Preliminary Programme

Wed 30 March
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 31 March
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 1 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 2 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

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Wednesday 30 March 2016 16.30 - 18.30
V-4 WOR09 Maritime Areas: Spaces of Changing Expectations
Seminario E, Nivel 1
Network: World History Chair: Rolf Petri
Organizers: Deborah Paci, Rolf Petri Discussant: Marta Grzechnik
Jussi Kurunmäki : Baltic Sea and Mediterranean Region in Quasi-Parliamentary Assemblies
The paper has as its starting point the notion that the establishment of a regional parliamentary assembly is an integral part of region-building. Although regional assemblies may differ considerably in terms of their representative and parliamentary characteristics, they are generally thought of as bringing about common identity and democratic legitimacy ... (Show more)
The paper has as its starting point the notion that the establishment of a regional parliamentary assembly is an integral part of region-building. Although regional assemblies may differ considerably in terms of their representative and parliamentary characteristics, they are generally thought of as bringing about common identity and democratic legitimacy to a region. For example, the inter-parliamentary Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) has stated that its purpose is to initiate and guide political activities in the region and strengthen the common identity of the Baltic Sea Region. In addition, its objective is said to be to endow the region with additional democratic legitimacy and parliamentary authority. Even though inter-parliamentary assemblies have been recognized in the research on parliaments and international relations, their role in region-building processes deserves closer attention. This paper aims at discussing not only institutional settings and political powers of these ‘quasi-parliamentary’ assemblies, but also the rhetoric that has been used in their meetings. Regardless whether or not they have a considerable formalized political status or share of political power these institutions nevertheless form an important forum for the articulation of political opinion of a region that is anchored through parliamentary processes at national level.
The paper examines how the members of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference have articulated their own role as regional parliamentarians, how they have discussed the region vis-à-vis the nation state, other regional or local communities, Europe, and a global political community. In addition, attention will be paid to the rhetoric that has been used in order to give cultural and historical backing to these regions and the arguments that have in different ways questioned these attempts. A particular attention in the paper will be paid to the relationship between scholarly accounts of the region-building around the Baltic Sea and the ways in which political actors themselves have conceptualized the region. The analysis of the BSPC will also be discussed against preliminary observations of the ways in which the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean and the European Parliament discuss regional identities. (Show less)

Deborah Paci : From Isolation to Connectivity: the Views of European Union on Mediterranean and Baltic Islands in the 20th and 21th Century
After introducing a macro-regional strategy, the European Union has highlighted the need to better link insular areas with the mainland in order to reduce disparities between regions and remedy the “permanent structural handicaps” of island regions. The Declaration 30 of the Amsterdam Treaty states that island regions suffer from structural ... (Show more)
After introducing a macro-regional strategy, the European Union has highlighted the need to better link insular areas with the mainland in order to reduce disparities between regions and remedy the “permanent structural handicaps” of island regions. The Declaration 30 of the Amsterdam Treaty states that island regions suffer from structural handicaps due to their island status. My investigation aims at focusing on narratives projected on Mediterranean and Baltic islands by institutions, such as European Union, since the fall of the Iron Curtain. The Baltic Sea region and the Mediterranean Arc provide two interesting examples, as both shape a frontier zone that does not separate, but rather finds its deeper meaning in its fluidity. The stereotype of being isolated does not really apply to islands because they are characterized by connectivity. In my presentation firstly I will provide an in-depth analysis of the notion of islandness, by drawing on different approaches offered by area studies, mental mapping and conceptual history. Given that my definition of island relies upon the field of representation, I will demonstrate the limits of physical determinism. Secondly I will discuss the increased function of islands arising from the establishment of a macro-regional strategy by the European Union with reference to two regional networks of islands in the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea regions: IMEDOC and B7 Baltic Islands Network. (Show less)

Vasileios Petrogiannis : Layers of Spatial Identification: European Mobility from the Baltic and Mediterranean Regions to Sweden
The high unemployment rates in several EU countries after the recent economic crisis had as side effect the increase of peoples’ mobility inside the Union. The economic recession and the drained labor markets of the financially most problematic countries have created a fresh generation of immigrants or expatriates. Southern Europe ... (Show more)
The high unemployment rates in several EU countries after the recent economic crisis had as side effect the increase of peoples’ mobility inside the Union. The economic recession and the drained labor markets of the financially most problematic countries have created a fresh generation of immigrants or expatriates. Southern Europe and the three Baltic states have been the regions with the most significant contribution in this new trans-European migration flows; something that correlates directly with the economic problems of these two regions during the crisis period. Earlier, during the 20th century, these two regions had also been points of departure for migrants and refugees. Earlier migration however took place in completely different conditions from those which the current migrants experience. The latter are enjoying free mobility rights and bear European citizenship status when moving to other EU countries in order to seek labor opportunities. So, the following questions arise: how does the new institutional European citizenship framework affect the lives and identities in relation to the previous generations of migrants from the Mediterranean and Baltic states regions? Which is exactly the hierarchy between national (country of origin and host country), regional and European identifications? This paper will try to examine different types of spatial identification of modern trans-European migrants from the Mediterranean and Baltic states, in relation to their region and country of origin and their host country, as well as in relation to Europe. (Show less)

José Damião Rodrigues : Widening the Ocean: Eastern Atlantic Islands in the Making of Early-Modern Atlantic
For centuries islands played an important role in history and culture by connecting different world regions and acting as “natural bridges between oceanic worlds.” (Reed Ueda). Certain islands actually occupied a more “central” rather than “peripheral” position in navigation and commercial networks,controlling the seas and even the settlement of continents. ... (Show more)
For centuries islands played an important role in history and culture by connecting different world regions and acting as “natural bridges between oceanic worlds.” (Reed Ueda). Certain islands actually occupied a more “central” rather than “peripheral” position in navigation and commercial networks,controlling the seas and even the settlement of continents. They were less isolated than mountainous and hinterland continental regions. As regards the construction and integration process of the Atlantic world, after the 15th century the islands of Macaronesia wereclearly pivotal in connecting the Mediterranean and Atlantic basins. But the Eastern Atlantic islands were also the places where traditional Mediterranean political, social and economic patterns were adapted to new geographical and historical contexts. The Canaries, Madeira, the Azores, the Cape Verde islands, but also São Tomé and Príncipe, were“prototypes of what was to come” (Donna A. Vinson). In this paper we address the way in which Eastern Atlantic islands contributed to the birth of early-modern Atlantic, staging the first steps of European “modernity”. (Show less)



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