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
