CALL for PAPERS | EU politics of memory | RSCAS-COST ITSME Network | Florence, June 19-20 2015

Since its origin, the EU constructed a narrative based on the reconciliation among former enemies. 9th May symbolized the transit from confrontation and the end of WWII to reconciliation and European integration. This narrative went largely unchallenged. In the 1990s, some policies related to the remembrance of Holocaust added a new layer of memory policies. The 2004 enlargement triggered a certain conflict on these common grounds. On the one hand, applicant states had to adapt to existing mainstream EU memory policies as an implicit part of the acquis. On the other hand, politicians and intellectuals in acceding states demanded the development of policies which took into account the specific memories of Central and Eastern European States associated with the experience of totalitarian communist regimes. Claims for recognition of these memories emerged in different European institutional and non-institutional sites and actors used different strategies to further their claims.

This workshop wants to explore the different dimensions involved in shaping EU memory policies: the conflicts on diverging and often contested memory facts and their projection to the EU/European level; the role of different group of actors as memory entrepreneurs at the supranational level, their cooperation and competition; the role of EU institutions; the strategies pursued by actors and institutions; the fitting of EU policies with national policies, etc. The workshop invites papers analyzing specific policy issues (denial of crimes, EU memory museum policies, comparing different national cases of actors/strategies in pursuing these European policies, theoretical papers, etc. Single country cases are not preferred although submissions may be considered and decided upon on the basis of their merits.

Submission of proposals. Proposals for papers should contain a title and a brief summary (up to 300 words). Deadline for submission is 30th November 2014. Applicants should include a brief CV. Papers accepted will be taken into consideration for the publication agenda of the Working Group on Politics of Memory. Proposals should be uploaded at http://www.rscas.org/registration_form/?p=1425 

Selection: Selected proposals will be communicated by 15th December 2014. Participants must send their papers by 1st June 2015.

Funding: Members of the COST ISTME network will have their costs covered through the standard COST procedures. A certain amount of funding may be available for those selected applicants lacking funding.

Organization. The Workshop is jointly organised by the COST ITSME , the EUI RSCAS Global Governance Programme  and the Research Committee on European Unification of the International Political Association (IPSA) . For further information, please, contact Carlos Closa or Georges Mink