communities. This conference, co-organised by Maynooth University and the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) will examine the span of Irish membership of the EU from the perspective of policy, politics and transformation.
It will bring together academics, politicians, diplomats and members of civil society to reflect on the most important themes that helped define 50 years of Ireland's participation in European Integration. In the process it will evaluate the highs and lows of membership, as well as Ireland's position in the contemporary European Union.
Speakers at this two-day event will include: Bertie Ahern, Former Taoiseach; John Bruton, Former Taoiseach; Marian Harkin TD and former ALDE MEP; Barry Andrews MEP; Dr Mary C. Murphy, University College Cork; Dr Lisa Claire Whitten, Queens University Belfast; John McGrane, Director General of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce;Prionsias De Rossa, former S & D MEP; Alex White, Director General of the IIEA; Barbara Nolan, Head of the European Commission Representation, Ireland; and many more.
Click here to download programme; IRELAND AND THE EUROPEAN UNION AT 50_programme
Keynote from Day 1 is here with Professor Desmond Dinan, George Mason University, Washington DC
Watch Day 2 Here;
The Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, supported by MU Social Sciences Institute present;
With Igor Duda (Juraj Dobrila University of Pula) & Tina Filipović (Juraj Dobrila University of Pula)
As they present their papers in this online seminar.
Igor Duda (Juraj Dobrila University of Pula) "Local communities and citizen participation in Yugoslav social self-management in the 1970s and 1980s"
Tina Filipović (Juraj Dobrila University of Pula) "War veteranship in late socialist Croatia: SUBNOR and its engagement in everyday politics on the micro level."
The Emre Işık annual lecture hosted by the Department of Sociology, the Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, supported by MUSSI.
Speaker: Dr Dimitar Bechev (Oxford University and The Atlantic Council)
The seminar will examine relations between Turkey and the EU after almost twenty years of rule by the AK Party and President Erdogan. After making significant early progress with its application to join the EU, Turkey went increasingly cold on the idea after 2007. Since then, the relationship with the EU has been characterised by regression and mutual distrust. Yet, Turkey remains an important partner of the EU on a range of important issues, including migration, security and the Ukraine war. This event will evaluate the Turkish relationship with the EU in advance of important elections in Turkey which will determine whether Erdogan remains in office or produce a dramatic end to the AKP dominance of Turkish politics. Dr. Dimitar Bechev is a distinguished visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, a lecturer at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies at the University of Oxford, and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. He has authored several books, including Turkey under Erdogan (Yale University Press, 2022), Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia (Rowman, 2019), and Rival Power: Russia in Southeast Europe (Yale University Press, 2017), and has co-edited Russia Rising: Putin's Foreign Policy in the Middle East and North Africa (Bloomsbury, 2021). Dr. Bechev's research interests primarily focus on the politics of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Turkey, as well as Russian foreign policy. He has published extensively in both academic and policy formats with leading think tanks such as the International Crisis Group, Carnegie, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the Atlantic Council, EU Institute for Security Studies, and RUSI on topics such as EU foreign relations, the politics of Turkey and the Balkans, Russian foreign policy, and energy security. He is also a frequent contributor to publications such as Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera Online, Oxford Analytica, Politico.EU, and EU Observer and he is frequently cited in leading newspapers such as the Financial Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. Dr. Bechev holds a DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford, was a lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2016 to 2020, and served as senior policy fellow and head of the Sofia office at the European Council on Foreign Relations from 2010 to 2014. In addition, he has held fellowships at the Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna, Harvard's Center for European Studies, the European Institute at the London School of Economics, and Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. He has provided advice and counsel to several influential entities, including the US State Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK), the European Commission, the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Parliament, and various governments in the EU and the Western Balkans.
Join Prof John O'Brennan of MU centre for European and Eurasian Studies (a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence) and MUSSI as he speaks to Judy Dempsey (Carnegie Europe) to discuss;
The Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, MU Social Sciences Institute and the Department of Sociology invite you to a round table discussion on
Professor Henry Farrell (Johns Hopkins University)
Professor Brigid Laffan (European University Institute)
David O Sullivan (Institute for International and European Affairs)
Professor Ben Tonra (University College Dublin)
Chair: Professor John O'Brennan (Maynooth University)
Description
Russia's brutal assault on Ukraine has already produced the most important changes in geopolitics in Europe since the year of 'peaceful revolutions' in 1989. Those revolutions led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Soviet Union. More than three decades on from those events of epochal importance, the war in Ukraine has set in motion changes which scarcely seemed possible prior to 24 February.
This event will explore the changing security and defence landscape in Europe and how the war in Ukraine is influencing these changes. It will evaluate the nature of the EU and NATO response to the crisis created by the Russian invasion, the different reactions to Ukraine's pleas for help, the positions taken by France, Germany and Poland toward Ukraine, and the unilateral decisions of Finland and Sweden to seek membership of NATO.
It will seek to locate these events within a wider global theatre of geopolitical change and ask how, if at all, Europe might finally be taking on a consequential role in international defence and security.
It will also examine Ireland's place within the European security architecture and whether the war in Ukraine has shifted the dial on greater Irish engagement with European security norms.
We are delighted to welcome some of Europe's foremost experts on security and international affairs to discuss these issues at a critically important time.
The Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies (a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence) presents
Online Lecture by:
Professor Volodymyr Dubovyk Odessa I. Mechnikov National University (Ukraine)
The event is part of a series organised by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, in partnership with the Maynooth Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI).
Chaired by Professor John O'Brennan
The Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, Mussi and the Department of Sociology hosts a webinar on:
On Sunday 24 April. France goes to the polls to elect a president. This follows a first-round contest which saw President Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen finish first and second, advancing to the runoff election in what will be a re-run of the 2017 contest. The vote will take place amid a backdrop of war in Ukraine, rising inflation, and much uncertainty at European level. This event will examine the issues at stake in the election, for France and the European Union, and what is likely to happen.
Brought to you by the Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies (Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence) & MU Social Sciences Institute.
Speakers:
Professor Michael Cronin (Trinity College Dublin)
Dr. Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan (University College Cork)
Kevin Saudé (University of Limerick)
Lara Marlowe (French Corespondant - Irish Times)
Chair
Prof. John O'Brennan
Speaker Profiles
Professor Michael Cronin Professor Michael Cronin holds the Chair of French at Trinity College Dublin. He received his BA from Trinity College Dublin, his MA from University College Dublin and his PhD from Trinity College Dublin for a dissertation on ludic elements in the prose fiction of Réjean Ducharme and Gérard Bessette. He taught in the Université of Tours, the École Normale Supéreiure (Cachan) and was Director of the Centre for Translation and Textual Studies at Dublin City University. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and an Officer in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques. Professor Cronin has published extensively on language, culture, translation and travel writing. Among his works are Across the Lines: travel, language, translation (2000), Translation and Identity (2006), The Expanding World: towards a politics of microspection (2012) and Eco-Translation: translation and ecology in the Age of the Anthropocene (2017). His current interests are in developing eco-criticism in relation to modern languages and translation, exploring the notion of ‘translation trauma’ in relation to population displacement and investigating language identities as mediated through travel
Kevin Saudé Kevin Saudé is a PhD candidate at the University of Limerick. His research, supervised by Dr. Rory Costello, looks at the effect of party system polarization on political identities in Western European electorates between 1999-2019. Kevin is originally from Lorraine, France, and came to Ireland at age 20. He worked in a variety of roles prior to attaining a First Class honours degree from the University of Limerick. Kevin also lectures in European Studies and Comparative European Politics.
Dr Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan Dr Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan holds a Jean Monnet Chair in Active European Citizenship (2021-24) and a Jean Monnet Teacher Training grant in 2022. The focus of those projects will be to develop a continuum of education on Ireland and the EU from Junior Infants to 6th year. Emmanuelle is also the Director of the UCC Hub in Active European Citizenship. This Hub is the home for all the programmes and activities emerging from the Jean Monnet Chair and Teacher Training. It will also become the focus for interdisciplinary collaboration in European Studies. Born in France, she graduated in European law and political science from La Sorbonne (BL), Sciences Po Paris (MA) and Edinburgh University (LLM). She completed her PhD on the institutional impact of the 2000-2005 Kinnock administrative reforms. She teaches European policy-making and institutional politics as well as French politics. Her research interests lie in the area of European politics. Emmanuelle has published Reforming the European Commission (Palgrave, 2011) as well as several articles and book chapters on the role of the European Commission as agenda-setter and policy-maker.
Lara Marlowe Lara Marlowe is a leading journalist on French politics and life, writing as France correspondent for The Irish Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/lara-marlowe-7.1837461
Prof. John O' Brennan John O' Brennan holds the Jean Monnet Chair in European integration in the Department of Sociology and is director of the Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies. His work focuses on European Union institutions and politics, and, specifically on the process and politics of the EU's Enlargement policy. His research output includes books, journal articles and book chapters on EU integration. He also works on Ireland's relationship with the European Union and is currently finishing a monograph which examines Ireland's experience of EU membership over 50 years since accession in 1973. O' Brennan is a board member and past Vice-President of the Irish Association for Contemporary European Studies (Iaces) and a member of the Irish government's Brexit Stakeholder Group since 2017.
The Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, Mussi and the Department of Sociology hosts a webinar on:
How did Ukraine come into being? Who and when ‘created’ Ukraine and its people? Dr Olena Palko speaks about “a revolution in perception” of Ukraine in the wake of the First World War and the role of experts in thinking Ukraine into being. The presentation is based on the collective volume “Making Ukraine. Negotiating, Contesting, and Drawing the Borders in the Twentieth Century” (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2022), co-edited by Olena Palko and Constantin Ardeleanu, which sets to re-examine Ukraine’s territorial definitions and investigate the making of its physical borders through processes of negotiation, delimitation and demarcation to which state actors and local actors, or natural factors, have contributed.
Chair : Raul Cârstocea - Lecturer in Twentieth-Century European History, Department of History, Maynooth University
Discussion with Dr Olena Palko, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Birkbeck University
Presented by MU SSI & Maynooth University Centre for European and Eurasian Studies & Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence
The Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, Mussi and the Department of Sociology hosts a webinar on:
The event will examine different dimensions of the current crisis in Ukraine, including the legacies of the 2013-14 period in the region, Vladimir Putin's foreign policy and his approach to Ukraine, as well as Russia's relationship with the EU and NATO.
Speakers: Prof Donnacha Ó Beacháin (Dublin City University)
Prof Neil Robinson (University of Limerick)
Chair: Prof John O’Brennan
(Maynooth University)
Our Speakers:Donnacha Ó Beacháin is Professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University (DCU) where he lectures on post-Soviet politics, unrecognised states, Irish studies and foreign policy.
His books include The Colour Revolutions in the Former Soviet Republics: Successes and Failures (with Abel Polese, Routledge, 2010), Destiny of the Soldiers: Fianna Fáil, Irish Republicanism and the IRA 1926-1973, (Gill and Macmillan, 2010), Life in Post-Communist Eastern Europe after EU Membership: Happy Ever After? (with Vera Sheridan and Sabina Stan, Routledge, 2012), Political Communication in Ireland (with Mark O'Brien, Liverpool University Press 2014) and From Whence I Came: The Kennedy Legacy, Ireland and America (with Brian Murphy, Merrion Press, 2021).
Prof. Ó Beacháin held a three-year (2008-11) Marie Curie Fellowship awarded by the European Commission to conduct research on the colour revolution phenomenon (e.g. the Ukrainian Orange Revolution). Previously, between 2000 and 2005, Dr. Ó Beacháin held visiting fellowships in Georgia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. He was lead researcher in the €3.6million FP7/Marie Curie Initial Training Network in Post-Soviet Tensions (2013-2017). Professor Ó Beacháin was also lead researcher in the €3.8 million Horizon2020 project on the Caspian region (2015-2019). These consortia, involving 19 partners, were coordinated by the International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction (IICRR) at DCU.
Neil Robinson BA (CNAA), MA, PhD (Essex) is Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Limerick.
Prior to his appointment at Limerick, he taught at the universities of York and Essex. His research interests focus on Russian and post-communist politics, particularly the political economy of post-communism and post-communist state building. He is the author of Ideology and the collapse of the Soviet system. A critical history of Soviet ideological discourse ( Edward Elgar, 1995), and Russia: a state of uncertainty (Routledge, 2002), Contemporary Russian Politics(Polity, 2018), and co-author (with Karen Henderson) of Post-communist politics (Prentice Hall, 1997). He is the editor or co-editor of Institutions and and political change in Russia (Macmillan, 2000), Reforging the weakest link: global political economy and post-Soviet change in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (Ashgate, 2004), (with Aidan Hehir) State-building. Theory and practice (Routledge, 2007), and (with Todd Landman) The Sage handbook of comparative politics (Sage, 2009), The political economy of Russia (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012), and (with Rory Costello) Comparative European politics. Distinctive democracies, common challenges (Oxford University Press, 2020). He is the author of many book chapters and journal articles in, among other places, Soviet Studies, European Journal of Political Research, Political Studies, The Journal of Communist Studies and Transitional Politics, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Demokratizatsiya, Review of International Political Economy, International Political Science Review, Russian Politics.
Chair: John O' Brennan, Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration, Department of Sociology, Maynooth University.
The Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, Mussi and the Department of Sociology hosts a webinar on:
Speaker: Dr. Jasmin Mujanović (Independent Scholar/ author of Hunger and Fury:
The Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans, Hurst and Co. 2018) Dr. Jasmin Mujanović is a political scientist and analyst of Southeast European and international affairs with a PhD from York University in Toronto. He is the co-host of the popular regional podcast Sarajevo Calling and, until recently, a lecturer in Political Science and Policy Studies at Elon University. His career background is a unique blend of global academic and professional engagement, as he has worked as a scholar, policy analyst, consultant, researcher, and writer in both North America and Europe. Jasmin's academic research concentrates primarily on the politics of contemporary Southeastern Europe, with a particular focus on the politics of the non-EU states of the Western Balkans. More broadly, his academic fields of interest and expertise are split between international relations, global political economy, and political theory. He is interested in democratization processes, state development (including the process of state and regime failure), and post-conflict and peace studies, in particular as these topics relate to Southeastern and Eastern Europe. His first book, Hunger and Fury: The Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans, was published in 2018 by Hurst Publishers and Oxford University Press and drew extensively on the research that he conducted during his PhD research at York University, as well as during a stay at Columbia University as a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute. He is also a regular contributor to international media, on Bosnia, the Western Balkans and other issues, including for Balkan Insight. This event is supported by the Erasmus Plus Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (2020-2023).
Join Dr Jelena Đureinović, and Dr John Paul Newman for this webinar to Launch Jelena's new book, "The Politics of Memory on the Second World War in Contemporary Serbia: Collaboration, Resistance and Retribution. " The MU Department of History, MU Social Sciences Institute, the MU Arts and Humanities Institute and Centre for European and Eurasian Studies welcome Dr Đureinović for this launch. Register here Dr Jelena Đureinović, currently a visiting fellow at the Arts and Humanities Institute, will discuss her book The Politivs of Memory of the Second World War in Contemporary Serbia: Collaboration, Resistance, and Retribution, published by Routledge in 2019. Since the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević in 2000, memory politics in Serbia has undergone drastic changes in the way in which the Second World War and its aftermath is understood and interpreted. The glorification and romanticisation of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, more commonly referred to as the Chetnik movement, has become the central theme of Serbia’s memory politics during this period. The book traces their construction as a national antifascist movement equal to the communist-led Partisans and as victims of communism, showing the parallel justification and denial of their wartime activities of collaboration and mass atrocities. The multifaceted approach of this book combines a diachronic perspective that illuminates the continuities and ruptures of narratives, actors and practices, with in-depth analysis of contemporary Serbia, rooted in ethnographic fieldwork and exploring multiple levels of memory work and their interactions.
Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and Mussi present a webinar;
Speakers: Dr. Dimitar Bechev (Atlantic Council and Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna)
Prof. Anna Krasteva (New Bulgarian University)
The event is part of a series organised by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, in partnership with the Maynooth Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI).
Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, MU Department of Sociology and MUSSI bring you this webinar.
As it approaches its centenary, Northern Ireland is perhaps in a more precarious position than at any point since its creation. The political chaos summoned by the Brexit referendum has raised the prospect of a constitutional referendum that might pave the way to Irish unification. Moreover, the advent of the Northern Ireland Protocol has consigned the region to a form of economic limbo that has merely underlined its perennial status as an ante-chamber of the United Kingdom. In recent weeks, the growing tensions and schisms within the unionist community have given rise to scenes of urban violence chillingly reminiscent of the dark days of the Troubles.
Against this backdrop, we are providing a space for pro-Union voices rather different to those typically aired in public discourse south of the Irish border. The participants will seek to provide a more positive and progressive case for maintaining the constitutional status quo. Framed in a conversational style, the event promises to cast fresh light on where Northern Ireland is, and where it might be going, as the region faces into its distinctly muted centenary celebrations.
Chair: Professor Colin Coulter, MU Dept of Sociology
Speakers:
Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston (Former Belfast City Councillor)
Brian Dougherty (Londonderry Bands Forum)
Alison Grundle (Former Special Advisor, NI Assembly)
Professor Peter Shirlow (University of Liverpool)
Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and Mussi present a webinar;
Since becoming Prime Minister once again last year, Janez Janša has attracted significant international attention for his government's policies vis-a-vis academic independence, his attacks on independent journalists and media, and his interventions on social media.
Our panel of experts will speak in detail about the consequences of Janša's actions in Slovenia and their likely ramifications in the European Union and beyond.
Speakers; Prof Florian Bieber (University of Graz)
Prof Oto Luthar (Director, Research advisor, Head of UIFS ZRC SAZU)
Prof Ksenjia Vidmar Horvat (University of Ljublijana)
Prof Tania Petrovic (Head of Institute of Culture and Memory Studies ZRC SAZU)
Moderated by Dr John Paul Newman (Maynooth University)
The event is part of a series organised by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, in partnership with the Maynooth Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI).
Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and Mussi present a webinar
Recent years have seen an alarming decline in democratic standards in many parts of the world. Within the European Union, a rule of law crisis has accelerated. In both Hungary and Poland, we have witnessed the incremental dismantling of pluralist institutions, the 'capture' by ruling parties of judicial organs, and recurring attacks on the media and civil society, including universities. The European Union response to this developing 'authoritarian equilibrium' has been deeply unsatisfactory. Indeed, for much of the last decade, the European Commission has been described as 'missing in action', as EU norms have been progressively dismantled in Budapest and Warsaw.
This event puts the EU rule of law crisis under the microscope in a webinar that features contributions from two leading authorities in this field. Prof. R. Dan Keleman coined the term 'the authoritarian equilibrium' about the unfolding situation within the EU and has been one of the foremost academic analysts of the crisis as it has developed.
Speakers: Prof. R. Dan Kelemen (Rutgers University) Moderator: Prof. John O’ Brennan (Maynooth University)
The event is part of a series organised by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, in partnership with the Maynooth Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI).
The Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies and MUSSI will host a discussion about an important new book,
Gavin Esler is the Chancellor of the University of Kent and one of the best-known broadcasters in the world, as host previously of the flagship Newsnight programme on BBC2, a presenter with BBC World News, and as a reporter where he had postings in Northern Ireland and the United States, amongst others. The response to the book will be provided by Professor Brigid Laffan, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute.
The event will be moderated by Professor John O' Brennan, and there will be a Questions and Answers session following the contributions of the speakers.
The event is part of a series organised by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, in partnership with the Maynooth Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI).
'An eloquent, forensic examination of resurgent English nationalism as the force that has driven Brexit and may now break up the United Kingdom' Jonathan Coe In the past, it was possible to live with delightful confusion: one could be English or British, Scottish or Irish, and a citizen/subject of the United Kingdom (or Great Britain). For years that state has been what Gavin Esler calls a 'secret federation', but without the explicit federal arrangements that allow Germany or the USA to survive. Now the archaic state, which doesn't have a written constitution, is coming under terrible strain. The English revolt against Europe is also a revolt against the awkward squads of the Scottish and Irish, and most English conservatives would be happy to get rid of Northern Ireland and Scotland as the price of getting Brexit done. The pressures to declare Scottish independence and to push for a border poll that would unite Ireland may become irresistible. Can England and Wales find a way of dealing with the state's new place in the world? What constitutional, federal arrangements might prevent the disintegration of the British state, which has survived in its present form for 400 years? How Britain Ends is a book about history, but also about the strange, complicated identity of Britishness.
The book can be purchased through the University bookshop here https://shop.universitybooks.ie//GeneralBooks/9781800241053
The event is part of a series organised by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, in partnership with the Maynooth Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI).