[Bilimsel Haber] CfP: "Turkey in the European Union, the European Union in Turkey", 13 june 2006, IISMM, EHESS, Paris

[Onur İnal]

  THE FOURTH WORKING DAY OF THE GROUP OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES AND RESEARCH ON TURKEY (GERIT)
  ______________________________
  "Turkey in the European Union, the European Union in Turkey"
  13 june 2006, IISMM, EHESS, Paris
  _______________________________
    "Turkey in the European Union, the European Union in Turkey" will be the topic of the Fourth Working Day of GERIT, the Group of interdisciplinary studies and research on Turkey. The objective is to bring together on this occasion doctoral students and young researchers who work on various aspects of Turkish-European relations. 
   
  This Fourth Working Day of GERIT thus aims at carrying out the following objectives: 
  - think upon the Turkish-EU relations within a larger framework and to find out a new problematic beyond the "Is Turkey European?" question;
  - analyze the transformation of public space and political realm within Turkey from the point of view of the process of membership; 
  - underline the impact of the EU on the determination of Turkish public policies. 
   
  By this means, the purpose of the Fourth Working Day is to associate the public discussions in Europe, particularly in France, on the candidacy of Turkey to the EU to the public discussions in Turkey on this matter on the basis of scientific research. By bringing together studies in various disciplines (history, sociology, political science and economy) the Fourth Working Day of GERIT proposes to privilege empirical and comparative contributions that underline the neglected aspects of the Turkish candidacy to the EU. 
   
  The Problematic
   
  Current debates on the candidacy of Turkey to the EU pertain mainly on two aspects: European identity in construction and European character of Turkey. The weight of the identity aspect and the historical load of such a candidacy make us often forget to identify other dimensions like the transformation of public space, reconfiguration of the political field, impact of the EU on the formation of the public policies, formulation of a new political agenda, diversification of the repertories of strategy with respect to the EU from one actor to another or from one institution to another, emergence of a new civil society, standpoint of the intellectuals, appearance of new political cleavages, mobilization and the reinforcement of euro-skepticism etc. The relations between Turkey and the EU are largely studied in a perspective of occidentalization and democratization. The complex relationship maintained between Turkey and the EU found their framework of research at the same time
 in a matrix of occidentalization inherited from the historical studies relating to the 19th century and in a matrix of democratization relating to the republican period. Thus, Europe has been used as mirror for Turkey. Since the European Council of Helsinki in 1999 during which the candidacy of Turkey to the EU has been stated, Turkey is questioning itself as she also does it for the European Union. The image send to her by the European mirror is not homogeneous, it has even become illusory. This vast topic leads us to reflect upon Europeanization. 
   
  1) Culture-Identity: Horizontal Europeanization / Societal Europeanization 
   
  The recent events have revealed the identity crisis of the European Union during the debates Constitutional Treaty for Europe and the candidacy of Turkey to the EU. The identity dimension of the "Turkish question" gave rise to clashes on question such as "Which identity for Europe?" and "Which place for a country of Muslim culture in a political space of Christian culture?" By horizontal or societal Europeanization we mean the emergence of Europe as the reference point in the construction of social reality and a common sense in European public space. In other words, the interiorization of Europe appear as an essential element of identity construction. Two ambitions arise from there: on the one hand, the process of the formation of a mutual perception framework between Turkey and the European Union, and on the other hand, the questioning of the national identity in Turkey and that of Europe in the Member States. Which are the attitudes of the public opinion with respect to
 the candidacy of Turkey? Can one speak of a European public space challenged by the "Turkish question"? 
   
  2) Public Space-Political Space: Vertical Europeanization or Political Europeanization 
   
  We understand from the vertical or political Europeanization the increasing tendency of the impact of the European Union on political space of the member or candidate states via the 'acquis communautaire' or by other means. First of all, political Europeanization pertains to the effects of European integration on the national administrative structures of the member states in order to coordinate the relationship with the European institutions and on the national political actors like the political parties and trade unions. Secondly, it underlines the impact of European integration on the way the public policies of the member states is shaped and the public policy agenda is set. From this point of view, the following questions need to be asked: How is the transformation and the reconfiguration of Turkish political space is realized when challenged by the European question? Is it similar to the other candidate countries? Which are the motivations for the political actors
 with regard to the candidacy of the country to the EU? Can one speak of the emergence of new political cleavages around the EU? If so, how do the actors respond to it? How is the administrative structure organized in front of the European bureaucracy? Which stakes and which strategies for the national institutions when these are confronted with the European integration? Is the EU a new source of legitimacy for the various domestic actors? How does the legislative reform influence the political and administrative culture? Which European reference will be used in the formation of the national public policies? Which is the role for the media in the construction of a European discourse and a new framework of European perception? Will a new type of Europeanized civil society be confronted to the tradition of the strong state? 
   
   
  The the Fourth Working Day of GERIT will take place at the IISMM (Institute of the Studies of Islam Muslim Societies) of EHESS (School of High Studies in Social Sciences) in Paris on June 13th, 2006. The Working Day will be organized in two thematic sessions. The paper proposals should include the object of study, in particular the research problematic, without exceeding 750 words. The deadline of sending the abstracts is fixed at May 15th, 2006. The written contributions should be available on June 1st. The travel expenses should be undertaken by the participants or their institutions. However, a limited budget will be reserved to those participants who lack any financial means. The working languages will be French and English. A publication joining together the communication texts is considered. The proposals for a communication accompanied by your curriculum vitae must arrive at the following electronic address: gerit_paris at yahoo.fr 



Umit YAZMACI
Centre de Recherces Politiques de la Sorbonne 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.kulturad.org/pipermail/bilimselhaber/attachments/20060420/f93f7162/attachment.htm