Life in Kőszeg

ISES MA students blogging about life in Kőszeg, Hungary
 

The Summer Seminar on Critical Thinking in the 21st Century

The Summer Seminar on Critical Thinking in the 21st Century will take place in Kőszeg, Hungary, from 8 July - 5 August 2012.

The Summer Seminar is a 4-week residential program of intensive reading, writing, reflection, and discussion. Seminar sessions will meet for three hours each morning from Monday through Saturday, and two evenings during each week. Generally students will be expected to read at least two assigned books as well as supplementary articles each week; write one or two short essays per week; and, submit a final extended paper within a month of the seminar’s conclusion.

As is implied from the above, there will be no time for excursions including weekends during the seminar, so that those who may feel the need for touristic experiences should schedule them before or after the seminar. Similarly, daily use of the internet will be very restricted in order to focus on seminar content. So if a prospective applicant is addicted to Facebook and other social networking sites, we suggest that you do not apply, and that you might instead read The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart.

More information on The Summer Seminar on Critical Thinking in the 21st Century can be found in the brochure below.

Application deadline: May 15, 2012

A .pdf copy is also available here.

Click here to download:
ISES-BCA_Summer_Seminar_Brochure_2012.pdf (363 KB)
(download)

Posted January 9, 2012 by Renjie Butalid 
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ISES Fall 2011/Winter 2012 Newsletter

The Fall 2011/Winter 2012 newsletter is now available! Find out the latest updates from ISES, including information on the International Summer University and The Summer Seminar on Critical Thinking.

You can download the .pdf copy of the newsletter here.

Click here to download:
ISES_Fall_2011_Newsletter_VFinalA.pdf (2.26 MB)
(download)

Posted January 9, 2012 by Renjie Butalid 
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Scholarship opportunities available at ISES, 500-3000 euros for outstanding students

Scholarship_available

Eligible Countries: 

International Visegrad Fund

Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine

CEI

Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine

Posted September 7, 2011 by Renjie Butalid 
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ISES Spring/Summer 2011 Newsletter

The Spring/Summer 2011 Newsletter from the Institute for Social & European Studies is now out!

Highlights include information on The European Trail Project and the full transcript of a speech delivered by Prof. Mary Kaldor from the London School of Economics, at the Corvinus University of Budapest in April 2011.

Download a .PDF copy of the ISES Spring/Summer 2011 newsletter here.

Click here to download:
ISES_Spring_Summer_2011_Newsletter_VFA.pdf (3.34 MB)
(download)

Posted July 16, 2011 by Renjie Butalid 
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From Classical and Popular Brasilian Music to Role of ICTs in Global Civil Society

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by Andrew Bacchus (MA student) University of Waterloo, Canada

Students at ISES experienced a symphony of sorts, first thing in the morning on Wednesday, July 6th. Professor Marco Antonio da Silva Ramos, a visiting Brasilian professor from the University of Sao Paolo, treated ISES students and XVI Summer University participants to a historical audio tour of Brasil using several creative pieces from Brasilian musicians in a session titled “Contacts and Influences Between Classical and Popular Brasilian Music.” He framed the session using the work of Olavo Bilac’s “Musica Brasilera.” 

Students learned that music is culture. Music builds interconnectedness. Music is what Brasilians listened to when the country was first hit with an inflation crisis almost thirty years ago. Ramos remembers when he had to buy items from the grocery store in the morning, because he would not be able to afford the items in the night; grocery stores would change prices every two hours. As a Canadian participant, I was curious to know if Brasilian universities and students utilized music to outreach to poorer neighbourhoods, or favelas. 

Professor Ramos responded that yes in fact students do conduct outreach, but also a professor in Brasil has four main duties: (1) teach undergraduate and graduate courses, (2) conduct research for the institution, (3) participate in administration and international affairs, similar to his visit and lecture at ISES and, (4) participate in ‘extension programmes,’ which are courses for non-students; it is in these extension programmes that students are organised to visit favelas.

Markus_sabadello

From culture, the next session focused on communication with Markus Sabadello from the European Peace University, speaking on the topic of “Global Civil Society and the Role of ICTs.” His main point was that even though it is easier to communicate in our globalized civil society, the organisation of that communication as either centralised or decentralised will affect the efficiency and security of the communication. 

Sabadello strongly believes that the technical structures of communication need to align with social structures, because right now, Sabadello believes that there is disproportional preference for the security aspect of communication more than the freedom aspect. 

One of the quotes in Sabadello’s presentation was “a community will evolve only when a people control their own communication” (Fanon). 

Posted July 13, 2011 by Renjie Butalid 
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Perspectives on the European Union in light of Austerity Measures

ISES XVI International Summer University

REINVENTING THE FUTURE

NEW STRATEGIES IN GLOBAL MANAGEMENT AND THE ROLE OF EUROPE

25 June – 9 July, 2011

By Juozas Kasputis (MA), Vytautas Magnus University

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June 30, 2011

Austerity without Growth: the Unsustainable Policy of EU Governments

Lecture presented by Guido Montani (University of Pavia)

The European project is facing a crisis. The EU is felt as an irritating bureaucracy. The Maastricht Treaty was an unsatisfactory compromise: a Monetary Union without an Economic Union and Political Union. In the current situation the European Union is considered as a set of institutions useful for national governments, but not as a long-term project. Since the Lisbon Treaty did not solve the problem of the European government, France and Germany started to talk about the need for “European governance”. On the peak of financial crisis France and Germany took the leadership, imposing intergovernmental solutions, outside the traditional “institutional triangle”: the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the Commission. The problem was thus conceived: how much should the virtuous states of the Union pay in order to avoid the failure of the vicious states? In order to do that, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was established, thanks to a change in the Treaty, so that the finances put in the ESM will always be under the control of national governments. But the intergovernmental method and the will to establish a European directoire are the true causes of euroscepticism, the revival of nationalism and the rise of populist movements in Europe.

In spite of EU crisis, the European project is not dead. The European Parliament has become the only legitimate institution representing the will of European citizens. Since 1979, on the occasion of every change in the Treaty, the European Parliament was able to increase its power. Some recent events show that the European Parliament resists to the increasing lordliness of national government. It is exposed by recent initiative “Europe for Growth. For a Radical Change in Financing the EU”. Today we have one European currency for 17 member states, but 17 national financial policies. This asymmetry does not work. “Europe for Growth” proposes two ambitious goals. The first is to end the system of national contributions. The present budget of the EU can be totally financed by 1% of VAT, a carbon tax and, if necessary, by a financial transaction tax. The second goal is a public investment plan, financed entirely by Project Bonds issued by the EIB. The European Parliament is not considered as a crucial institution, national governments make main decisions. In order to maintain the growth the participation of society is decisive. The election is key element in democracy. A European growth policy is impossible without European democracy.

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The Future of the European Social Model in the Light of Austerity Programmes

Lecture presented by Mario Nuti (University of Rome “La Sapienza”)

The European Social Model is not exactly defined. The European Social Model (ESM) is a controversial subject. The ESM has been praised for positive aspects of European economic performance. At the moment the model is claimed to be in a crisis. Author insists that the European Social Model is one, recognizable in spite of European diversity, it is alive.

The US economy conforms to the neoclassical theory of markets. The EU relies more on the non-market institutions. The welfare state requires higher taxes. Both the EU and the US models use the advantages of market economies. Critics have alleged the superiority of the US system in terms of growth, job creation and employment. The US outperformed the EU in the 1990s up to the mid-2000s. But some of the smaller EU social dialogue countries, like Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark, had an exemplary performance in the same period, while the EU outperformed the US from the 1950s to the 1990s. Relative EU and US performance depends strictly on the periods selected. 

In the last 10 years ESM has suffered some dilution, due to several factors including: the rising pension burden of an ageing population, the rising cost of available health treatments, opportunistic behavior (moral hazard). Another major factor diluting the ESM has been EU enlargement to the post-socialist countries of central Eastern Europe. EU candidates adopted EU competition policy; restrictions on state aid; improvements in state governance. But the EU authorities did not require of the new members the convergence with those policies that add up to the social dialogue model that characterized the European model. The crux of the matter is that it is impossible to maintain current relative and often absolute standards of living in the more advanced countries while, at the same time, following policies of the free mobility of factors and free trade. Protectionism, and/or constraints on migrations and on capital mobility, would have to be introduced to support living standards and welfare states in the more advanced countries, at the expense of lower overall productivity and lower living standards and growth in the emerging countries. 

This is the dilemma facing advanced countries, including all those adopting a European Social Model. The stringencies of the Growth and Stability Pact had already forced a certain dilution of the ESM, but eventually the Model was wrecked by the cuts in government expenditure adopted as a response to the global economic crisis of 2008-2010. The ESM, though diluted, have allowed the older EU members to fare better, during the recent crisis – in terms of social costs - than the less welfare-minded New Member States of Central Eastern Europe. And the US model has also been transformed in the crisis, re-instating the state as a major actor, taking care of the welfare not just of workers but of shareholders, creditors and managers of bankrupt private financial institutions. 

In conclusion: the European Social Model is alive and well; it has a distinctive identity in spite of cross-country diversity; it is not a superior model but it partakes fully of the advantages of a market economy and has specific merits in social protection and the composition of conflicts; it has been diluted in the last ten years as a result of various factors.

Posted July 4, 2011 by Renjie Butalid 
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ISES Reflections on The European Trail Project - XVI International Summer University

(download)
By Regina Bakhteeva, (MA student) University of Bologna

On 30 June 2011 the XVI International Summer University welcomed speakers from the University of Gent and Barcelona Centre for International Affairs who presented the European Trail project and stimulated an interesting discussion among the participants. The audience became so engaged in the debating of the issues raised that it was decided to continue the discussion the next day as well.

Ine Pisters from the University of Gent introduced the major concept that lied behind the European Trail Project. This project is a product of cooperation in research on Europe between the University of Gent, Europe of Cultures Forum, ISES-Kőszeg, research centers in Barcelona and Brussels. At the core of the program is an attempt to imagine Europe in a different way. As Ine Pister noted, this program is a program with a lot of questions. What is important is that questions are not only raised and discussed but also serve as a basis for a further debate. Meetings within the European Trail Project build on the analysis, results from the previous discussions. Thus, steps in the direction of re-thinking realities and making Europe as an Agora of Interactions are made.

Ine Pisters’s presentation was followed by the talk of Yolanda Onghena from the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs. The speaker outlined the key questions that Europe has to find a response to such as – do we need a European identity? We in Europe, who are we? What can we do to bring the understanding of Europe as belonging and make it publicly known? As Ms Onghena stressed, with societies changing, Europe should also change. The idea of Europe should be broadened while Europe itself needs to learn to speak with one voice.

Ghislain Verstraete from the University of Gent continued the topic by considering the issues of social security and citizenship. At the beginning of his presentation Mr Verstraete made some observations concerning democracy. First, democracy is not natural, we have to work for it. Second, democracy is not a heaven, it is not inclusive. Third, democracy is not only harmony but also a conflict. In this context he offered three perspectives on citizenship: juridical, social, and citizenship as in practice. The latter implied that when one does not have juridical or social citizenship, one still can act as a citizen. Ghislain Verstraete also considered the issue of solidarity and problems in connection with that, in particular when it comes to the vision of solidarity in Europe.

Presentations by all three speakers generated a lively discussion in the audience. Questions ranged from how Europe should be defined to whether the EU should be more active in promoting democracy in Belarus. As the debate has demonstrated, issues of identity and identification, future of solidarity in Europe offer no easy answers but as long as we have our “ears tuned”, challenges are to be overcome.

Posted July 4, 2011 by Renjie Butalid 
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ISES invites you to the closing ceremony and inauguration of UNESCO Chair - Friday July 8 2011

Click here to download:
Invitation_Closing Ceremony_ISU_Final.pdf (2.3 MB)
(download)

UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage Management & Sustainable Development

We are extremely pleased to announce that the Institute for Social & European Studies (ISES) Foundation, already a Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence, was recently awarded a UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage Management & Sustainable Development.

The UNESCO Chair will complement the ISES-Corvinus postgraduate programme in Cultural Heritage Management & Sustainable Development, a unique program that is the first of its kind in Hungary.

This postgraduate programme offers students the opportunity to become trained professionals with the skills needed to preserve and protect cultural heritage for future generations. The programme provides a solid, interdisciplinary foundation for specialization in cultural heritage, management and sustainable development.

We are also pleased to announce that we will be opening our new Advanced Studies Centre and Library in Kőszeg, intended for MA and PhD student researchers, as well as professors in the social sciences.

For more information, please visit www.ises.hu

Posted June 29, 2011 by Renjie Butalid 
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