A University Seminar on European Affairs
"Today, in an effort to begin shaping the outlines of the future, those who have understood the reasons for the current crisis in European civilization, and who have therefore inherited the ideals of movements dedicated to raising the dignity of humanity ... have begun to meet and seek each other. The road to pursue is neither easy nor certain, but it must be followed and it will be done!"
- The Ventotene Manifesto, 1941, Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi
Reading these resonant lines written by Altiero Spinelli at the darkest hour of European history, how can one not think about the present and future of European politics today?
Thinking Europe Now, is both the title and the project of a new University Seminar series at Columbia University. It forms a New York-based community of scholars dedicated to thinking the urgent situation confronting Europe, both inside the EU and on its borders in the South and East and in its relations to the wider world.
The seminar draws on all disciplines that can contribute to this task: historians, political scientists, anthropologists, literary scholars, legal and constitutional theorists, economists and those working in journalism. What unifies the discussion is not a narrow focus on the present, but a sense of the actuality of the intellectual task.
The initial convenor group consists of:
- Carlo Invernizzi Accetti, Assistant Professor of Political Science, The City College of New York,
- Rajan Menon, Anne and Bernard Spitzer Chair in Political Science, The City College of New York,
- Adam Tooze, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History & Director of the European Institute, Columbia University, and
- Nadia Urbinati, Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Professor of Political Theory and Hellenic Studies, Columbia University.
Thinking Europe Now is part of the University Seminars at Columbia University. Participation in the seminar is by invitation. For information, please contact François Carrel-Billiard ([email protected]). The seminar meets between 3 and 6 times per academic year. Some sessions of the seminar are organized in conjunction with more public events, which usually take place the day after the seminar session.