Founded in 1992, the Sussex European Institute (SEI) is an interdisciplinary research hub that brings together scholars and experts whose work engages with Europe’s political institutions, political economy, and its historical legacies.
SEI facilitates a dialogue between scholars based in various departments across and beyond the University of Sussex, including disciplines such as Anthropology, History, International Relations, Law, Sociology, Politics, Law, and Economics. Our community of scholars also works closely with practitioners, policy makers and the voluntary sector.
Europe is often seen as a realm - or even cradle of - democracy, freedom, and rights. Other times, European integration is viewed as in perpetual crisis. In our understanding, Europe not only takes shape through such projected self-images, but also constitutes itself through European states’ and institutions’ historic and contemporary actions – which have crafted internal power asymmetries and produced global inequalities.
Upcoming Events
- Wednesday 21st September 2022, Workshop: Emotions, Brexit and European Politics
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Workshop: Emotions, Brexit and European Politics
Date: Wednesday 21st September 2022
Time: 2-4pm
Location: via Zoom
Description:
The aim of the workshop is to allow participants working within this area to share their research and to have an informal discussion about the connections between emotion, Brexit, and populism in Europe. After a brief introduction from our side and a few introductory words, we would like to give our invited speakers the opportunity to talk about their research and how it connects to the themes of the workshop (for a maximum of 10 minutes each). Following that, we would like to open up the conversation for a free-flowing informal exchange of views around the question of ‘How does attention to emotion change our understanding of Brexit and support for populism in European politics?’
Convenors: Emily Robinson, Jonathan Moss, Jake Watts
- TBC, Here, we are 'disposable': Polish migrant essential workers during the pandemic
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Here, we are disposable: Polish migrant essential workers during the pandemic
Date: TBC
Time: TBC
Venue: TBC
Speaker: Dr Kasia Narkowicz, Middlesex University
Abstract
The talk will draw on preliminary findings from a mixed-method ESRC funded project investigating the impacts of Covid-19 on Polish essential migrant workers in the UK. While the study focuses on broad themes in relation to health, social, cultural and economic impacts, this talk will particularly focus on Polish migrant experiences of discrimination, racism, exploitation, disposability and (in)visibility while working during the Covid-19 pandemic. It will aim to think through the lens of decolonial perspectives and racial capitalism to better understand the ambivalent position of Eastern Europeans in Western Europe and particularly the situation of Polish essential migrant workers in the UK.
Past Events
- Thursday 5 May 2022, Sussex European Institute 30th Anniversary Event
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Sussex European Institute 30th Anniversary Event
Date: Thursday 5th May 2022
Time: 09:30am - 4:00pm BST
Venue: Moot Room (G06 Freeman Centre)
For full details visit here
- Wednesday 30 March 2022, The forthcoming presidential and legislative elections in France
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Date: Wednesday 30 March 2022
Time: 2pm to 3:30pm
Venue: Freeman G16
Speaker: Sue Collard (Sussex)
- Wednesday 02 March 2022, Anglo-Irish relations in the wake of Brexit
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Anglo-Irish relations in the wake of Brexit
Date: Wednesday 02 March 2022
Time: 2pm to 3:30pm
Venue: Via Zoom
Speaker: Etain Tannam (Trinity College Dublin)
- Wednesday 24 November 2021, Small Worlds in Europe: Investigating the Determinants of Non-Statewide Party Success
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Small Worlds in Europe: Investigating the Determinants of Non-Statewide Party Success
Date: Wednesday 24 November 2021
Time: 14:00 to 15:50
Venue: Ashdown House 102
Speaker: Jonathan Parker, University of Sussex
- Wednesday 13 October 2021, Beyond the Cartel: Parties, Anti-System and Democracy in the 21st Century
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Beyond the Cartel: Parties, Anti-System and Democracy in the 21st Century
Date: Wednesday 13 October 2021
Time: 14:00 - 15:50
Event: Online via zoom
Speaker: Jonathan Hopkin (LSE)
- Wednesday 23 June 2021, The Ongoing Politics of Brexit and Ireland
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The Ongoing Politics of Brexit and Ireland
Date: Wednesday 23rd June 2021
Time: 4-6pm London UK time
Venue: On-line via Zoom
Speakers: Prof Katy Hayward, Prof Brigid Laffan, Prof John O’Brennan
Chair: Dr Neil Dooley, University of Sussex
Abstract
The ‘unique circumstances on the island of Ireland’ have fundamentally shaped the negotiations around, the outcomes of, and the aftermath of Brexit. While the impact of Brexit on Ireland and Northern Ireland barely featured during the 2016 referendum campaign, it quickly became one of the thorniest and most defining issues in negotiations. Despite pledges to ‘get Brexit done’ and the UK formally exiting the EU on January 31st 2021, tensions and negotiations around the Northern Ireland protocol have persisted. Ireland was, and remains absolutely central to the ongoing politics of Brexit.
Presented by the Sussex European Institute, this workshop will explore questions around the centrality of Ireland's interests in Brexit negotiations, the current UK government position on the Northern Ireland protocol, the impact of Brexit and ‘de-Europeanisation’ on British-Irish relations and how the politics of Ireland/Northern Ireland understood and framed by UK political elites. It will broadly consider, if the politics of Brexit are ongoing, what role will ‘the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland’ play in their evolution?Presented by the Sussex European Institute, this workshop will explore questions around the centrality of Ireland's interests in Brexit negotiations, the current UK government position on the Northern Ireland protocol, the impact of Brexit and ‘de-Europeanisation’ on British-Irish relations and how the politics of Ireland/Northern Ireland understood and framed by UK political elites. It will broadly consider, if the politics of Brexit are ongoing, what role will ‘the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland’ play in their evolution?
- Wednesday 17 March 2021, Europe's unsafe environment anti-migrant violence in COVID times
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Date: Wednesday 17 March 2021
Time: 4-5pm London UK time
Venue: On-line via Zoom
Speaker: Dr Maurice Stierl, University of Warwick
Abstract
The Covid-19 crisis has prompted a range of novel mobility restrictions that have impacted migrant and displaced communities particularly harshly. Focussing on the situation at Europe’s external borders, I will examine the drastic anti-migrant deterrence and racialised containment measures that have emerged over the first year of the pandemic. Although these measures need to be understood in the continuity of the EU border regime, we can nonetheless observe a shift: from hostile Europe to unsafe Europe. While practically, Europe’s manifold hostile environment policies vis-à-vis precarious migrants persist, the Covid-19 emergency has allowed to justify ‘keeping them out’ or ‘containing them elsewhere’ in the name of their own protection, far away from Europe’s unsafe environment, plagued by a rampant pandemic.
Chair: Dr Aleks Lewicki, University of Sussex
