Summer School Announcement: The EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy - a think-tank that undertakes program, project, publishing and training activities related to the European integration process - organizes its 10th year summer school program for university students in July 2012. In July 7- 19, 2011 the summer school under the title "Europe At The Crossroads" will take place in Prague. You can find further details on our homepage www.europeum.org/ess2012 or you can see the promotion leaflet at http://www.europeum.org/ess2012/doc/poster2012.pdf.

Summer School Announcement: The 2012 Olympia Summer Seminars in Conflict and Peace Studies features four cycles of studies on conflict, religion, terrorism and negotiation analysis. The Olympia Summer Seminars will take place from July 5 to 16, 2012, at the International Olympic Academy in Olympia, Greece. Please visit http://www.olympiaseminars.org for all information in regards to the program and the application process.

An opportunity from Atlantic-Community.org: "Your Ideas: Your Nato - policy workshop competition We are looking for students’ ideas on important current issues that will be debated at the NATO Summit in Chicago in May, including partnerships with Arab Spring countries, spending more efficiently on defense, and building transatlantic values and community. Winners will present their policy ideas at our conference in Berlin and receive feedback from NATO (round-trip airfare and 4 nights’ accommodation plus 500 EUR cash prize included). Students will also have a chance to collaborate with their peers in other NATO Member and Partner countries to come up with common solutions to these important transatlantic issues." http://www.atlantic-community.org/index/articles/view/Your_Ideas%2C_Your_NATO RC

PhD grants at the European University Institute

Folks,

There are a number of PhD grants available for study in several areas at the European University Institute. Deadlines are 31 January. bp

For further information, check out the website.

Pre-registration info

Dear Students,
We realize there is some frustration that course offerings in POS and EUR will be more limited next semester as compared to the selection we normally put out. Last year we were unable to make one of the full-time hires allocated to our department, and Prof. Zankina will be on leave for one semester. EUR majors should note, though, that they can take POS 401 Security Sector Governance in SEE for EUR topics credit.
Next academic year, we should be better staffed. We will have at least three topics in POS per semester (Phillips and Sardamov in the fall, Zankina and a new hire in the spring, plus at least one outside instructor each semester; Prof. Phillips may also teach a second topic in the spring). There will also be at least two EUR topics per semester, possibly three (Prof. Crombois will be on sabbatical and we'll secure a replacement for him). We realize this will come a bit too late for graduating seniors, but we hope they will be able to complete successfully their majors on the basis of the course offerings that are available.
EUR 302 Comparative Politics of Europe and EUR/POS 307 Research Methods in Politics can be taken for either EUR or POS credit – this is the reason they appear on both registration pages. You can register, however, only from the EUR page for the former, and only from the POS page for the latter.
We also wanted to remind POS majors that they can substitute (from among the courses offered in the spring) EUR 405 The EU in International Relations or ECO 310 Econometrics toward the 9 cr. hours of POS 400-level courses they need to take. Students double-majoring in EUR and POS should make sure that they do not double-count more than 3 courses. Students taking one as a major and the other as a minor can double-count at most two courses.
In case anyone has questions regarding our course offerings or major requirements, please come by to see your advisor or talk to the professors teaching the courses you are interested in.
We do hope we will all have a productive and at least slightly enjoyable spring semester.

Dear Folks,

Here are the readings for the fall 2011 state exams in EUR and POS. The procedure for the state exams can be found on the site of the Registrars' Office. BP

EUR STATE EXAM READINGS (FALL 2011)

George Soros. "Does the Euro have a future?"

Yves Surel. "The European Union and the challenges of populism"

POS STATE EXAM READINGS (FALL 2011)

Clay Shirky, "The Political Power of Social Media." Foreign Affairs, Jan./Feb. 2011 (available on EBSCOhost)

Klaus Segbers, "Global Politics and the Collapse of the Political West Divide: The Emerging New Global Landscape." Panorama, Jan. 2009

UN Regional Academy Young Scholars’ Conference

Hello everyone,

An interesting confernce in UN's headquarters in Vienna this January. Deadline for applications is December 1, 2011. I am attaching the full call for papers as there is no separate internet link. EZ

CALL FOR PAPERS: UN Agencies Connecting with Academics and the Civil Society Conference. UN Regional Academy Young Scholars’ Conference (13.01.2012, DL 01.12.)

The Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) is a global professional association of educational and research institutions, individual scholars, and practitioners active in conducting research on the United Nations, international organizations, and global governance topics. ACUNS thus aims to provide an interactive platform between academia and the activities of the UN agencies.
In cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), United Nations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Information System (UNIS), the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, the University of Vienna, Webster University, Transparency International, the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (ÖIIP), the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and the International Peace Institute (IPI), ACUNS is pleased to announce the Conference on “UN Agencies Connecting with Academics and the Civil Society”. The Conference will take place in Vienna, on January 11-13, 2012 at the United Nations Office in Vienna. The conference language is English. The themes, this year, are nuclear security, energy for all, the green economy and development, corruption, and e-learning platforms. For information on the programme, please check www.acuns.org
The third day of the event will be dedicated to a Young Scholars’ Conference. The Young Scholars’ Conference will also mark the inauguration of the UN Regional Academy, a tri-national effort (Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary), aiming at providing graduate and post-graduate students with the opportunity to further their understanding of the UN and its activity.
THEMES
Proposals are invited for papers focusing on the following themes:
 Energy: access for all
 Nuclear security and global governance
 Global zero(complete nuclear disarmament: fiction or reality
 Green economy and development
 Corruption
 Education and public awareness.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
A 300 word abstracts and the affiliation details should be submitted in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats, in the following order: 1) author(s), 2) affiliation, 3) email address, 4) title of abstract, 5) body of abstract 6) theme being addressed (from list above). The abstract and details can be sent to acuns.vienna@gmail.com with the name of the conference specified in the subject line by December 1.
We will acknowledge the receipt of your proposal and respond to all paper proposals submitted. If your paper is accepted a notification of acceptance will be sent to you by December 15. Your confirmation of attendance will be expected by January 1, 2012. By January 6, 2012 the full paper is to be sent according with the style standards provided to the accepted participants by organizers.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
The conference will give young scholars and researchers the opportunity to discuss current issues on the agenda of the UN. The papers presented and discussed will also be published on the website and hopefully in a book edited by ACUNS.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

There is no registration fee for participating at the conference. However, participants will have to cover their travel and accommodation costs. For those interested, information on affordable accommodation close to the United Nations Office in Vienna (UNOV) will be provided. The conference venue is UNOV and the language of the conference is English.
We are very much looking forward to receiving your papers and to a successful conference. Should you have any further questions, please address them to Maria Idomir (maria.idomir@gmail.com) and Laetitia Sengseis (sela@hansen.at).

Best regards,
Conference Secretariat
ACUNS Vienna Liaison Office

Election observers needed!

VERY short notice for this one I'm afraid: RC

"The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and SILBA are currently looking for 20 local election observers to participate in the monitoring of the upcoming elections on October 23rd in Bulgaria.

URGENT CALL FOR ELECTION OBSERVERS
The Support Initiative for Liberty and Democracy (SILBA) is a Danish NGO, which works to support democracy efforts in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. We will be deploying a mission of electoral observers to monitor the Bulgarian national and local elections to take place on October 23rd. We will be working together with the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee to carry out the mission. We are looking to gather a group of 10-20 observers from Bulgaria that will accompany the Danish participants.

October 21-23
Who can apply: Anyone interested in participating, preferably a student or someone with a background in journalism, law, political science or sociology; Must speak both Bulgarian and English; The local participants do not need to have experience of election observation. We will provide any training they need.

How to apply:
Interested applicants should send a CV with a short introduction about yourself and why you would like to participate to svetla.baeva@gmail.com. Please apply latest by Tuesday, October 18. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to send inquiries to above mentioned email address.
Costs: SILBA will cover all costs for for local participants including travel and meal during the day. "

Internship opportunity with Transitions

An internship opportunity that some might want to check out. Thanks to Prof. Castle for spotting this. BP

Transitions www.tol.org is looking for editorial interns with an interest in online journalism and international reporting.

They will conduct research for the editors, help find photos for stories, publish stories on our content management system, assist with multimedia productions, help write and research grant proposals, and find suitable articles from other outlets for Transitions to reprint, among other duties. They will also have an opportunity to edit and write for us, depending on their skills and inclination. We have two ideal candidates:

One is a native English speaker, preferably with some knowledge of a primary language in Transitions coverage regions, such as Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Romanian, or Albanian. He or she will have some experience with journalistic writing, probably with a college or university newspaper or magazine.

The other is a native Russian speaker able to translate texts into English and conduct research in Russian, preferably familiar with the norms of Western-style journalism.

The interns need not be located in Prague, but they must have reliable broadband access, be able to commit a regular block of time to the work, and be willing to use Skype while on the job. Please send a CV and one sample of your work, if applicable, to editorial@tol.org. Only those candidates selected for an interview will be notified. These are not paying positions.

Model EU in Belgrade

Short notice, but still time to apply (note there is a 165 euro fee which doesn't include transport to/from Belgrade). RC
10th – 13th November 2011

Belgrade Model European Union (BEUM) is a project created by a group of students gathered under non-governmental organization of Student Association BEUM and strongly supported by Faculty of Economics, Finance and Administration (FEFA) from Belgrade. BEUM 2011 will organize simulation of 3 Institutions: European Council, European Parliament and Council of the EU (former Council of Ministers). The Council of the EU and the European Parliament will share topics in order to simulate the real co-decision process.

Besides applying for delegate in mentioned institutions, you can also apply for the role of Journalist (all committees) and the role of Lobbyist (European Parliament and Council of the EU).

Applications are open until 10th October. For detailed information visit: www.beum.org