[ecrea] Call for Papers for the Workshop: “Speaking Europe Abroad: Institutional Cooperation and the Making of EU's Discourse”

Brussels – 14/15 February 2012
ULB/GR:EEN
Analytical theme:
Both the EU and the EU cooperation in external affairs and foreign 
policy matters are contested
discursive fields. The EU holds, indeed, a dual nature. On the one hand, 
it is an extremely advanced
experience of multilateral cooperation, in which member states pooled 
together, in an
unprecedented way, resources, institutions and competences at the 
supranational level. On the other,
one of the objectives of the EU is “to advance in a wider world”, “to 
attain objectives [the member
states] have in common” (articles 21.1 and 1 of the Treaty of Lisbon). 
How do different national
and institutional actors frame and coordinate their discourses towards 
the wider world on behalf of
the EU? How is the EU's inherent plurality reflected into institutional 
and international discourses?
Is it possible to disentangle the voices converging in the EU's choir?
Call for papers
The workshop aims to promote rigorous conceptualisations of the nexus 
between EU institutions
and discourses. It welcomes original contributions aimed at answering 
the following questions:
1) How can we conceptualise the relationship between EU identities, 
institutions, and discourses? 2)
How discourses have structured EU’s institutional evolution and how the 
EU’s institutional
evolution has impacted its discourses? 3) What are the interactions 
between foreign policy
discourses of different national and institutional actors in the 
post-Lisbon environment? 4) How do
the various EU actors elaborate different discursive patterns with 
bilateral partners and within
multilateral milieus?
The workshop invites participants to integrate in their analyses three 
main dimensions of the EU's
institutional and international discourse, namely:
a) The form and expression of discourses (embodied in semantic analysis);
b) The meaning and attributed meaning of discourses (relational and 
semiotic analysis); and
c) Actions associated to discourses, i.e. the language in use (van 
Dijck, 2001).
Participants are invited to present their contributions in draft format. 
Final versions of papers will
largely benefit from the innovative formula of the WIRE Workshop (see 
below), which specifically
aims to work on and discuss extensively all participants' contributions. 
Papers already submitted for
publication elsewhere will not be considered.
Research framework
The workshop is part of the ULB/IEE research agenda in GR:EEN (Global 
Re-ordering: Evolution
though European Networks), a European Commission FP7 project that 
studies the current and
future role of the EU in an emerging multi-polar world (for more 
information, please, visit:
www.greenfp7.eu).
Workshop Format:
The “ Speaking Europe Abroad Workshop ” is g oing to take place the 14 
th February, from 10 am
to the 15 th February at 12.30-1 pm . The workshop is the third of a 
series of innovative Workshops
on International Relations (WIRE). WIRE workshops have a unique format: 
the number of
participants is strictly limited, full papers are distributed long 
before the event, and authors speak
only at the closure of discussions. More specifically, the 15-20 
participants receive eight selected
papers one month prior to the event, as the format necessitates reading 
them beforehand. At the
workshop, a discussant kicks off each session by briefly introducing a 
paper. Then, the group
discusses it for approximately one hour, providing an opportunity for an 
extensive and in-depth
discussion involving all participants. The last few words of each 
session are given to the author for
a short response to comments and criticisms. The WIRE series are an 
opportunity for scholars to
receive detailed feedback on ongoing research projects and to get 
acquainted in an informal setting.
Confirmed participants
Confirmed participants include profs Vivien Schmidt (Boston University), 
Ruth Wodak (Lancaster
University), Knud Erik Jørgensen (Aarhus University), Ben Rosamond 
(University of Copenhagen)
and Thomas Diez (University of Tübingen).
Follow Up of the workshop
The best papers presented to the workshop will be selected to be part of 
an edited volume and a
special issue in a leading international journal. Contacts with 
publisher and journal editors are
already under way.
Submission process and deadlines
Please submit a paper proposal (500 - 800 words), a biographical note 
and contact details (email
and University address) to Dr Caterina Carta (please, find the address 
below), by October the 1 0 t h
201 2 . Authors will be notified of the acceptance/rejection of their 
papers by October the 18th, once
the review process is completed.
Selected participants will be invited to send a complete draft version 
of their papers (between
5.000 and 10.000 words) by January the 1st 2012 at the latest. Authors 
who fail to send their
paper on time will be removed from the program and expenses will not be 
reimbursed.
Covered expenses
The IEE/ULB will cover travel and accommodation expenses to all 
participants, both for the
theoretically-oriented workshop in February and the policy-oriented 
workshop in August. No
registration fee is required.
Workshop organizers
Dr Caterina Carta Prof. Jean-Frédéric Morin
Email address: (repi /at/ ulb.ac.be) REPI Research Group
Université libre de Bruxelles Université libre de Bruxelles
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