national centre for research on europe otago university presentation 7 september, 2004 background...

National Centre for Research on Europe

Otago University Presentation7 September, 2004

Background and Activities Student Support Opportunities Future Directions


• Objectives: to…

– Promote multi-disciplinary research on the EU that brings together practitioners, graduates, post-doctoral fellows and academics

– Develop a new generation of NZ graduates with EU expertise

– Engage in policy-driven research, melding academic work with practical requirements

– Perform a wider societal role and serve as an element in the EU’s outreach within New Zealand and the Pacific

– Raise critical awareness of the EU, informing government, the media and public opinion


• Origins– Established in 2000 as UC Centre for Research on

Europe – Became National Centre for Research on Europe in

2003

• Governance – Advisory Board

• Internal• External (MFAT, EU Commission, EU Presidency, 4 NZ

Universities)• Business Advisory Group (Fonterra, Meat, Seafood, IT Industries)


• Funding

1. Core• EU - Commission establishment grant 2003-5 (€238,000)• EU - Jean Monnet Chair/ modules 2002-4 (€27,000)• EU - Jean Monnet Centre of Excelence 2005-7 (€30,000)• UC - VC’s new initiative fund 2000-2 (NZ$150,000)

Total Core grant income since 2000 EU €295,000UC $150,000

2. Research projects• EU - 2004-5 EU Asia Pacific Identity research grant (€144,000)• EU - 2002 EU Pacific Trade Workshop Grant (€30,000)• EU - 2002 EU NZ Public Opinion Survey grant (€25,000)• UC - 2004-6 UC Post-doc ( $100,000 - EU enlargement and NZ – Dr Gibbons)• UC - 2003-5 UC Post-doc ($100,000 - EU-Pacific relations – Dr. Koloamatangi)• UC - 2002-4 UC Post-doc ($100,000 - EU Perceptions in NZ – Dr. Chaban)

Total Research project income since 2000 EU €199,000 UC $300,000


• Activities

• Europa Lecture series– 2001 Terry Wynn, MEP– 2002 Helen Clark, PM – 2003 Chris Patten, Commissioner– 2004 Margaret Beckett, UK Minister

• Visiting Fellows 2004 – Fraser Cameron – European Policy Centre, Brussels– Jörg Drews, Bielfeld– Reinhardt Rummel – Stiftung Wissenshaft une Politik, Berlin

– Martin Sajdik, Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vienna– Heribert Weiland, Development Studies Institute, Freiburg– Mark Pittaway, Open University– Stephen Dearden, Manchester Metropolitan University– Allan Williams, Exeter University


• Activities

• Weekly Roundtable Seminars– Visiting Fellows– NCRE Staff– NCRE Thesis Students– Visiting Ambassadors

• Conferences– Technologies, Publics and Power, Akaroa, February 1-5

2004– Outside Looking In: multidisciplinary perspectives on the EU

from the Asia-Pacific region, Christchurch Arts Centre, 9-11 September 2004


• Upcoming Conference: “Outside Looking In”

• Including:– Keynote Speech by Garret FitzGerald, former Irish Prime Minister– EU Diplomatic Roundtable: State of the EU: reflections on 2004 – Twenty six papers scheduled to be delivered

• Sample papers include:– Kenneth Chan, Hong Kong Baptist University. There Is No

Alternative? Central and Eastern Europe in the 2004 European Parliament Elections

– Rajendra Jain, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. India and an Enlarging European Union

– Apirat Petchsiri, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. Legal Based Regional Integration

– Jikang Zhang, Fudan University, China. The Recent Economic Impacts on Chinese Economy of EMU and EU's Enlargement

– Katherine Vadura, University of South Australia. The European Union, enlargement and integrating security and human rights


• Student Support

– Scholarships - $60,000 for fees and research grants in 2004

– MA and PhD support:

• Designated EU Research Topics• National Post-Graduate Scholarships and Awards• NCRE Research Awards

– Honours support:• European Studies Honours

Degree


• Designated EU Research Topics

– The development of an EU Foreign Service– EU Common Foreign Policy– EU-Pacific relations– EU-NZ relations– EU-NZ migration– The next wave of EU enlargement– The EU constitutional reform– EU economic and financial policies– EU humanitarian issues– EU public opinion– NZ media, public opinion and EU identity


• Student Support

– Internships – two 3-month internships in the European Parliament awarded annually

• one open to any student enrolled at a tertiary institution in New Zealand other than the University of Canterbury

• one open to any student enrolled at the University of Canterbury

– This programme forms part of the National

Centre for Research on Europe’s wider

objective to increase New Zealanders’

awareness and understanding of the

European Union. The internships are

designed to provide post-graduates with

an opportunity to experience working for

an MEP as well as to assist their own research.


• Student Support

– European Exchanges– NCRE teaches the only Honours degree in

European Studies available in NZ– NCRE supervises Masters and PhD degrees in

European/ EU Studies – Graduate EU research training workshops– Graduate conferences


• Summer School Courses

• EURO 220: European Union Negotiations: Actors, Processes, I nstitutions

• EURO 221: The European Union and the Wider World: Patterns and Policies

• EURO 222: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Domination in Eastern Europe 1944-1991

• EURO 223: Remaking the New Europe • EURO 224: Economic Development of

Europe


• Current Graduate theses supervised

– Some examples– MA

• Steve Thomas "A Regionally Integrated Pacific: Evaluating Regionalism in the Pacific under the Post-Cotonou Agreement Process"

• Tamsin Rouse “The Challenge of Babel: Languages and the European Project”

• Richard Thornton “Small State Theory and New Zealand’s Relationship with the European Union”

• Rosie Tipples “Half a World Away: contemporary European migration to New Zealand”

• Jessica Bain “Images of Europe: Representations of the EU in New Zealand Television News”

• Abel Reyna-Rivera “EU Enlargement and its economic implications for new members”

• Lucy Cassels “An Evolving International Presence: Europe as a Pacific Development Actor”

• Jeanine Begg “An Analysis of the Nature of Relations Between the European union and Japan”


• Current Graduate theses

supervised

– Some examples– PhD

• Mat Doidge “The European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Inter- and Transregional Relations in a Globalising World”

• Frendehl Nabong "Asylum and border control in the EU“• Palm Pratoomtip “The effects of the EU enlargement on the

EU and Thai political and economic relations”• Pete Mayell “Reading Between the Li(n)es: A Critical

Geopolitics of ‘9/11’ and the ‘War on Terrorism’ ”


• Current Major Research Projects

– EU Identity in New Zealand• Dr. Natalia Chaban (2002-4)

– EU-Pacific Policy • Dr. Malakai Koloamatangi (2003-5)

– EU Enlargement and New Zealand • Dr. Matthew Gibbons/Dr. Milenko Petrovic (2004 - )

– EU Financial Reporting & New Zealand • Alan Roberts (2003 - )

– EU Identity in the Asia-Pacific Region • Dr. Natalia Chaban (2004 -6)

– EU Knowledge Wave Migration to NZ • Prof. Allan Williams (2005 - )

• Project details: www.europe.canterbury.ac.nz

http://www.europe.canterbury.ac.nz/


• The Wider Role of the NCRE

– Links to NZ Brussels Mission and MFAT– EU and Outreach– Media commentary– Possible development of a formal calendar for NCRE-

Select Committee meetings and facilitate NCRE visiting Fellows to brief the committee


– University Charter and Interim Profile 2004-6“The special character of the UC is reflected in….The

specialist focus of many of our research centres, particularly … the National Centre for Research on Europe” (Section 2, page 5).

– European Commission 2004 Briefing papers “Student and staff exchanges under the auspices of

the NCRE are an important part of the academic connections between NZ and the EU. Both sides recognise the contribution made by the Centre.”

“The NCRE despite its relatively modest means has managed to implement a wide array of activities … The Centre has been able to establish, nation-wide, a fair reputation as an independent and authoritative commentator on EU affairs.”


• Future Challenges and opportunities

– New EU grant 2005-8– Extending the NCRE national network …

– Continuing EU-NZ outreach – media, Europa Lectures, interns

– Defining new research areas– NZ Business support– Accessing NZ Government support ( modelled on

Asia2000 or the Pacific Cooperation Foundation) to stimulate the “competition of ideas” vis-à-vis NZ policy towards the EU


• Public, Elite and Media Perceptions of the EU in Asia

Pacific Region

– Australia – New Zealand – South Korea– Thailand

• a comparative study


• Comparative analysis of the news media agenda on the EU

• Comparative analysis of the general public agenda on the EU

• Comparative analysis of the policy and decision makers agenda on the EU

• Comparative analysis of the aggregated results


• Goal:

– to identify, measure and raise public awareness and extend knowledge of the European Union within four countries of the Asia-Pacific region – Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Thailand

• Outputs:

– access to unique databases of resources

– publications

– broad public outreach


• Implications for New Zealand of EU enlargement, and how NZ should deal with EU enlargement

– The 10 acceding countries will become richer. Past experience in Europe shows that this will create opportunities for NZ exporters

– The acceding countries can produce goods NZ needs, such as railway equipment

– Enlargement has prompted CAP reform. In the short-term this will reduce prices for agricultural goods in Europe, but will have long-term benefits for NZ


• Recommendations

– New Zealand’s diplomatic resources in Europe are thinly stretched, and may need reinforcing

– Other ties with Europe also need strengthening:

NZ has tended to downplay the importance of Europe in recent years

– NZ exporters need to take up available opportunities. Trade with the new EU members is currently very low

– Project runs April 2004-April 2006. A conference for next year is planned, and a book will be finished in 2006


NZ's exports to the EU-15 in 2003 values

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January 1993, single market begins


An evaluation of the political aspects of the European Union’s Economic Partnership Agreements: legitimacy, structural capacity and regional integration in the Pacific

Why legitimacy?– This includes examining standards of good governance,

democracy, rule of law, protection and promotion of human rights, plus other elements which make for democratic, inclusive and effective government

– This is set against Pacific realities– One of the key questions here is whether current

models of democracy-development are relevant to the Pacific, and if not, how do we construct applicable alternatives?


Why structural-institutional capacity?– Development strategies will only work if there is

capacity to implement them– A key question: how can local capacities improve to

the point where they eliminate the need for overseas consultants?

Why regional integration?– EU’s preference– Already tendency towards greater cooperation in

PACER, PICTA and Pacific Plan– Individual nations lack resources, both human and

physical, for greater economic development


Some findings to date– Democratic systems, systems of rule, need to be

‘indigenised’– Almost all nations attempt to accommodate local cultural

precepts with imported ideas, for example, judicial systems– Almost all nations lack capacity for greater development– Most nations reject greater political integration– The free trade area idea is still problematic– EU is generally well perceived

Outcome– Conference presentations– Articles– Major conference on EU-Pacific relations– Book-length study at the end– Practical recommendations to interested parties such as EU,

Pacific Islands Forum, individual countries and organisations


• Suggestions for a Select Committee Policy Review of EU-NZ relations 2005 –

– Rebalance small/large state perspective in NZ’s relations– Moving beyond the UK leverage– Formulate a new political-based relationship to complement the

post WTO Doha Trade agreements– Thinking ahead to the next wave of enlargement 2007-10– Evaluating EU-NZ foreign policy parallels – Facilitating EU “knowledge wave” migration– Schengen border-control & free movement – the Swiss

approach?– Enhanced exchanges – educational, parliamentary, bureaucratic– Invisibility of 1950-2004 EU integration in School curriculum– Improvement in quality of EU reporting in NZ media– Explore a new and inclusive EU-Pacific dialogue framework

(similar to ASEM, EU-MERCUSOR, etc)– Extend current EU-NZ development cooperation in the Pacific

national centre for research on europe otago university presentation 7 september, 2004 background...

Documents

eu commission

eu enlargement

eu presidency

eu perceptions

eu expertiseengage

eupacific relations

uc centre

eu jean monnet chair