Colloques & Conférences 2009

Les colloques et les conférences sont rangées par ordre décroissant.

International Conference

Elections 2009: Challenges pour un système politique européen, 11 & 12 décembre 2009

The objective of this international symposium, is to discuss and analyse if the social and economic referents of Europeans have deeply changed since 2004 and if the European public space, a notion that the referendums on the European constitution and the Treaty of Lisbon enshrines, already exists in the social representations of Europeans. More specifically, do aspects of the EU elections such as the turnout, the emergence of new parties and the dynamics of the results of mainstream parties reflect convergences amongst Member states ? Or are national party systems and electoral systems in force still largely determine the political socialization of citizens in Europe? A dozen national cases will be analysed. The symposium will also address topics such a modes of collective action, the conditions of democratic pluralism and the socio-economic and political expectations of the Europeans vis-à-vis the EU.

Comité scientifique: Patrick Dumont (Université du Luxembourg), Philippe Poirier (Université du Luxembourg), Jean-Michel de Waele (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Pascal Delwit (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Fabienne Greffet (Université de Nancy), Léonard Matala Tala (Université de Nancy)

Coordination: Philippe Poirier & Astrid Spreitzer

Les actes du colloque seront publiés aux éditions de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles au printemps 2010.

Conférence grand public

Nature et les transformations du mouvement islamique Al Qaida

Lundi 23 novembre 2009 à 18h30

Jean Pierre Filiu, Professeur associé à l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, évoque les neuf vies en vingt ans, l’incroyable parcours d’Al-Qaida. Il est en effet temps de reconstituer l’ensemble de l’histoire de ce jihad global, sans en esquiver les zones d’ombre. Bien avant le 11 septembre 2001, l’organisation de Ben Laden s’est construite dans les confins afghans et a tissé sa toile planétaire à partir du Soudan. Mais c’est grâce à la protection des talibans qu’elle est devenue la première, et heureusement la seule, formation terroriste à vocation mondiale.
Depuis l’impitoyable guérilla d’Arabie au bain de sang de l’Irak, Jean-Pierre Filiu dresse le tableau d’un réseau en perpétuel mouvement, capable de frapper au cœur de l’Europe comme de s’étendre jusqu’en Afrique du Nord. Pourtant, depuis peu, Al-Qaida perd pied dans les pays arabes et c’est pour sa survie qu’elle combat aujourd’hui sur le sol du Pakistan. Du sort de cette bataille dépend une partie de la sécurité de tous.

Commander ce livre

Cette conférence sera introduite par Philippe Poirier , co-président du Comité de recherche politique et religion de l’Association internationale de science politique

Cette conférence est placée sous le haut-patronage de l’Ambassade de France, du Centre culturel français, du Centre Culturel de Rencontre Abbaye de Neumünster et de la Fondation euro-méditerranéenne Anna Lindh.

National European Debates and the 2009 European Parliament Elections

15-16 October 2009 Europaïsche Akademie Otzenhausen (Saarland)

While a vast literature has grown up surrounding European elections, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the framing of issues surrounding the project of European integration itself during EP election campaigns. In particular, the dominance of the ‘second order’ model in studies of EP elections, while illuminating underlying questions of partisan competition, has nonetheless also tended to obscure the extent to which such elections offer singularly privileged occasions for observing the patterns of national European discourses seeking both to contest and to legitimate the wider project of European integration. Addressing this gap, the present workshop brings together leading experts on a representative sample of EU member states to examine this year’s EP election campaign. Each national paper will survey the ‘European discourses’ deployed by both ‘mainstream’ and ‘Eurosceptic’ parties during the campaign, as well as situating immediate events relative to the longer-term evolution of national European debates. This, in turn, will permit a broader, comparative ‘mapping’ exercise – seeking to delimit both the geographical and ideological contours of differing representations (and contestations) of European integration.

Coordination: Robert Harmsen ( robert.harmsen@uni.lu ) or Joachim Schild ( schild@uni-trier.de ).

Documents for the Conference:

Regional reconfigurations: local, national, international changes, 3-6 November 2009

Annual Conference 2009 Consortium for Comparative Research on Regional Integration and Social Cohesion

I nstitute of Regional Studies Institute of Political studies University of Antioquia, Medellin (Colombia)

Summary : Contemporary societies are facing multifactor changes in their local, national and international configuration. Transformations caused by globalized capitalism, risks and disasters, changes in political regimes, cultural and religious segmentation and the increasing impacts of human mobility processes create worldwide regional reconfigurations. These processes directly compromise the lives of people and social groups and occur in the center of political, cultural and economic conflicts. Vulnerable populations are, in principle, marginalized and exposed to risks in health, housing, education, labor and environmental quality. In addition, they are also excluded from decision-making processes concerning public issues, and exposed to work and live in informal sectors and in insecurity, expelled from their places of origin and denied access to basic resources.The Consortium for Comparative Research on Regional Integration and Social Cohesion aims to analyze the Regional Reconfigurations that result from these multifactor changes. Through comparative research, theoretical and methodological problems will be analyzed. Furthermore, contextual situations of current processes will be studied. Different issues will be discussed, such as the commitments of multilateral agencies, the policies adopted from decision-making at the national, sub-national and local level, as well as collective action that has been undertaken to confront these problems.

More details of the Conference:

Academic Committee: Harlan Koff , Laboratoire de Sciences Politiques, Université du Luxembourg, President RISC, Lucelly Villegas, Instituto de Estudios Regionales, Universidad de Antioquia, Fabio Giraldo, Instituto de Estudios Políticos, Universidad de Antioquia, Deon Geldenhuys, Department of Politics, University of Johannesburg, John Agnew, Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles

Local Organizational Committee: Claudia Puerta Silva, Instituto de Estudios Regionales, Universidad de Antioquia, Juan Carlos Vélez, Instituto de Estudios Políticos, Universidad de Antioquia, Catalina Ospina, Instituto de Estudios Políticos, Universidad de Antioquia, Ana Rocío Arbeláez, coordinadora logística, Instituto de Estudios Regionales, Universidad de Antioquia. In Luxembourg, Carmen Maganda , Executive Director RISC

Conceptual Workshop Theorizing Borders through Analyses of Power Relationships

29-30 April 2009

Summary: The comparative literature on borders is rich within specific fields. However, little dialogue exists between scientific disciplines. This is the primary weakness of the body of works that aim to "theorize borders." In studies focusing on political relationships, border integration is analyzed in terms of either multi-level governance or national policy barriers that divide border communities. In geographical or economic studies, space is usually theorized as a point of contact or an area of exchange, which often contradicts the above-mentioned work being conducted by political scientists. In the social/cultural spheres, authors generally examine the existence/creation of cross-border identities as unified or holistic phenomena without necessarily delving into the mechanisms of cross-border social cohesion. Finally, environmental studies generally discuss border policies in terms of their inability to protect cross-border landscapes/resources.This conference, organized by the interdisciplinary IPSE (Identités, Politiques, Sociétés, Espaces) Research Unit at the University of Luxembourg aims to address this weakness of the border literature through two types of comparisons. First, it compares border regions across geographic areas. Instead of focusing only on case explanation, which is the strength of the field of borderland studies, geographic comparison is utilized as a means to promote theory-building. Second, the conference attempts to link works being conducted in different fields in order to isolate and recognize mechanisms that affect decision-making in different arenas and at different levels (i.e. individual citizens, spatial planners, political elites, etc). The conference asks the following questions: What is the nature of power in different fields of borderland studies and how is it exercised? What impacts do power symmetries and asymmetries have on border communities?Has border integration affected the nature of power relationships in border communities or has it merely changed the incentive structures of actors?

Academic Committee: Peter Gilles (University of Luxembourg), Harlan Koff (University of Luxembourg), Carmen Maganda (University of Luxembourg) and Christian Schulz (University of Luxembourg)

More details of the Conference:

Conférence grand public

Le développement face aux crises: débats, perceptions et réalités

02 juillet 2009

Qui décide qu’une crise humanitaire mérite l’attention de la communauté internationale ? Comment une intervention humanitaire se met-elle en place ? Quel rôle jouent les médias et les organisations de la société civile dans ce contexte ?

Ces questions et bien d’autres seront débattues lors de la conférence « le développement face aux crises : débats, perceptions et réalités ». Partant de l’exemple du Darfour, le Prof. Deon Geldenhuys de l'Université de Johannesburg ( http://www.uj.ac.za/politics ) et François Grünewald , directeur exécutif du Groupe URD ( www.urd.org ), aborderont ce complexe thématique à partir de différents angles. La soirée sera animée de façon à permettre un échange intensif entre le public et les intervenants.

Une conférence dans le cadre de l’initiative: « Le développement face aux inégalités », avec le soutien de la Fondation de la Recherche.

Environment and Social Inequality

April 24, 2009

Dr. Pradip Saha, Center for Science and Environment, New Delhi & Prof. Richard Taylor, Department of Geography, University College London, U.K.First conference of the initiative “Development Addressing Inequalities: Rights and Responsibilities”

More details of the Conference:

Coordination: Carmen Maganda (University of Luxembourg)