From 30 June to 13 July 2013, the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair at the Natolin campus of the College of Europe organized a Ph.D. Summer School on "The EU, its Neighbourhood and the European Neighbourhood Policy: EU Foreign Policy in Times of Change, Crisis and Stagnation". This Ph.D. Summer School, organized in collaboration with the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), the ECPR Standing Group on EU, the Lisboan Erasmus Academic Network, and the Department of Society and Globalization of Roskilde University, was the first of its kind focusing exclusively on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the different EU neighbourhoods as such from theoretical, conceptual and empirical perspectives.
Standing in the tradition of the Ph.D. Summer School "Europe in the World", organized by Professor Tobias SCHUMACHER (College of Europe, Natolin), Professor Kennet LYNGGAARD (University of Roskilde), Professor Dimitris XENAKIS (University of Crete) and Professor Stelios STAVRIDIS (University of Zaragoza) during 2010-2012 in Lisbon, Crete, and Roskilde, respectively, this Summer School analyzed the evolution and implications of the EU’s ENP, but also how the local, national and regional dynamics in the neighbourhood affect EU policies and politics.
Accordingly, the School had a tri-dimensional outlook: it dealt with the implications of the foreign policy behaviour and action of the EU, its agents and policies in what the EU defines as its neighbourhood, it discussed political and socio-economic developments in ENP partner countries, in particular in light of the Arab Spring, processes of political transition, "stubborn authoritarianism", frozen conflicts, as well as wider regional developments, and it looked into the impact of EU-neighbourhood relations on the EU’s institutions and policies.
The Ph.D. Summer School brought together 21 Ph.D. students from 13 countries and 20 well-known scholars and lecturers working on ENP matters and EU foreign policy. During each day, the participants benefitted from two lectures on a subject related to the overall theme of the Summer School and were also given the opportunity to present and discuss their own research. The scholars lecturing during the school were Dr Charlotte BRETHERTON (Liverpool John Moores University), Professor Hiski HAUKKALA (University of Tampere), Professor Münevver CEBECI (Marmara University), Professor Kennet LYNGGAARD (Roskilde University), Professor Alfred TOVIAS (Hebrew University, Jerusalem), Professor Sven BISCOP (Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations, Brussels), Dr Sabine FREIZER (Atlantic Council, Washington), Dr Michał NATORSKI (College of Europe, Natolin), Professor Giselle BOSSE (Maastricht University), Professor Stefan WOLFF (University of Birmingham), Professor Anna HERRANZ-SURRALLES (Maastricht University), Professor Peter BURNELL (Warwick University), Dr Dimitris BOURIS (College of Europe, Natolin), Dr Irene FERNÁNDEZ MOLINA (College of Europe, Natolin), Professor Peter VAN ELSUWEGE (Ghent University), Dr Joanna KAMINSKA (European Parliament, Brussels), Professor Patrick MÜLLER (University of Vienna), Mr Hrant KOSTANYAN (CEPS, Brussels), Professor Raffaella DEL SARTO (EUI, Florence) and Professor Tobias SCHUMACHER (College of Europe, Natolin).