Immersive Learning for Undergraduates at the U of I

(l-r): Alexandria Stratton, Alexis Delgado, Anastasia Calkins

by Markian Dobczansky, Associate Director of the European Union Center

Expertise about European affairs is increasingly in demand in our globalizing and fragile world. Undergraduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign can gain expertise in European affairs through the EU Center’s immersive learning programs as well as through the university’s numerous study abroad opportunities. As part of its mission to popularize the study of Europe, the EU Center in 2023-2024 sponsored student teams for the Schuman Challenge in Washington, DC and the Midwest Model EU competition in Bloomington, IN. And it will continue to support these initiatives in future years.

The Schuman Challenge is an annual foreign affairs competition for advanced undergraduate students from U.S. college and universities, who engage in rigorous dialogue on transatlantic policy issues. Named for the French statesman Robert Schuman, one of the founders of European integration, the competition is administered by the EU Delegation to the U.S. and is judged by a distinguished panel of diplomats, foreign policy experts, and reporters. A team from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign took part in the 2024 competition in Washington, DC on April 4-5.

Alexandria Stratton, Anastasia Calkins, and Alexis Delgado presented and defended policy initiatives related to the transatlantic alliance in response to the question “How can the EU and the U.S. more effectively engage the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region on areas of shared priorities and common interest?” The team was coached by Kostas Kourtikakis, Teaching Associate Professor of political science, and Eylül Begüm Sağlam, a Ph.D. student in political science and an EU Center research assistant. Follow #SchumanChallenge on social media for more information and visit the 2024 Schuman Challenge Flickr album to see photos from the competition.

Founded in 1993 and hosted at Indiana University Bloomington since 2014, the Midwest Model EU is an undergraduate academic competition that simulates EU decision-making at the highest level. Colleges send delegations representing the 27 EU members states and, over a period of 48 hours, they meet in formal and informal sessions as the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Council, and several different Councils of Ministers. The competition celebrates is 30th anniversary in 2024.

This year the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign sent two delegations, which represented Germany and Austria. Ethan Bello and Luca Iasinschi, who played the roles of the Chancellors of Germany and Austria, respectively, shared the first-place award in the European Council simulation. Tamana Ramkumar, who played the role of Austrian foreign minister, received a second-place award in the Foreign Affairs Council. This year’s teams were coached by Kostas Kourtikakis and EUC Academic Coordinator Amanda Smith. The EU Center gratefully acknowledges support for MMEU from the Department of Political Science’s Pahre Fund.

The EU Center’s immersive learning opportunities for undergraduates can be an enjoyable and highly educational way of preparing for careers in diplomacy or international policy-making, international business, or specialized graduate study. Students also develop skills such as collaborative problem-solving, negotiation, and public speaking. Congratulations to our student participants!

Undergraduate students interested in the Schuman Challenge or Midwest Model EU should contact the European Union Center at eucenter@illinois.edu to request more information.

Immersive Learning for Undergraduates at the U of I

Read More

Transatlantic Educator Dialogue (TED) Wraps Up An Outstanding Year

by Rhett Oldham, Ed.D, moderator of the Transatlantic Educators Dialogue (TED) program

The European Union Center’s Transatlantic Educator Dialogue program just wrapped up its 15th year, one filled with numerous highlights. Any time one has the opportunity to collaborate with 39 educators from around the United States and Europe — educators who are open to talking about pedagogy, best practices, and global issues — a lot of great learning occurs.

Every TED group develops a unique personality, and TED 2024 was no different. They start out as a group of strangers, but by the end of the program, they have made lifelong connections with fellow educators around the world. The TED participants do this through sharing experiences and being open to new ideas and methodologies. The 2024 cohort worked so well together and enjoyed each other’s company so much that it was difficult to say goodbye after the 10th and final week.

The TED group had a great connection throughout the sessions and contributed outstanding resources throughout the 10 weeks. To keep up with all the great resources, participants used the TED 2024 Resource Page. Each week the group added new resources to the page so that by the end of the TED program, the resource page was full of information that participants can review and use anytime in the future.

TED will most certainly continue to evolve and grow. The participants of TED are encouraged to provide feedback throughout the program, and many of the changes that have been implemented in the past are a direct result of those suggestions. This is a hallmark of a program where every voice is valued. It doesn’t make any difference if English is your second, third, or fourth language. All of the contributions are first rate.

TED is a transformative experience that impacts educators both inside and outside the classroom. Educators leave TED with a stronger understanding of pedagogy and teaching practices around the world. It truly is something special.

Transatlantic Educator Dialogue (TED) Wraps Up An Outstanding Year

Read More

EU Center at the Multicultural Night of South Side Elementary School

 

by Eylül Begüm Sağlam, PhD student in Political Science and a 2023-24 Research Assistant at the European Union Center

This semester, the EU Center took part in another Multicultural Night hosted by South Side Elementary School on March 6th, 2023 (from 5:30pm to 7pm). The event served as a venue for familiarizing students with different countries, regions, and cultural traditions. Activities included local food tastings and experiencing vernacular languages of countries, and there were also tables on the contributions of various cultures to humanity (e.g., inventions).

The Multicultural Night started with students’ as well as their families’ exploration of different cultural tables and continued with more interactive activities which enabled participants to witness the respective culture and traditions. These activities included dancing and children’s games.

Area studies centers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign participated in the event. Research assistant Eylul Begum Saglam represented the EU Center and led the students in a “Guessing the Flag” game, since it proved quite popular at Leal Elementary School’s Multicultural Night. The game included the following European countries (including the EU member states, EEA countries, candidate countries and potential candidates): Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, Ukraine. Students matched the flag that they chose with that of country names that came to their minds.

EU Center at the Multicultural Night of South Side Elementary School

Read More

Tomasz Kamiński: “Cities as Actors in the EU Policy Towards China”

Tomasz Kamiński

by Kelsi Quick, Political Science PhD Student & Research Assistant at the European Union Center

The European Union Center recently hosted political scientist and Associate Professor of the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Łódź, Tomasz Kamiński, for his lecture entitled “Cities as Actors in the EU Policy Towards China.” In this lecture drawing on a multitude of his previous research, Kamiński makes the argument that the European Union is majorly underutilizing cities and regions in their framework of foreign policy. Given his assertion that cities and regions are in fact vital components of relations between the EU and their non-EU partners, Kamiński advocates that the EU should do more in the future to actively utilize cities and regions as actors when it comes to implementing EU foreign policy. He explains this through the lens of ‘paradiplomacy’ and applies it to the crucial case of EU-China relations.

Paradiplomacy and Cities as Actors

A vital component of Kamiński’s emphasis on cities and regions can be understood through the lens of ‘paradiplomacy,’ which argues that diplomatic-adjacent interactions occur on the subnational level between regions and cities. As a result, the power of cities and regions have grown, increasing their influence, building their power, and so on in a cycle of ever-increasing importance. Kamiński provided the audience with an example in the American context of California Governor Gavin Newsom having a formal meeting with President Xi Xinping of the People’s Republic of China. Such a meeting between a regional/substate leader and a national leader is rather rare, underlining the importance of such an event. Kamiński uses this example to highlight how impactful California — the fifth largest economy in the world — has become. The occurrence extends beyond California, with other major cities and regions becoming major global players in all aspects of policy from climate preservation initiatives to the economy. Cities and regions, Kamiński argues, already conduct influential business with cities and regions from other countries that shape relations between the two countries. Why would the EU not, then, capitalize on the capacity of subnational units to implement a more cohesive foreign policy?

The European Union and China

The European Union, Kamiński argues, has not been utilizing cities and other subnational units to their maximum potential, especially when it comes to the EU’s relationship with China. He points to the fact that 2021 was the first time that the European Parliament, with their "New EU-China Strategy," mentioned the importance of coordinating policy with “regional and local actors.” China, in contrast, has been fully aware of and actively utilizing the power of subnational units for quite some time, seen most obviously in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. In China’s case, paradiplomacy is coordinated with Beijing, a level of coordination and cohesion in which the EU is sorely lacking in comparison. Drawing on extensive research done on over 400 cities between 2020-2021, Kamiński demonstrates empirically that cooperation with China is important in at least 40% of their sample, and that, in large cities especially, the importance of such a connection is standard across the EU. In order to be a better counterpart to China and to be on more level ground, Kamiński argues, the EU must work to coordinate supranational, national, and subnational policy in ways they have failed to do in the past.

Policy Implications for the EU

Kamiński argues that in order for the EU to better develop paradiplomatic structures that enhance the cohesiveness of the EU’s foreign policy, whether it be with China or other partners, that purposeful, coordinating exercises must be conducted. One such suggestion is the "mapping" out of where in the EU there exists strong subnational ties with foreign countries, making explicit the connection that the EU could utilize when needed. Another suggestion is purposeful inclusion of subnational units when writing and conducting foreign policy. And lastly, Kamiński also stresses the importance of subnational units receiving funding from the EU for their cooperation and coordination in meeting foreign policy goals. One of the biggest challenges to moving forward with greater subnational integration in EU foreign policy is the "mental nationalism" framework, where a state-centric view takes over and the capacity and even the existence of subnational power is overlooked. Ultimately, Kamiński makes a compelling case that the EU needs to catch up with China in integrating subnational units in foreign policy—and they may even need to look to China to see just how to do that. 

A recording of the lecture may be found here.

Tomasz Kamiński: “Cities as Actors in the EU Policy Towards China”

Read More