The Council for European Studies (CES) seeks conference proposals that explore the quality of resilience in Europe. It encourages proposals from the widest range of disciplines and, in particular, proposals that combine disciplines, nationalities, and generations. CES invites proposals for panels, roundtables, book discussions and individual papers on the study of Europe, broadly defined, and strongly encourages participants to submit their proposals as part of an organized panel. Full panel proposals will be given top priority in the selection process.

Argument

Resilience is the capacity to survive, to bounce back and to innovate in the wake of extraordinary stress or unexpected crises. Psychologists view resilience as a character trait. Today, researchers and scholars of all stripes are beginning to understand resilience as constitutive of societies as well as of individuals.

The Program Committee for the 23rd International Conference of Europeanists invites participants to consider contemporary Europe’s capacity for resilience. Since the financial crisis began in 2008, stresses and shocks of various sorts have posed dilemmas that challenge Europe’s resilience in economic, political, and cultural domains. How will European economies confront slow growth and austerity, as well as the atrophy of “social Europe” and the growth of inequality? How will demographic decline combined with immigration and assimilation affect the ethnic composition of Europe? Will the protracted Eurozone crisis and waning public support for European institutions and policies alter the viability of the European project? How will secular Europe confront the challenges of religious mobilization? How will European democracies confront the rise of nationalist parties and the valorization of “illiberalism” as viable political practice? Can Europe remain a “Normative Power,” a force for liberalism, democracy and the rule of law in the world, in the face of rising powers and resurgent authoritarianism?

The Council for European Studies (CES) seeks proposals that explore these questions and the quality of resilience in Europe. It encourages proposals from the widest range of disciplines and, in particular, proposals that combine disciplines, nationalities, and generations. CES invites proposals for panels, roundtables, book discussions and individual papers on the study of Europe, broadly defined, and strongly encourages participants to submit their proposals as part of an organized panel. Full panel proposals will be given top priority in the selection process. To form panels, participants may find it useful to connect with like-minded scholars through the many CES research networks, which can be found here: http://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/research/research-networks

Submission guidelines

Proposals may be submitted from August 17 to October 1, 2015.

Participants will be notified of the Program Committee’s decision by December 10, 2015. Information on how to submit proposals will be posted on the CES website and disseminated through its newsletter. To subscribe to the CES newsletter visit: http://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/

Program Committee

• Mabel Berezin, Co-Chair, Cornell University
• Mark Pollack, Co-Chair, Temple University
• Jan Willem Duyvendak, University of Amsterdam
• Julia Lynch, University of Pennsylvania
• Marla Stone, Occidental College
• Peter Lindseth, University of Connecticut

Local Organizing Committee

• Julia Lynch, Chair, University of Pennsylvania
• Richard Deeg, Temple University
• Orfeo Fioretos, Temple University
• Julia Gray, University of Pennsylvania
• Mauro Guillen, University of Pennsylvania
• Dan Kelemen, Rutgers University
• Sophie Meunier, Princeton University
• Mark Pollack, Temple University
• Tobias Schulze-Cleven, Rutgers University
• Rudra Sil, University of Pennsylvania