Žana Monē profesūra LU SZF

Jean Monnet Chair at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Latvia

Holder of the Chair: Daunis Auers, PhD (London), Professor of European Studies

Project Title: Examining Europe at the Periphery: The Idea of Europe and the Impact of EU policies on Latvia's regions

Project Summary: This Jean Monnet Chair project has two key aims.

1. To promote debate, discussion, and comparison of different conceptions of “Europe” with regional Baltic ideas and thinkers between undergraduate students from different parts of the European Union and the world. This is addressed in the first “European Union I” course that introduces students to usually neglected “Baltic” (largely Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian) conceptions of the idea of “Europe” developed and debated during the national awakenings of the nineteenth century and during the founding of these sovereign states in the decade following the post-First World War, as well as contemporary discussions in the region on the nature and direction of the European Union. These debates will be linked, compared and contrasted with the better-known, largely West-European, thoughts on the construction of “Europe” from William Penn’s appeal for a “European Diet” in the seventeenth century to “Pan Europa”, the “Briand plan” and contemporary theories of European integration; and
    
2. To develop and promote a dialogue between students and scholars of the European Union and key policymakers and civil society actors, at both the municipal and national level on the impact of the EU “on the ground” in the peripheral regions of the EU. This is addressed in (A) the “European Union II” course that examines the policies of the European Union with a particular focus on their impact on Europe’s peripheral regions. Student-led seminars in the latter part of the course will be based around documentary films produced by the students that examine the impact of the European Union – “Europeanization” – on municipalities in Latvia; and (B) a workshop held in the 202024-2025 academic year bringing together scholars and practitioners to examine the impact of the EU on Latvia's regional municipalities.