Lead Partner: PSIR - University of the Peloponnese

Academic Coordinator: Asteris Huliaras, Professor.
 

The Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of thePeloponnese participates as the leading institution in the Jean Monnet Policy Debate project (Erasmus+ programme) entitled "AfriquEurope: The European Union and Africa in a multi crises world"

The project involves universities and research institutions from 33 countries (24 directly and 9 as partner institutions, 27 from Africa, 5 from Europe and 1 from China).

AfriquEurope Website [☍]

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The rationale of the Module focuses on promoting: 
– democratic engagement in the EU public sphere and
– participation in EU political and social life.

 The aim of the Module is to provide enhanced visibility about:
– what the EU stands for in terms of democracy and
– what it intends to achieve in a globalised world.

The Module’s background stems from the need:
– to equip European citizens with knowledge of what democracy is,
– to generate knowledge and skills which they can apply in their professional careers and competences,
– to raise awareness of common European Union values and
– to construct a European observatory for democracy.

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The University of Peloponnese has successfully been selected to host a new Jean Monnet Center of Excellence on “Visualising, Analysing and Learning about EU Studies – Visu.A.L.EU.” further strengthening the university’s track record in the field of European Studies and the Erasmus+ / Jean Monnet Activities. The proposal received a score of 90/100, an enthusiastic review and is the only JMCoE selected for funding in Greece in 2020.

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The JMCoE VisuALEU is based in the School of Social and Political Sciences and is being academically coordinated by Associate Professor Nikitas-Spiros Koutsoukis. Other members of the JMCoE are Professors A. Katsis and D. Venieris from the Dept of Social and Educational Policies and S. Koniordos, P. Sklias, P. Papadimitriou, E. Fakiolas, A. Klapsis, I. Plymakis and M. Galani from the Dept of Political Science & International Relations.

The JMCoE Visu.A.L.EU. embarks on the ambitious endeavor to map and educate about EU studies creatively and using contemporary technologies, via an intensive work program and multiple synergies in the next three years (2020-2023). Thus, the JMCoE strengthens the visibility of the School of Political and Social Sciences, its departments and the University of the Peloponnese in the field of EU studies, nationally and internationally.

The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Governance of the University of the Peloponnese aims at becoming an exceptional and high-level forum gathering academics, policy experts and stakeholders. Building on solid research and teaching foundations laid in the Department of Economics and the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of the Peloponnese, it promotes the EU orientation of the current study and training programmes.

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The Jean Monnet Chair on EU Relations with the Less Developed World is a multidisciplinary teaching, research and training programme, funded by the European Commission. The Chair is devoted to teaching and research on Europe’s external relations with less developed regions and countries in the post-conflict reconstruction phase in Africa, East Asia and the western Balkans. Moreover, the Chair also focuses on training. The programme includes the delivery of two undergraduate modules and two post-graduate seminars,  research, organization of international conferences, additional educational programs and events for information dissemination.

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The Jean Monnet Chair on ‘EU Foreign Policy and the Western Balkans’ (EU-FP-WB) will develop teaching, research and outreach activities about the role that the EU has been playing internationally towards the promotion of conflict resolution, democracy, and economic development, focusing on the Western Balkans. While the region in question is formally set on the path to EU accession, we are observing during the last years the consolidation of democratic backsliding and state capture, the rise of aggressive nationalism that challenges stability and peacebuilding, and the widening of economic divergence from the EU-27 countries. Very worryingly, the Western Balkans have also emerged as a chessboard of geopolitical competition between the EU, the United States, Russia, China, Turkey, and the Gulf countries.

The Chair’s teaching activities will acquaint undergraduate and postgraduate students of the University of the Peloponnese with the Union’s efforts to promote its values and norms beyond its immediate borders, paying particular attention to the case of candidate and potential candidate member-states in the Western Balkans.

The Chair’s research activities will assess the effectiveness of EU policies towards the region and will strive to contribute to the articulation of policy recommendations.

Lastly, the Chair’s outreach activities will focus on informing representatives of selected target groups (e.g., the youth and civil servants) about the interests that the EU defends internationally and its role as a security provider and donor of assistance in the Western Balkans.

Website [☍]

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European-focussed Policy Analytics (EuroPolA) is a new Jean Monnet module at the Dept. of Political Science and International Relations, and it is one active of the departmental and institutional Jean Monnet actions. EuroPolA is an introductory data analysis course based on a multidisciplinary approach and focusing exclusively on EU policies. The aim is to develop a policy-specific data analysis paradigm that combines knowledge and skills in (a) policy discourse analysis, (b) quantitative data analysis methods, (c) data retrieval and processing skills, and (d) skills in the use of integrated analysis software to performing [a-c].

For proof-of-concept, EuroPolA focuses on the following policy pillars:

• EU external affairs and foreign relations
• Regions and local development

The program includes:

• An optional course (Lent semester, will be taught for three years) entitled: “EURopen. Towards an open Europe: cultures, philosophy and history).
  Teachers: A. Klapsis, V. Lalagianni, D. Rozakis, from the teaching staff of the PEDIS Department
• A Summer School titled “The Common House of Europe”
  Teachers: invited professors from greek and european Universities.
• Other Activities (a series of conferences, website, peer review articles, Βest Practices, etc.)

The aim of the project is the familiarization of students, teachers and youth from local and civil society with the genesis of a common european spiritual identity as the product of the intemingling of different cultural and political traditions, out of which arise humanistic values which can assure the coexistence of culturally differentiated social groups and promote the principles of equality, justice and the freedom of the invidual.

Period of implementation: 2020-2023.

The Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of Peloponnese is a member of the Jean Monnet Network (Erasmus+) that will carry out the project entitled: Europeanisation meets democracy from below: The Western Balkans on the search for new European and democratic Momentum.

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The project involves 17 actors from 16 EU and Western Balkan countries. The objective of the project is to promote the Europeanisation of Western Balkans countries by reinforcing the rule of law, promoting democratic reforms, strengthening the role of civil society and encouraging the European perspective of the countries of the region, during a period characterized by a general stalemate of the accession process following the negative stance of France regarding the opening of negotiations of Albania and North Macedonia in 2019. Further, the aim of the project is to promote cooperation amongst the network being set up and the EU institutions, as well as to stimulate new researchers to focus on studying the region in the future.

(Duration: 29/10/2020-28/10/2023)

EU-Middle East Network in Action (EUMENIA) is a Jean Monnet Network and is comprised of seven more institutions namely the University of Peloponnese – Greece, Istituto Affari Internazionali – Italy, Roskilde University – Denmark, BirZeit University – Palestine, Yasar University – Turkey, American University of Beirut – Lebanon and University of Jordan – Jordan. The rationale of this interdisciplinary partnership is to encourage exchange of academic best-practices, bridge the gap between policy-making and academic world and create a thematic transnational research group. EU-Middle East relations constitute a cornerstone of the EU’s external relations and engagement with its neighbourhood. How has the EU been constructed in the Middle East debate and how has the Middle East been constructed in the European debate? These interlinked fundamental questions will guide the work of the network as they have a direct impact on how the EU and the Middle East are constructed, taught and understood by the European and Middle Eastern societies, students, academics and policy makers.

This project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

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AMENET Network  includes research actions, teaching and knowledge diffusion, paying special attention to young researchers. ΑΜΕΝΕΤ aims at identifying the main trends in the evolution of the EU and promoting learning from the European integration process that are of interest to the Mediterranean and Africa.

Website [☍]

High growth rates in the last 15 years have led to the belief that Africa, traditionally the world’s poorest continent, will become ‘the China of the 21^st Century’. At the same time, the African population will double by 2050, and so will its migration potential. In a context marked both by an above average pace of economic expansion and a booming population, an ageing European Union (EU) will be directly confronted at its doorstep with all major developments, positive or negative, affecting the African continent. In view of such challenges, Europe needs to define an ambitious strategy beyond its traditional role of main development aid donor to contribute more effectively to African development and create the conditions for it to become sustainable. In contrast, China has embarked at an early stage into a large-scale economic cooperation with Africa. The Network aims at promoting a tripartite cooperation between the EU, Africa and China to create a favourable framework for sustainable development. It argues that the EU’s and China’s comparative advantages can complement each other for the mutual benefit of all three parties. The project includes the organization of several conferences, roundtables, workshops, trainings and dialogues in Africa, China and Europe.

Website [☍]