Belgium
International Institutions and the Challenge of Globalization

June 3 - June 11, 2007

Rationale
Brussels is increasingly manifesting itself as the "capital of Europe", hosting important international institutions such as the EU and NATO. In the contemporary era of globalization, significant areas of state decision making are shifting from states to international institutions. The ongoing process of European integration and the reinforcement of the role of EU institutions are a good example of this shift. At the same time, the public concern with the effects of globalization raises high expectations about the role of international institutions to make globalization work better. This seminar investigates the challenges of globalization to the European Union, NATO, and the International Court and Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Topics will include U.S.-European relations, brain drain, labor mobility and migration, sustainable development, and EU deepening and widening.

Host Institutions
The seminar is hosted by the Institute for European Studies, which is a multi-disciplinary center for European Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB—Free University of Brussels), in association with Vesalius College of the VUB and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). IES is recognized internationally as a center of excellence for specialist graduate studies and research in European Studies, European Security and European Integration, International Relations, Globalization, Environment, and International Law. It focuses especially on the external dimensions of EU politics and law.

Vesalius College was founded as an American-style liberal arts college in 1987. It is closely linked to the VUB, whose roots go back to the establishment of the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1834. The VUB has about 10,000 students of which about 1,800 come from abroad, some 600 faculty and 800 research workers, and it occupies a major position in Brussels, in Flanders, and beyond.

Seminar Leadership
Sebastian Oberthür is Academic Director of the Institute for European Studies. He holds a Ph.D. from the Free University Berlin. He has been lecturer at the Technical University Berlin and Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg, Senior Associate at the Institute for International and European Environmental Policy in Berlin, and member of the German delegation at the International Council of Environmental Law (ICEL).

Anthony Antoine is Executive Director of the Institute for European Studies. He holds a MA in Political Science from the Free University of Brussels and the University of Central Lancashire and has specialized in European security issues at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He was assistant professor European Security at VUB and has served as a consultant on the use of the internet to NATO, the Western European Union, and the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Michelangelo Van Meerten is the Resident Director of the CIEE Study Center in Brussels. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Groningen University in the Netherlands, specializing in economic history. Dr. Van Meerten has researched and lectured in the field of economics and economic history in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Kraków, Poland; and Barcelona and Madrid, Spain.

Academic Content
Following are the tentative lectures, site visits, and study tours for this seminar:

Lectures

• Globalization and International Institutions
• International Organizations and Global Environmental Issues
• Globalization and Security Policy
• NATO and its Changing Global Role
• The EU as a Non-Majoritarian System—Comparing the EU and the State
• Globalization, Migration, and EU Labor Markets
• The EU at the Crossroads
• Political Capacity in EU-Member States

Site Visits/Study Tours

• European Parliament
• International Court and Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at the Hague (Netherlands)
• The Cities of Bruges, Mauritshuis (The Hague), and Delft
• Guided Tour of the Brussels Fine Arts Museum
• Excursion to Villers-la-Ville, Impressive 12th Century Abbey Ruins
  

Itinerary
This 9-day seminar is based in Brussels, Belgium and will include visits to Mauritshuis (The Hague), Delft, and Bruges.

Seminar Fee
CIEE Member $2,700      Non-Member $2,900