ESAANZ 2022 Conference Report: The European Union in the Age of Global Turbulence

ESAANZ 2022 Conference Report: The European Union in the Age of Global Turbulence

On 24 November 2022, the European Studies Association Australia and New Zealand (ESAANZ), in partnership with RMIT University’s European Union Centre of Excellence, held its annual conference, themed The European Union in the Age of Global Turbulence.

In a ‘post-pandemic’ world filled with continuing turbulence, this year’s hybrid conference attracted over 20 papers from Australian and New Zealand researchers, experts, scholars and allies of European Studies in Australia, and featured submissions from undergraduate and postgraduate students. 

Turbulence is characterised by currents and counter-currents, chaos, instability and agitation. Over the past decade turbulence has been experienced globally in all spheres of politics, society and economics. The European Union (EU) has been at the centre of this with onging financial, refugee and energy crises, as well as threats from far-right movements and populists to the democratic order. Despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine fomenting war on Europe’s doorstep, Europe continues to formulate some ambitious responses to the current global turmoil, including action on climate change, sustainable energy production and food-scarcity solutions. 

This year’s conference was opened by ESAANZ President, Associate Professor Gosia Klatt and the Director of RMIT’s European Union Centre of Excellence, Professor Bruce Wilson, followed by the Deputy Head of Delegation and Head of the Political, Press and Information Department at the Delegation of the European Union to Australia, Mr. Fedja Zlobec.

The following papers were presented at the conference:

  • A two-theatre crisis simulation: Insights on transatlantic cooperation from an Australian classroom
    Dr. Gorana Grgic, University of Sydney
    Sascha Nanlohy, The University of Sydney
    Anastasiya Byesyedina, The University of Sydney
  • Russian double-headed eagle left unscathed: Is the Russian diaspora a matter of Australian National Security?
    Anastasiya Byeseyedina, University of Sydney
  • EU and NATO’s assistance to Ukraine: Analysing bilateral and multilateral responses
    Dr. Remy Davison, Monash University
    Dr. Nina Markovic Khaze, Macquarie University
  • EU – Italy relations: new and ongoing challenges in the age of global turbulence
    Jessica Quirk, Monash University  
  • Italy and Albania: From yesterday’s colonial appetites to entry into the European Union
    Bruno Mascitelli, Honorary Professor, RMIT University 
  • How is the latest EU enlargement policy affecting the Western Balkans?
    Dr. Perparim (Rimi) Xhaferi, RMIT University 
  • The internal and external threats to academic and university autonomy’
    Dr. Peter Woelert, University of Melbourne. 
  • The neoliberal education agenda and the populist rhetoric and reforms in Poland’s higher education’
    A/Prof Gosia Klatt, University of Melbourne
  • Teaching the EU in Turbulent Times
    Dr. Matt Harvey, Victoria University
  • Europe's Other Populist Challenge? Post-Brexit UK's Democratic Backsliding
    Dr. Russell Solomon, RMIT University
  • The European Union, Offshore Processing and the Rwandan Solution
    Dr. Binoy Kampmark, RMIT University
  • From Policy to Implementation: Zimbabwe’s Sustainable Development Goals Strategy as a Vehicle to Achieving Agenda 2030
    Cashias Gumbo, University of Canterbury
  • The EU-NZ FTA: Evaluating New Zealand’s Media Response
    Dr. Serena Kelly, University of Canterbury
  • European Sub-National Public Diplomacy in a Time of Crisis
    Prof. Bruce Wilson, RMIT University
  • Governance in Times of Turbulence
    Dr. Maren Klein, RMIT University 
  • Place-Based Smart Specialisation Initiative: Towards a Circular Economy in Gippsland (Victoria)
    Dr. Riccardo Armillei, RMIT University 
  • Gorbachev’s Box
    Grace Smolenski, University of Canterbury
  • Were Holocaust perpetrators ‘ordinary men’ or ‘ordinary Germans’?
    Levy Perrett, University of Melbourne
  • Suffering but not ceasing: Have international economic sanctions on Russia been effective? How (not) and why (not)?
    Xavier Konynenburg, University of Melbourne
  • Constriction and Contradiction: The EU’s Global Presence
    Evie Lawlor, RMIT University

The 2022 annual ESAANZ ESSAY price winners’ awards were presented by Nina Obermaier - the European Union Ambassador to Aotearoa, New Zealand. In conclusion a roundtable held by two longstanding CESAA/ESAANZ contributors, Professor Bruno Mascitelli and Professor Bruce Wilson discussed the 30th Anniversary of the Contemporary European Studies Association of Australia (CESAA), and its future challenges and opportunities for the continuator Association, ESAANZ. 

17 January 2023

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17 January 2023

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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