All events

Boris, Brexit and Europe: An Interpretation

Lecture | September 3 | 12-1 p.m. | 201 Moses Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Matt Beech, Founding Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull & Senior Fellow at the Institute of European Studies, UC Berkeley

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, Berkeley Law, International Group, Center for British Studies

Boris Johnson’s election as Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, and therefore, as Prime Minister was a foregone conclusion to close observers of British politics. Where there is a disruption in the business of Westminster is the fact that the United Kingdom has its first Eurosceptic Prime Minister since Mrs Thatcher delivered her Bruges Speech. The long and winding road to Brexit has...   More >

Zero Sum Politics? Austrian Government and Challenges to the Kelsenian Vision of Democracy

Lecture | September 4 | 12-1 p.m. | 201 Moses Hall

Speaker/Performer:  David M. Wineroither, Center for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Sponsor:  Institute of European Studies

Hans Kelsen expressed his absolute acceptance of democratic rule at a time when most political parties, citizens and colleagues of his either openly rejected parliamentary democracy or embraced democracy as a means to prepare for imperfectly democratic means – in his own country, Austria, as well as in the majority of surrounding countries in Central Europe.
Kelsen demanded political actors to...   More >

Graduate Student Conference: Understanding the Countryside. Rural Europe in a Post-Global World

Conference/Symposium | September 9 | 9 a.m.-6 p.m. | International House, Sproul Rooms

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES)

The Brexit referendum of June 2016, the United States presidential election of November of that same year and the recent gilets jaunes (“yellow vests”) movement in France have brought unprecedented international attention to rural areas in the Western world. While some scholars have argued that the urban-rural dichotomy is a mistaken and misleading construct, others are questioning the reasons...   More >

Complicating the Countryside: Reflections on Land, Labor and the Law

Lecture | September 9 | 4:30-6 p.m. | International House, Sproul Rooms

Speaker/Performer:  Martha Lampland, University of California, San Diego

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES)

Keynote lecture of the Graduate Student Conference:
Understanding the Countryside. Rural Europe in a Post-Global World

Martha Lampland is a Professor of Sociology and a core member of the Science Studies Program at the University of California, San Diego. Her work touches on political economy, social history, and feminist science studies, and her research focuses on Hungary, and Central...   More >

US, UK, EU: Brexit, Trump, Foreign Policy and Transatlantic Relations

Lecture | September 12 | 12-1 p.m. | 201 Moses Hall

Speaker/Performer:  David Whineray, Visiting Scholar, Center for British Studies, UC Berkeley

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, Center for British Studies, Anglo-American Studies Program

Major geopolitical changes are taking place within Europe, and between the United States and Europe. Brexit is the biggest geopolitical shift in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. After 50 years of European integration—championed by successive US administrations—the UK’s exit from the EU is the first time a country has left the union. At the same time, European-US relations have become...   More >

A Conversation with José Manuel Barroso, Former President of the EU Commission and Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on Behalf of the EU

Panel Discussion | September 13 | 12-1 p.m. | Sutardja Dai Hall, Banatao Auditorium

Speakers/Performers:  José Manuel Barroso, Former Prime Minister of Portugal, current Chairman of Goldman Sachs International; Maurice Obstfeld, Professor of Economics, Berkeley Economics; Jeroen Dewulf, Director, Institute of European Studies

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, Department of Economics, Institute of International Studies, European Union Center

José Manuel Barroso, former Prime Minister of Portugal (2002-04), President of the EU Commission (2004-14), recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the EU (2012), and current Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, will visit the UC Berkeley campus. In conversation with Maurice Obstfeld (Class of 1958 Professor of Economics) and Jeroen Dewulf (Director of the Institute of European...   More >

Vrije uitloop | Free range: Poems by Saskia Stehouwer, Translation + Field Notes by Joel Thomas Katz, Robert Perry, and Saskia Stehouwer

Reading - Literary | September 13 | 4-5 p.m. | 223 Moses Hall

Speakers/Performers:  Saskia Stehouwer; Joel Thomas Katz; Robert Perry

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, BENELUX Studies Program, Dutch Studies

The Dutch Studies department will be hosting Saskia Stehouwer, Joel Thomas Katz and Robert Perry to speak on their new book of poetry, "Vrije uitloop | Free range". Author Saskia Stehouwer is a renowned poet from the Netherlands. She studied both Dutch and English literature at the University of Amsterdam and has worked as an editor and project leader for the VU University Amsterdam. Saskia...   More >

The Power of Emotions. Germany 19 | 19: Exhibition and Talk with Ute Frevert

Lecture | September 16 | 6:30-7:30 p.m. | Goethe-Institut San Francisco, Auditorium

Location:  530 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

Speaker/Performer:  Ute Frevert, Director of the Max-Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, Goethe-Institut San Francisco, Pacific Regional Office of the German Historical Institute Washington, Federal Foundation for the Study of Communist Dictatorship in East Germany, "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" Foundation (EVZ), Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, San Francisco

Our politics are increasingly driven by emotions, so it would seem. We are living in an age of permanent agitation. Facts are being called into question by perceived truths. Radicals of every description are attracting more and more attention with simple answers to complex questions. The political center often does not know how to deal with heated emotions. It is characterized by the political...   More >

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The Languages of Berkeley: An Online Exhibition

Exhibit - Multimedia | September 20 – 21, 2019 every day |  Free Speech Movement Cafe (Moffitt Library)

Sponsor:  Library

Celebrates the magnificent diversity of languages that advance research, teaching, and learning at the University of California, Berkeley. It is the point of embarkation for an exciting sequential exhibit that will build on one post per week, showcasing an array of digitized works in the original language chosen by those who work with these languages on a daily basis - librarians, professors,...   More >

The Languages of Berkeley: An Online Exhibition

Exhibit - Multimedia | September 20 – 21, 2019 every day |  Free Speech Movement Cafe (Moffitt Library)

Sponsor:  Library

Celebrates the magnificent diversity of languages that advance research, teaching, and learning at the University of California, Berkeley. It is the point of embarkation for an exciting sequential exhibit that will build on one post per week, showcasing an array of digitized works in the original language chosen by those who work with these languages on a daily basis - librarians, professors,...   More >