Schilde Colloquium Provides Inside Look at EU Policies & Procedures

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This summer, Kaija Schilde, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, led a virtual colloquium – EU Institutions: Views from Inside the Brussels Complex – for the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence’s (CEUCE) Brussels Summer Study program.

A joint initiative of CEUCE, the European Union (EU) Center at the University of Washington, the European Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh, the Institute for European Studies of the Free University of Brussels, and the EU Center of Excellence at the University of Wisconsin, the program resumed this summer after a one-year hiatus owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Schilde was invited to lead the colloquium by the previous convener Dr. Peter Hobbing.

Following the model developed by Hobbing, Schilde built the three-week course around a series of conversations with EU practitioners in relevant positions within the EU policy environment. This approach gave the students not only a firsthand account of major policy fields within the EU but also a close look at the in-house procedures and working methods applied within the Brussels complex.

Professor Schilde redesigned the course around shorter presentations and longer question-and-answer sessions, with each session led by a cohort of students. The new format gave students the chance to examine and test their theories and ideas about the EU as well as hone their interview skills.

Guest speakers included representatives from several EU cabinets, NGOs, and think tanks, as well as the European Central Bank. The topics covered in the sessions ranged from “Europe’s Quest for Technological Sovereignty” and “International Aspects of European Climate Policy” to “Data Protection in the EU” and “Recent Developments in EU-US Trade.” One of the guest speakers in the colloquium was Vesko Garčević, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Pardee School, who talked about “China-Russian Influence in the Balkans,” among other topics.

The “living syllabus” for the course can be found online.

Kaija E. Schilde is an Associate Professor at the Boston University Pardee School of Global Studies. Her primary research interests involve the political economy of security and transatlantic security. Her book, The Political Economy of European Security (Cambridge University Press, 2017) investigates the state-society relations between the EU and interest groups, with a particular focus on security and defense institutions, industries, and markets. Learn more about Professor Schilde on her faculty profile