Autumn Semester at the Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies

Thursday, October 19, 2017 - 12:45

The Centre will play host to a range of exciting activities and events over the coming months. These range from the nature of extra-state assassinations by the Yugoslav secret services to an event called ‘Cultures of Victory’, a special workshop co-organized with the Journal of Contemporary History which examines how victory in war impacted on European polities and societies in the Twentieth Century. The workshop will pose a series of comparative questions about nature of such. The point of departure for this workshop is the inversion of Wolfgang Schivelbusch’s seminal concept of a ‘culture of defeat’, which claims that vanquished states and/or peoples are propelled towards transformative political or social projects as a means of redeeming past defeats. The workshop will explore whether in fact there is an alter-ego to the culture of defeat, i/e a ‘culture of victory’, that is an important feature of states and societies that have emerged in triumph from war in the twentieth century. This ‘cultures of war victory’ approach suggests that powerful factors of cultural and societal integration, are also divisive and unsettling forces in post-war societies. 

The Centre will host a number of events on Brexit and how it is impacting on the UK, Ireland and the European Union. On 25 October, we will welcome Professor Michael Keating (University of Aberdeen), Dr. Katy Hayward (Queen’s University Belfast) and Dr. Etain Tannam (Trinity College Dublin) for a special seminar focusing on the challenge to existing constitutional orders (the United Kingdom and the European Union) which the historic June 2016 Brexit vote has brought in its wake. The Brexit negotiations, which are now reaching a crucial stage, will also feature in a special event on 8 November when the Centre hosts a joint seminar by Denis MacShane (former UK Minister for Europe) and Tony Connolly (RTE Correspondent in Brussels). Both speakers have recently published books on Brexit and they will explore the negotiations and what they have produced as well as the challenges for the UK, EU and Ireland of preparing for a ‘No Deal’ outcome. 

Later in the term the Centre will also host one-off ‘dialogues’ with Mariead McGuinness MEP and Irish Minister for European Affairs, Helen McEntee TD. Details of these events will be published on the website in a short while.

For more information please contact Professor John O’Brennan, Director of the Centre (email: john.obrennan@mu.ie )
For further details please click on  Seminar Autumn Series 2017