April 2014 – Conference 3:
European Public Sphere: Understanding the Role of Mass Media and Interpersonal Discussion in Shaping Today’s European Citizenship. This conference seeks to advance the understanding of today’s European citizenship. And it does so in a particular way: it takes up the challenge to explore the role of the mass media and people’s interpersonal discussion habits about politics in explaining civic and political participatory behaviors that foster an European citizenship.
For years researchers have inquired about the mechanisms that elicit today’s EU. There seems to be a consensus in the academic community that points to certain aspects as being central for the advancement of the EU. Social identity features, cultural traits, a strong and deliberative public sphere, and sociopolitical elements have all been theorized to provide a healthier, more cohesive, and more participatory EU. Some authors argue that the key to solidifying the EU is for it to be accepted by the large variety of cultures within the EU as well as it is to promote political engagement among its citizens. In fact, Article 109 of the Treaty on EU addresses this issue and regards particular nations’ cultural legacies as basic pillars in constructing the new Europe as citizens get involved with their governing institutions at all levels. Nevertheless, how Europeans participate and get involved in the political process is largely mediated, and this aspect has been somewhat overlooked. That is, the ways in which European citizens engage in civic and political activities greatly depend on the effects of the mass media and the ways in which citizens discuss important public issues among themselves. Hence, the importance of studying the role of the mass media and how people discuss relevant issues for public life, perhaps generating a European public sphere. The communication mediation model has provided evidence that interpersonal networks of political discussion and informational uses of media result in increased community integration and civic participation. Similarly, communication practices have a direct effect on participatory behaviors, but they also have indirect effects through gains in political knowledge and political efficacy that also result in participation.
Drawing from the expertise provided by academics, professionals, and media experts from the US and the EU, this conference aims to shed light over all these processes as they shape today’s European citizenship.
Proposed 11 participants: EU Participants:
Jacob Groshek, Rotterdam University
Gumersindo Lafuente, Director El Pais
Jose Madariaga, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos I
Claes De Vrees, Director AsCOR, Amsterdam University
Begoña González Cuesta, IE University at Segovia
Marion Demossier, University of Bath at United Kingdom
US Participants:
Dhavan Shah, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Bruce Bimber, University of California at Santa Barbara
Markus Thiel, Florida International University
Hernando Rojas, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Texas at Austin
Fulfillment of Objectives for Conferences I:
Common threads:
All Conferences will have in common the Information, Dissemination and Measurable Criteria Aspect:
The conference will be open to the public. The Center will inform its partner educational institutions in Austin and Central Texas to send their students and faculty. The Center will invite State government officials, business leaders, and non-governmental organizations to the event. Local Austin media will be informed of the event and invited to cover it.
The conference lectures will be available online in video format.
Participants will be asked to fill out a satisfaction survey that will help the Center improve future conferences. All conferences will be evaluated through continuous feedback and adaptation and monitored by CES’s Outreach Coordinator in consultation with UT’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), which will oversee our measurement and evaluation.
Policy-makers from the State Capitol and Governor’s Office will be asked to provide their input on how to improve the conferences to better fit their needs and policy concerns.
All conferences will target having a minimum of 75-100 attendees. Most conferences will indeed have many more.
All conferences will dovetail with more general curricula courses taught not only in the professional schools but also the humanities. For example, Karen Engle, Director of the Rapoport Center, has structured her conference (see below, Year 3) to dovetail with a workshop in the Law School on Human Rights in the EU.
All Conferences will have in common that they will fulfill Objective 1: “Develop centers of academic excellence in EU studies with a view to broadening and deepening the base of European Union studies, and increasing awareness of the Union’s policies.”
Conferences will all fit the description of “academic research conferences devoted to issues of applied EU and EU-US public policies, and also encourage interaction between researchers and practitioners.” All of our conferences will have a heavy emphasis on invited practitioners, business leaders, and policy makers.
The conferences will have the effect of increasing the “numbers of university faculty and other scholars, including professional school faculty and graduate students” who will become interested in “conducting research on issues of applied EU and EU-US public policies.” As is evident from the topics we have chosen for our conferences with our partners in the professional schools, the emphasis is squarely on “issues of applied EU and EU-US public policies.”
We will aim with the conferences to produce “informed books, articles, and briefing papers devoted to issues of applied EU and EU-US public policies published.” For instance, we have already received confirmation that The Texas Journal of International Law has agreed to publish the main contributions of our conference in year one on “The Euro Crisis.” We will work to disseminate the results of our conferences through other such publications.
All Conferences will have in common that they will fulfill Objective 2: “Promote greater understanding of the EU and EU-US relations among regional outreach constituencies.”
By being open to the public and by being advertised with the regional universities and colleges, which will form our core partner institutions, the conferences will create effective outreach in the regional community.
The Center will also target business leaders and State officials (who are conveniently located mere blocks away from the Center location and conference facilities) and make sure that they are aware and present at our events.
Media will be informed of the Center events and encouraged by facilitating their presence.
Speakers from EU institutions and EU member states will be invited to all of the below listed conferences.
All Conferences will have in common that they will fulfill Objective 5:
“Attract additional support for Center activities.”
The Center will organize a wide array of policy relevant conferences that will tie into the already well-developed, policy-focused research community within UT.
The Center will cooperate with a number of other academic and research units on campus, raising its profile and building strong partnerships.
All Conferences will have a consistent and robust participation by the UT’s academic community, which will be informed of planned events and involved in the planning.
CONFERENCES II (these conferences do not vary year by year)
The Center will organize two sets of conferences related to outreach in business and secondary education.
