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Call for Panels and Papers: The Euroacademia Convention of European Studies ‘Naming the Crisis of Europe and Assessing its Impact’

18-20 October 2012,
Grand Majestic Plaza Hotel
Prague, Czech Republic
Deadline for Panels 1 September 2012
Deadline for Papers 15 September 2012

Euroacademia cordially invites you to The First Euroacademia Convention of European Studies: Naming the Crisis of Europe and Assessing its Impact

Description and aims:
The expression ‘crisis of Europe’ used to be reserved for profound and elaborated cultural diagnoses coming from various reflective attitudes of concerned intellectuals. Now it is becoming part of common sense and one of the most used discursive or explanatory elements for a diverse variety of events. Governments, politicians, economists, intellectuals, institutions, civil society actors, and most of all the European citizens, they all invoke in a quotidian fashion the crisis. A general agreement seems to install that Europe and even more the European Union, are no longer the same. Commonality, solidarity, unity, cooperation, shared values and the future of a united Europe are more often challenged and questioned since the crisis emerged and the questioning proliferates as the crisis has deepened. Many scholars claim that new ways of looking at Europe and the EU should be formed as old models are no longer sufficient or efficient in showing a path out of the crisis. Others indicate to existing paradigms that should only be reframed and applied more consistently for better outcomes. Anyone agrees however that is the right time to seriously think the future of Europe.

The Euroacademia Convention of European Studies ‘Naming the Crisis of Europe and Assessing its Impact’ aims to address the ongoing challenges, to map the current state of reflection on the topic of the European crisis and to look at available scenarios for the future of Europe. No other field than European Studies has a larger portfolio of available disciplinary instruments, models and paradigms that are expected to provide answer to unfolding realities. If no single disciplinary trend can provide neither sufficient explanations of the ongoing events or reasonable predictions, a dialogue between schools, trends, paradigms and models in European Studies could forward a mosaic of alternatives for reflection at hand.

Euroacademia aims to bring together a wide and worldwide network of academics, researchers, practitioners and activists that identify their concerns and practices with the generic field of the European Studies. Contested in epistemological terms as an autonomous field, the European Studies generated however starting the 20th century disciplinary and inter-disciplinary scientific communities, particular interests, methodologies and puzzles, schools, specializations, interests and academic events that indicate a dynamic framing of its particular identity.

The First Euroacademia Convention of European Studies aims to bring in an open floor for discussions, debates, reflection and sharing the features, topics, puzzles, methods, trends, schools and heresies within the field of European Studies that can account for the state of the field in times of crisis. The conference searches to address the European Studies identity as a field of studies through providing a framework for researches and practitioners to present their certitudes and dilemmas, their topics and inquiries, their claims and counter-claims that bring to live the European specificity of exposing itself to constant constructive criticism and reevaluation.

The Convention of European Studies starts from the assumption that in the 21st Century, Europe preserves its long-lasting saliency for researchers and practitioners, that specific dynamics of change and/or resistance to change inside Europe influences contemporary manners of addressing social, political, cultural or any other type of reflection. However, the formation of the European Studies as a more or less autonomous field for research relied and often still does on substantial conceptual imports from a wide variety of established fields and often of non-European provenience. These imports and the specific way of reshaping the research apparatus opened the way for both assertive attitudes and contestation. It is the aim of The Convention of European Studies to create an opportunity for assessing the state of the art today, the pros and the cons, the added value and also the question marks that might strengthen or weaken the profile of European Studies as a distinctive field in confronting current events.

The conference is opened to the widest variety of topics understood or perceived as being connected with the field of European Studies from meta-analytical views, to on-going puzzles, methodological proposals and/or assessments, specific topics, issues or shared experiences. The Convention of European Studies aims also to become a meeting point and an opportunity for dissemination, valorization, socialization, contact making and research agenda shaping that will to generate a future collaborative framework for all those involved in understanding Europe in its past, present and future dimensions. The Convention of European Studies is intended as a pretext to provide a dialogical opportunity and experience for all the participants to address and express their views, works, puzzles or criticisms regarding the state of the art and the specific concerns for European Studies today. It is also a good chance to see whether European Studies are able to provide consistent solutions to ameliorate or reasonable ways out of the crises.

The conference is organized yet by no means restricted to the following panels:
- Debating the Identity of the European Studies as a Field of Research
- Conceptual Imports Versus Specific Vocabularies for European Studies
- Epistemological Assessments
- Puzzles and Trends inside European Studies
- Re-Defining the Field
- Failures in European Studies or Questioned Accomplishments
- Distinctiveness of Europe/EU as Regional Integration Project
- Europeaness: Mirroring Europe in Terms of Norms and Values
- Towards a European Identity
- Political Organizations and Distinctive Logics of Appropriateness in Europe
- Insights of Practitioners: Putting Europe on the Map
- Europe East and West, North and South
- Europe in the World
- European Union and Challenges for Research
- EU as a Sui Generis Type of Polity
- Addressing New Puzzles Inside European Studies- European Studies and its Power to Shape Policies
- EU as an Empire
- Europe and its Constitutive Others
- Europe and Globalization
- EU and the Process of Europeanization
- EU and Models of Regional Integration
- International Relations and the European Studies
- Comparative Models for European Studies
- Constructivist Approaches in European Studies
- Addressing the Quantitative/Qualitative Nexus Inside European Studies
- EU Enlargements and Their Lessons
- The Future of EU Enlargement
- The Impact of Theories of EU Enlargement on European Studies
- EU’s External Influence and Democratization
- EU and Foreign Policy
However, if you are willing to propose and/or chair a particular panel we welcome you to do so on the conference website until the deadline on 1st of September 2012: http://euroacademia.eu/conference/the-first-global-convention-of-europea...

Participant’s Profile
The conference is addressed to academics, researchers and professionals with a particular interest in Europe from all parts of the world. Post-graduate students, doctoral candidates and young researchers are welcome to submit an abstract. Representatives of INGOs, NGOs, Think Tanks and activists willing to present their work with impact on or influenced by specific understandings of Europe are welcomed as well to submit the abstract of their contribution. Abstracts will be reviewed and accepted based on their proven quality. The submitted paper is expected to be in accordance with the lines provided in the submitted abstract.

A specific spot in the conference program will be dedicated to social networking and therefore all the participants interested in setting or developing further cooperation agendas and prospects with other participants will have time to present and/or promote their project and express calls for cooperation. A specific setting for promotional materials connected with the topic of the conference will be reserved for the use of participants. Books authored or edited by the participants can be exhibited and promoted during the whole period of the conference and can also be presented within the conference package based on prior arrangements.

Selected papers will be published in an electronic volume with ISBN after the confirmation of the authors and a double peer-review process based on an agreed publication schedule. All the papers selected for publication should be original and must not have been published elsewhere. All participants to the conference will receive a copy of the volume.

Venue and Directions

The conference will take place in the conference premises of the exclusive 4 stars deluxe design Grand Majestic Plaza Hotel, centrally located in the heart of Prague, easily accessible from the historic center and within a walking distance from all the major tourist attractions: just few steps away from the famous Municipal House, Gothic Powder Gate, significant Republic Square and the most attractive shopping centre Palladium.

DEADLINE FOR 300 WORDS ABSTRACTS SUBMISSION IS 15TH OF SEPTEMBER 2012

The 300 word abstracts and the affiliation details should be submitted in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats, following this order:
1) author(s), 2) affiliation, 3) email address, 4) title of abstract, 5) body of abstract 6) preferred panel or proposed panel
The abstract and details can be sent to application@euroacademia.eu with the name of the conference specified in the subject line or through the on-line Application Form available on the conference website http://euroacademia.eu/conference/the-first-global-convention-of-europea...
We will acknowledge the receipt of all proposal and answer to all paper proposals submitted.

IMPORTANT DATES: If your paper was accepted a notification of acceptance will be sent to you by 17th of September 2012. Your confirmation of attendance through registration form will be expected until 20th of September 2012 and until the 25th of September 2012 the payment of the participation fee through bank transfer is requested. No paper will be introduced in the program without confirmation and payment of the participant fee. By 5th of October 2012, the full paper is to be sent in accordance with the style standards provided to the accepted participants by organizers. All papers will be uploaded on the website as drafts available for consultation for other participants and the public.The conference will be held in English and will focus on the discussion of 5,000–6,000-word, pre-circulated papers.

Euroacademia is a non-profit organization, based and registered in Paris and Vienna, aiming to foster academic cooperation, networking and a platform for dissemination and valorization of academic research results, trends, and emerging themes within the area of concern for European studies, political science, critical studies, cultural studies, history, anthropology, social psychology, semiotics, philosophy, sociology and wider and inclusive interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary approaches that contribute to a better understanding of the ‘self-organizing vertigo’ (Edgar Morin) of the European realm. Euroacademia’s goal is to become a hub for academic interaction on and about Europe.
For more information visit www.euroacademia.eu