EPIIC 2015-2016 Colloquium: The Future of Europe
“A united Europe is not a modern expedient, be it political or economic, but an ideal which has been accepted since thousands of years by the best spirits of Europe, namely those who can see into the future. Already Homer described Zeus as ‘europos’ – an adjective meaning ‘one who sees very far’. – Denis de Rougemont, Vingt-huit siecles d’Europe (1961)
From Athens to Zurich, from Brussels to Kiev, from Berlin to London, from Warsaw to Ceuta, this course will consider the future of Europe through multiple prisms: from the antecedents of Church-State relations to contemporary tensions over secularism; the collapse of Communism and Russia’s seizure of Crimea; from Hobbe's theories of the social contract and the fundamentals of liberal thought to Arendt's "perplexities" regarding citizenship and statelessness and the migration crises; from the Treaty of Westphalia and the future of the state to the Treaty of Maastricht and the future of the eurozone; from the ascendance of neo-liberal economics and debates over austerity to the Copenhagen Accord on climate change; from the borderless Schengen Agreement to the future of collective security and NATO; from the Declaration of Human Rights and individual rights; the tensions that arose over Charlie Hebdo and freedom of expression/hate speech and the Dublin Regulation on asylum seekers.
For much of the last three centuries, European order was the world order – a product of the interests, ambitions and rivalries of the continent’s empires. It is the birthplace of the Enlightenment and codified human rights, as well as fascism, “scientific” racism and the colonial “civilizing” mission. The central, global struggle of the 20th century was between two European ideologies: democratic capitalism and communism.
What are the challenges that Europe faces – literally and conceptually – in the 21st century? How will it define itself, and be defined? Is it on the cusp of a new threshold that challenges its core sense of citizenship, identities and philosophical concepts?
To enroll in EPIIC, you must attend the first class on Tuesday, September 8th, 2015 from 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM (Crane Room, Paige Hall). There is no advanced registration available for this class. Those in attendance will have an opportunity to sign up for an interview to assess their candidacy for participation in the colloquium. Students selected from the interview process will be notified prior to the beginning of class on Thursday, and will then be able to register for EPIIC on SIS. Students are advised to plan their schedules around EPIIC carefully, and to ensure that they have a viable backup plan in the event that they are not selected. For more information, please feel free to contact us at igl at tufts dot edu.