In 1990, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany
chose the University of California as one of the original
three "Centers
of Excellence" in the United States, along with Harvard and Georgetown.
The mission of these centers is to encourage activities that will
increase American understanding of contemporary developments in
Europe, and particularly in Germany. The establishment of the
"University of California Center for German and European Studies" (CGES)
was accompanied by a generous long-term grant from the German
government with the contractual agreement that when the
grant period ended in the year 2000, the Center would continue
in its mission with the support of the University. The University
has now partially met this obligation through the establishment
of this Institute of European Studies (IES). CGES continues
as a focus of the Institute's research activities; moreover,
the multi-campus CGES with IES will maintain the synergy that
the multi-campus Center established in German and European Studies
by bringing together scholars from the nine campuses to join
together
in collaborative research projects. This synergy made CGES
the only regional resource center in California for European
Studies in the 1990s. Indeed, CGES has already won international
recognition for excellence in the field of European Studies through
its research programs on the Political Economy of European Integration,
Supranational Governance in the EU, Globalization and Governance
in the European Union, European Security, and The Political Economy
of Ethnic Conflict.
John Efron
Director
Beverly Crawford
Associate Director
