SEMINAR- EU in Central Asia: No Longer an Invisible Power?", SRC-AUCA, May 13
Posted by: Social Research Center - AUCA <src@mail.auca.kg>
The Social Research Center (SRC) at the American University of Central Asia
(www.src.auca.kg) under its Research Seminars Series presents:
RESEARCH SEMINAR: "The EU in Central Asia: No Longer an Invisible Power?"
SPEAKER: Fabienne Bossuyt, Ph.D. Candidate, International Relations, Aston
University in Birmingham, UK
Time: 5pm, May 13, 2008
Venue: 232, AUCA (main building)
Language: English
Synopsis: The European Union (EU) recently managed to conclude a
comprehensive strategic partnership with Central Asia, a region that
geographically moved closer to the EU following the Union's enlargements to
the East in 2004 and 2007. Despite claiming that it does not seek to be a
player in the new geopolitical game in Central Asia, the EU has expressed an
explicit desire to strengthen its presence in the region and become a more
visible actor.
The lecture will take a close look at how the EU in June 2007 launched an
ambitious partnership with the five Central Asian republics, a move that
will be analysed as an example of the EU's ability to project its power
regionally, if not globally. In investigating the EU's conclusion of the
strategic partnership as an instance of EU power, it will be argued that
analyses of power need to distinguish between what Susan Strange described
as the relational and the structural level on which power is exerted.
Therefore, the lecture will present a theoretical framework that is based on
a new conceptual tool, i.e. 'transnational power over'. Above all, this
innovative concept captures the degree to which actors in today's globalised
and interdependent world are structurally - i.e. materially, institutionally
and/or ideationally - subordinate to or dependent on a dominant power,
making it difficult for them to resist its initiatives or reject its offers.
Empirical data for this research are drawn from interviews, official
documents and secondary sources.
Bio: Fabienne Bossuyt is a Ph.D candidate in International Relations and a
teaching assistant at the School for Languages and Social Sciences at Aston
University in Birmingham, UK. Her research focuses on the external relations
and international influence of the European Union (EU), with a particular
emphasis on EU external trade and EU-Central Asia relations. Her teaching
experience includes EU politics. Currently, she is a Visiting Researcher at
the Centre for EU Studies at the University of Ghent, Belgium. She was
recently granted a scholarship by UACES (University Association for
Contemporary European Studies) to conduct fieldwork in Central Asia.
Research Seminar Series: The Research Seminar Series is an initiative of the
SRC and it aims to provide a venue for the AUCA faculty and foreign scholars
to share the results of their current and previous research projects with
other faculty. The series intends to encourage scholarly discourse at AUCA.
It is open for AUCA faculty and external scholars.
How to register: Please, RSVP to asamidinova_a@mail.auca.kg to give your
name and affiliation.
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