News
G8 leaders recently arrived in Northern Ireland for their summit on Lough Erne. To mark the occasion, the School of Politics, International Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, in cooperation with the G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto and the Department of Employment and Learning, held a pre-summit conference on Friday 14 June 2013.
With the theme of ‘Trade, Transparency, Tax and Terrorism’, the conference provided a unique opportunity to hear from and engage in discussions with G8 experts and world-leading experts on the issues on the G8 Summit’s agenda.
The view the conference presentations and discussions, visit http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/2013G8Pre-SummitConference/EventWebcasts/
A short video on the event is available at www.qub.ac.uk/home/ceao/Qtv/
The recently published QS World University Rankings for 2013 (www.topuniversities.com) once again see Politics and International Studies ranked in the Global 100 of top universities undertaking teaching and research in the subject area.
Politics and International Studies is one of five subjects at QUB to be ranked in the QS Global 100.
On 8th May, the Constitutional Convention in Ireland submitted its second report to government, The Role of Women, with a copy laid in the Oireachtas Library. In his introduction the Chairman Mr. Tom Arnold warmly praised the contribution of Professor Galligan and other experts in the following way:
“The Convention members were deeply impressed by the presentations of Professors Gerry Whyte, Siobhan Mullally, Yvonne Galligan and Gail McElroy who willingly shared an impressive depth of knowledge in clear and concise language. Their wisdom forms an important part of this report.”
He also recognised the input of Fiona Buckley, representative of the 50:50 Group and doctoral candidate in the School.
The report, with contributions of Professor Galligan and Ms. Buckley can be found on https://www.constitution.ie/AttachmentDownload.ashx?mid=268d9308-c9b7-e211-a5a0-005056a32ee4. The Irish Government has undertaken to respond to this report within four months.
The McKay Commission report was mentioned in the House of Lords on two separate occasions in the past week during debate on the Queen’s Speech. On 9th May, Lord Paul Bew pointed to Professor Yvonne Galligan’s discussion of the McKay recommendations in the School’s ‘The Thoughtful Scholar’ blog in his response to the Queen’s Speech. Lord Trimble also spoke directly to the McKay Report in the same debate. Responding for the Government, Lord Taylor described the report as taking ‘a positive step forward on an important issue’, to which the government will respond in due course. The text of this debate is available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/130509-0001.htm
On 13th May, in the context of a Lords debate on Scottish Independence, the McKay report was raised in a question by Lord Forsyth, responded to by Lord Wallace. It can be found on http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/130513-0001.htm#1305137000232
The full McKay Commission Report can be found on http://tmc.independent.gov.uk/
The Agony of Multiculturalism: Many nations and much fewer states. Could models of non-territorial autonomy overcome secession, and the liberal nation-state's tyranny of the cultural majority?
Ephraim Nimni Queen's University Belfast
Cultural diversity is the attribute of human life. A modest estimate puts the number of nations to above 3,000 and the number ethnic groups to near 7000. With the admission of South Sudan, there are 193 states represented in the UN. Of these, fewer than twenty are ethnically homogeneous in the sense that cultural minorities account for less than five percent of the population. Nations that have states are only a small fraction of all nations. The term "nation state" -understood as one (cultural) nation in one state is misleading, as the vast majority of states are multicultural. Liberal democracies are predicated on the principle of formal equality between citizens, yet this principle is subverted by the linguistic and cultural privileges afforded to the titular nation, the dominant ethno-national community in the state, typically after which the state is named. Yet secession is no solution, as a matryoshka doll, when one stateless nation comes out there is another one inside. Instead, as a possible solution to the quandary of the nation state, the aim of this paper is to evaluate a family of models called Non-Territorial Autonomy. This is a generic term that refers to different practices of minority community governance that does not entail exclusive control over territory. These old and new theories advocate modalities of national self determination that can take place while autonomous communities reside in shared territorial spaces. Non-Territorial autonomy takes variety of different and contrasting forms such as Consociationalism and National Cultural Autonomy, but also in recent novel forms of representation that de-territorializes self-determination, as advocated by indigenous communities in the Americas and Australasia, in Northern Ireland, and in models of democratic autonomy advocated by Kurdish organizations in Turkey.
Dr Muiris MacCarthaigh from the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy will address the next meeting of the Irish Constitutional Convention which takes place over the weekend of 18/19th May in Dublin. The Convention, which consists of 100 citizens and politicians, was established by the Government in late 2012 to consider possible amendments to the Irish Constitution. The issue being considered next weekend is the electoral system used for membership of the Irish parliament’s Lower House, Dáil Éireann. He will be speaking on the role of the Parliament and Executive as envisaged under the 1937 Constitution. Further details at www.constitution.ie.
The School is holding a drop-in/information session on Thursday 9 May from 12.30-2.00 pm in the Old Staff Common Room in the QUB Lanyon North Building, to inform prospective students about its MA and PG Diploma degree programmes, which are running in 2013-14, over a sandwich lunch.
Dr Dan Bulley, the School Postgraduate Taught Coordinator, will provide a brief introduction at 12.30pm and thereafter prospective students will have the opportunity to speak to and have their queries dealt with by all our MA programme convenors, whilst getting a spot of lunch.
During 2013-14, the School will offer 9 postgraduate taught programmes:
MA Comparative Ethnic Conflict
MA European Union Politics
MA International Relations
MA Irish Politics
MA Legislative Studies and Practice
MA Medical Ethics and Law
MA Moral, Legal and Political Philosophy
MA Politics
MA Violence, Terrorism and Security
Further information on the School’s postgraduate taught programmes is available here.
We look forward to seeing you then.
The launch of the inaugural edition of the Queen’s Political Review will take place at 2pm next Thursday 9th May in the Senate Room, Queen’s University Belfast, and will be attended by the Minster for Employment and Learning, Dr Stephen Farry.
The Review is designed as an academic research journal of Politics, written and published by the students of Queen’s University Belfast, whose first Guest Editor is Professor Rick Wilford.
Since the start of the academic year, the editorial committee, in conjunction with the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, has been dedicated to the goal of offering students at Queen’s the unique opportunity to create, produce and publish a journal that meets exacting academic standards.
The Review is a beacon of Queen’s student academic talent and there has been fierce competition for inclusion in the inaugural edition. Its articles exemplify the exceptionally high calibre of academic excellence produced by students of the University and it has already attracted plaudits from both staff and the wider student body, including being named as ‘Best Academic Society’ at the 2013 Students Union Awards.
The Review addresses a wide variety of political and social concerns, from a range of disciplinary perspectives. Its subjects include Social Issues, Political Theory, European and International Politics as well as the politics of Northern Ireland, the U.K. and Ireland.
The Queen’s Political Review represents the very best in undergraduate and postgraduate student achievement. In challenging and turbulent times it offers a crucial platform for new ideas, one that will be maintained by successive generations of students.
Dr Heather Johnson is giving a talk on Thursday 18 April 2013 at the University of Vienna, as part of a new seminar series that is bringing together scholars, practitioners, NGOs and activists. The talk is entitled: Interrupting Borders: a politics of solidarity for refugee activism and research, and the seminar series itself is called ‘Migration Regimes and Refugee Protests: connecting research and political activism.’
The School is holding a drop-in session on Wednesday 17 April from 2.30-4.00 pm in Room LAN/OG/014 in the QUB Lanyon North Building, to inform students about the Level 2 and Level 3 undergraduate modules which are running in 2013-14, and deal with related queries, in advance of the pre-enrolment module selection process, which the School will undertake later this month.
We look forward to seeing you then.
Philosophy Teaching Assistant Dr Charlotte Blease made a short film for BBC Arts and Culture on the ethical deception and the placebo effect based on her publication "Deception as Treatment: The Case of Depression" Journal of Medical Ethics (2011) 37(1):13-16.
The link to the film can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/0/22042157
A day of events across Belfast profiling the impact of research within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, will be held on 17 April 2013. Related details are provided here.
On Tuesday 26 March, Professor Rick Wilford was invited to provide evidence as a witness, on lessons, positive and negative, that can be drawn from the experience of devolution in Northern Ireland to the ‘Commission on Devolution in Wales’. The Commission, chaired by Paul Silk, is currently embarked on the second stage of its inquiry which is concerned with possible future constitutional arrangements for devolution in Wales. Professor Wilford welcomed the opportunity to speak to the Commission, noting that its visit may help to inform the future development of devolution in Wales which, as yet, lags someway behind the more developed devolution arrangements in both Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Dr Charlotte Blease (Philosophy TA) appeared on BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence with William Crawley to discuss the ethics of the placebo effect (24th March 2013).
The annual conference which the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy holds for 6th form pupils studying for the Northern Ireland A2 ‘Government and Politics’ examination, will be held on 12 April 2013. Further information for this event is available below.
In the meantime, if you’ve any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the School.
Staff in the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, and other QUB schools, have been successful in securing research funding of over £235,000 for their “HANDHOLD: Science, Security and Power in Action” project. As part of the Cross-Council Global Uncertainties Programme, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in collaboration with the UK government DSTL Futures and Innovation Domain are funding this project under the call “Science and Security: Linking Social Science, Arts and Humanities to understand the impacts of science and technology on defence and security.”
This is an 18 month inter-disciplinary research project linking the social sciences and science and technology. The project involves Dr Mike Bourne (PI), Dr Heather Johnson and Dr Debbie Lisle from the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy; Dr Teresa Degenhardt and Dr Katy Hayward from the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work; and Dr Charles Gillan, Dr David Linton and Dr Ivor Spence from the Institute of Electronics, Communication and Information Technology (ECIT).
This research maps and analyses how new security technologies are developed in practice, by focussing on the development of an integrated portable Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) detection device. It addresses some of the top tier of UK National Security concerns and contributes to cross-disciplinary and applied knowledge about the drivers of Science and Technology development in relation to defence and security needs. It explores how issues of science and security shape each other and will offer important lessons for technology development, implementation, and policy making, as well as for academic knowledge.
Professor Yvonne Galligan, a leader on creating change in gender equality Higher Education, is the keynote speaker at a national gender equality conference Athena SWAN and Beyond . It will take place on 20th March at the University of Southampton. She will speak about her experience of raising the bar for gender equality in Queen’s. More information at http://www.southampton.ac.uk/diversity/news/events/2013/03/20_gender_equality_conference.page
The Frank Wright Lecture
Dr. Tim Wilson
'Vibrating with Murder'
Frank Wright and the Idea of Representative Violence
Wednesday March 6, 5pmPFC/02/026 All Welcome!
The School Open Day for all UCAS applicants (and their parents/guardians) holding offers for our undergraduate degrees will be held on Friday 1 March 2013, from 9.30 am until 1.45 pm, in the University’s Elmwood Hall.
Further information:
Inaugural Lecture - Professor David Archard
Making a Difference:
Normative Philosophy in the World of Law and Policy
February 28, 5pm
Lanyon Building, Room LAN01/052
All Welcome!
Professor Beverley Milton-Edwards has been invited by Lieutenant General David Capewell of the MOD Command Advisory Group to a joint discussion of Experts in the Military and Academia on the Syrian Crisis and its Regional Implications.
The encounter is designed to foster critical thinking, allow for external scrutiny of existing military assumptions and enable better understanding of particular contemporary challenges relating to Syria and the wider Middle East.
'Peak oil, climate change and energy security: decarbonising the economy', last Thursday (19th January) at Queens University, the first of the 'Debating Europe' seminar series co-organised by the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, the Northern Ireland Assembly Business Trust and the European Commission
The Debating Europe seminar series has been designed to bring together policymakers, businesspeople, trade unionists, politicians, academics, postgraduate students and members of the voluntary sector, to learn about and discuss key policy issues and themes facing contemporary society in Northern Ireland.
The objectives of the proposed series are to:
Raise awareness and develop understanding in Northern Ireland of European integration themes and issues of major public importance
Identify the economic, political and social significance of these themes for Northern Ireland
Stimulate academic and policy debate at national, regional and local level which the Commission Representation locally (in Belfast) and in London can feed back to the Commission in Brussels
Introduction by Prof. David Phinnemore (Head of School) http://www.mediator.qub.ac.uk/ms/PIS/Intro.mp4
Dr. Barry’s presentation http://www.mediator.qub.ac.uk/ms/PIS/Dr_JohnBarry.mp4
Dr Ada Regelmann has been awarded a three-year grant by the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) to support the development of a Collaborative Research Network (CRN) on Centrifugalism in Europe.
The purpose of the network is to encourage comparative perspectives on ‘centrifugal’ tendencies across Western and Eastern Europe and their repercussions on European integration. Centrifugalism refers to at least three processes: the open talk of a multispeed Europe focusing on nation-states; reinforced regional self-governance movements from Scotland to Catalonia, from Flanders to Bavaria and Upper Silesia; and social movements and parties boldly contesting the accountability and legitimacy of the political establishment, for example Greece’s Golden Dawn or Germany’s Pirates. The network is open to scholars from across the social science disciplines and the humanities at any stage of their research career to yield understanding of how ‘centrifugalism’ at three levels (EU, state, society) is inter-related. The network seeks to assess the different patterns of societal, national and European integration that we are likely to face as the EU enters its third decade. The network will convene regularly at annual research symposia and workshop meetings over the coming three years.
The US-UK Fulbright Commission is delighted to announce a new ground-breaking joint award with the Northern Ireland Assembly and Queen’s University Belfast. This annual award will offer an American student the opportunity to come to Belfast as a Fulbright Scholar to pursue an MA in Legislative Studies and Practice. The highly innovative postgraduate degree, based within Queens University Belfast’s School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, allows participants to spend a significant amount of time at the Northern Ireland Assembly acquiring hand-on skills and inside knowledge of the legislature.
This new Fulbright award has been formally recognised by the US Presidentially-appointed Fulbright Scholarship Board in Washington DC, and will be formally announced by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mr William Hay MLA on Thursday 17 January 2013 at a lunchtime reception which will also be attended by the American Consul General, Greg Burton.
The US-UK programme is the most competitive of the 150 Fulbright bi-national programmes in the world. The first recipient to hold this new award, in academic year 2014/15, will have been chosen from amongst the best and the brightest American students.
This award will add to a growing portfolio of Fulbright opportunities between the USA and Northern Ireland, for incoming American and outgoing Northern Irish ‘Fulbrighters’. In academic year 2012, there were more America Fulbrighters at Queen’s University Belfast than any other university in the UK.
Speaker William Hay said: “This new award is a fantastic opportunity for a student to gain first-hand experience of political life here as well as gaining a unique insight into how the Northern Ireland Assembly works. We look forward to welcoming the new student to Parliament Buildings and are pleased to be working with the well-respected Fulbright Commission. This programme will further strengthen the links between Northern Ireland and the United States and we look forward to playing our part in educating the next generation of American leaders.”
U.S. Consul General Greg Burton, added: “Many Americans have greatly enriched their academic or professional experiences through a Fulbright Scholarship in Northern Ireland and we are delighted that the Fulbright Commission is building on these successes. I applaud everyone involved in this collaborative project which will deepen our transatlantic ties and provide life-changing opportunities for those selected. “
Professor Rick Wilford the Director of the Legislative Studies and Practice program at Queen’s said: ‘The addition of a Fulbright Scholarship to the Programme is a recognition of both its quality and its growing international reputation. It helps to further strengthen the relationship between the University and the Assembly and helps both to develop their links with a key educational provider in the United States. We very much look forward to welcoming the first recipient of the Scholarship in the autumn of 2013’.
For further information contact
Michael Scott-Kline
Director, Fulbright Awards Programme
0207 498 4014 or 077 0807 1970
michael@fulbright.org.uk
Or Penny Egan
Executive Director
07885 398050
penny@fulbright.org.uk
Notes for editors
About the US-UK Fulbright Commission:
The US-UK Fulbright Commission was created by treaty on 22 September 1948. The Fulbright Commission offers grants at postgraduate and postdoctoral level for study in any discipline and at any accredited institution in the US and UK, as well as a number of special exchanges programmes for shorter projects or for younger scholars. During the last six decades, approximately 15,000 UK nationals have studied in the US and 13,000 US nationals in the UK as part of the Fulbright Programme. Prominent alumni of the Fulbright Programme include poet Sylvia Plath, Charles Kennedy MP, journalist and author Toby Young and the economist and noble prize winner Milton Friedman.
About the Fulbright Programme Worldwide:
Created in the aftermath of the Second World War through the vision of US Senator J. William Fulbright, the Fulbright Programme promotes the twin goals of academic excellence and cultural understanding. It operates in more than 150 countries, providing students, scholars and professionals with the opportunity to observe each others’ political, economic and cultural institutions, exchange ideas and embark on joint ventures of importance to the general welfare of the world’s inhabitants.
About the Fulbright Advisory Service:
The US-UK Fulbright Commission also supports exchange through its advisory service. The advising staff provide information and host events for those interested in US study. The service is the UK’s official source of information on educational opportunities in the US and is part of the EducationUSA network.
Key Links
Contact Info
School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy
25 University Square
Queen's University
Belfast
BT7 1PB
Tel: +44 (0)28 9097 5028
Email: pisp@qub.ac.uk
Follow Us On: