IES Blog

On November 30th, Professor Kathleen Canning, Sonya O. Rose Collegiate Professor of History and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History, Women’s Studies and German at the University of Michigan, gave a lecture entitled, “States of Exception and Sudden Democracies in 20th Century Germany”, for 20 participants in Moses Hall. Canning began by discussing how populism is often misconstrued as a strengthening of democracy, when in her opinion it delegitimizes institutions and representation in favor of direct, popular rule. Canning then presented a question that guided the rest of the lecture: how are affinities for democracies dismantled?

On November 14, 2017, The Institute of European Studies’ Social Science MATRIX Research Group, led by IES Director Jeroen Dewulf and PhD candidate Jon Cho-Polizzi, gathered in Barrows Hall. The 20 participants, consisting of the Institute’s visiting scholars and affiliated PhD students, continued the discussion around the theme, “Continent Divided: Building Bridges, Finding Truth”. This session, the group welcomed a two-part presentation by Maria Pichou, Senior Visiting Scholar at the Berkeley School of Law, and Spero Paravantes, Senior Research Fellow at IES, both hailing from the University of Luxembourg.

On November 9th, 2017, IES Director Jeroen Dewulf welcomed Jana Puglierin of the Oppenheim Center at the German Council of Foreign Relations to the Berkeley campus. Puglierin gave a lecture to a crowd of twenty-five entitled “The Future of the EU after Brexit: Implications from a German Perspective.” Puglierin began her lecture by contrasting the European Union today with the European Union of 2005. Back then, political union through an integrated Europe was seen as a way to deter from war and other forms of conflict. The notion of an ever-closer union was written in many European treaties.

On the evening of November 3rd, the Gerald D. and Norma Feldman Annual Lecture took place at the Bancroft Hotel. IES Director Jeroen Dewulf introduced Margaret Anderson, Professor Emeritus in History at UC Berkeley, as the keynote speaker, and she spoke to an audience of over 120 attendees. Anderson’s lecture, entitled “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story: The Armenian Genocide and the Problem of Humanitarian Intervention,” centralized on the topic of the Armenian Genocide and the overarching question of humanitarian intervention, with a specific focus on the role of US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau.