Understanding Latin America: GLO Fellow, Venezuelan Diplomat and Scholar Alfredo Toro Hardy provides the decoding guide!

Posted on November 9, 2017 by admin

NEWLY PUBLISHED THIS WEEK: Venezuelan Diplomat and Scholar Alfredo Toro Hardy, Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), explains Latin America in his new book (Understanding Latin America. A Decoding Guide, World Scientific, 2017).

From afar, Latin America looks like a blurry tableau: devoid of defining lines, particularities and nuances. Little is understood about the idiosyncrasies of Latin-Americans, their cultural identity and social values. Differences between Brazilians and Spanish Americans, or amid the diverse Spanish American countries, are not sufficiently understood. Even less is known about the amplitude of the Iberian heritage of such countries, or about the miscegenation and acculturation processes that took place among their different constitutive races. There is no clarity regarding the Western nature of Latin America or about its cultural affinities with Latin Europe. Nor is there sufficient understanding of the links between the Latin population of the United States and the inhabitants of Latin America.

This book’s aims to fill the gap by focusing on Latin America’s history, culture, identity and idiosyncrasies. It serves as a guide to understand regional attitudes, meanings and behavioral differences of the region. It also analyses the present economic situation of the region, while trying to predict the future of the region. Written in a simple and accessible manner, this book will be of interest to readers keen on exploring the region for potential opportunities in trade, investment or any other kind of business and cultural endeavor.

Leaflet

Understanding Latin America: More information & How to order the book

Leaflet Understanding Latin America.

GLO Fellow Alfredo Toro Hardy is a Venezuelan diplomat and scholar. Graduated in Law from the Central University of Venezuela with several master and postgraduate degrees from ENA, University of Paris II, Central University, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. Career diplomat who has served, among other posts, as Director of the Diplomatic Academy of the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador to Brazil, Chile, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, and Singapore. Director of the Center for North American Studies and Coordinator of the Institute for Higher Latin American Studies of the Simón Bolívar University (1989-1992). Elected “Simon Bolívar Chair Professor for Latin American Studies” by the Council of Faculties of the University of Cambridge for the academic year 2006-2007. Member of the Advising Committee of the Diplomatic Academy of London (2003-2008). Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor at Princeton University (1986-1987). Author or coauthor of 30 books and more than 30 academic papers on international affairs.

Image result for Alfredo Toro Hardy

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Future of CEU, the Budapest – based international university, is further uncertain: Letter of Rector Michael Ignatieff

Posted on October 21, 2017 by admin

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) and its President, Klaus F. Zimmermann, have supported the Central European University (CEU) in the struggle for scientific independence. See the GLO – CEU event recently in Budapest, among others. Now the Rector of CEU, Michael Ignatieff, has provided a further briefing:

Dear Friends:What a week this has been!  On Tuesday the Hungarian Parliament voted a year’s extension of the deadline to comply with ‘lex CEU’.  This means that CEU can admit a new class of master’s and doctoral students beginning in September 2018 and those who are admitted will be able to complete their studies here.  This is good news!

What’s less encouraging is that the government appears to have stepped back, at least for the time being, from an agreement with New York State that would guarantee CEU’s existence in Hungary in return for us establishing educational activities with our long-time partner in New York State, Bard College.  We’re still hopeful that this agreement will be signed eventually and bring the ‘CEU affair’ to a conclusion.  We’ll be implementing the Bard agreement in full.  The next steps are now up to the government.

In the meantime, CEU keeps forging ahead.  Our classes are full.  Our faculty are teaching, doing research, attending conferences, and building our reputation for academic excellence.  Applications to admit our next class will open in the coming days.  Our strategic plan for the next five years is being discussed right across the university.  Next stop in the process: the Trustees’ meeting on October 28-29.  The Trustees will suggest improvements and revisions, and then we will bring the plan back to the university for implementation.

We’ve been through quite an experience in the past year, and we haven’t reached safe harbor yet, but we’ve stood up for what we believe, we’ve done our jobs, and we’re planning for a bright future.

Thanks once again to all our supporters here in Hungary, and right around the world, for the marvelous support you’ve shown.  We can’t do this without you!

Michael Ignatieff
Rector and President
Kedves Barátaink!Micsoda hét volt ez! Kedden az Országgyűlés megszavazta, hogy a lex CEU megfelelési határidejét egy évvel meghosszabbítsák. Ez azt jelenti, hogy a CEU vehet fel diákokat a 2018 szeptemberében induló mester- és doktori képzésekre, és hogy a felvett hallgatóink be is tudják fejezni a tanulmányaikat. Ez mind jó hír.

Kevésbé biztató, hogy úgy tűnik, egyelőre a kormányzat elállt attól, hogy aláírja a New York állammal kötendő megállapodást, amely biztosítaná a CEU magyarországi működését cserébe azért, hogy a CEU régi partnerével, a Bard College-dzsal közösen oktatási tevékenységbe kezd New York államban. Továbbra is bízunk abban, hogy a megállapodást végül aláírják, és pontot tehetünk a “CEU ügy” végére. A Barddal kötött megállapodásban foglaltakat végre fogjuk hajtani. A következő lépést a kormányzatnak kell megtennie.

Eközben a CEU egy percre sem áll meg. Tantermeink tele vannak. A tanáraink tanítanak, kutatnak, konferenciákra járnak, és építik a CEU tudományos hírnevét. A következő évfolyamunk felvételi határidejét a napokban fogjuk kihirdetni. Az öt évre szóló stratégiai tervünket most vitatjuk meg közösségünk tagjaival. A következő lépés a kuratóriumi ülés október 28-29-én. A stratégiai tervet a kuratóriumi tagok javaslatai alapján fejlesztjük tovább, és hajtjuk majd végre.

Az elmúlt évben sok mindenen mentünk keresztül, és bár még nem értünk révbe, kiálltunk amellett, amiben hiszünk, elvégeztük a feladatunkat, és derűs jövőre készülünk.

Köszönöm még egyszer mindenkinek, aki kiállt mellettünk Magyarországon és világszerte. A fantasztikus támogatás nélkül nem lennénk képesek minderre.

Michael Ignatieff, elnök-rektor

http://www.klausfzimmermann.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/170402-ceuval.png

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GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann spoke at Transilvania University of Brasov

Posted on October 21, 2017 by admin

The Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration within the Transilvania University of Brasov, in collaboration with the Bucharest-based Institute for Economic Forecasting within the National Institute for Economic Research “Costin C. Kiritescu” of the Romanian Academy had organized on 20-21 October 2017 in the Transilvania University Brasov the International Conference

„Inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Challenges, measures and solutions” (ISEG 2017).

Conference Program can be accessed here.

GLO Fellows Monica Raileanu Szeles (Transilvania University of Brasov), Lucian Liviu Albu (Institute for Economic Forecasting), Francesco Pastore (University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli) and GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT & Rockefeller Policy Fellow) had been members of the Scientific Committee of the conference and provided lectures.

In his conference keynote on “Migration and Well-being”, Zimmermann dealt with the following issues:

(1) The Value of Mobility

(2) GDP or Happiness?

(3) Measurement of Happiness and Wellbeing

(4) Research Questions

(5) Migration and the Wellbeing of the Natives

(6) Wellbeing of Migrants and Conditions at Home

(7) Migrants Abroad and the Wellbeing of the Left Behind

(8) Conclusions and Challenges

His overview was based on the following key publications:

(5) Wellbeing of the Natives:

►A. Akay, A. Constant and C. Giulietti: The Impact of Immigration on the Well-Being of Natives, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, (2014), 103, 72-92.

►A. Akay, A. Constant, C. Giulietti, and M. Guzi: Ethnic Diversity and Well-Being, Journal of Population Economics, (2017), 30, 265-306.

►M. Kuroki: Racial Diversity, Immigrants and the Well-being of Residents: Evidence from US Counties, Forthcoming, Journal of Population Economics, (2018). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00148-017-0657-9; GLO Discussion Paper, No. 76.

►N. B. Simpson, Happiness and Migration, in. A. Constant and K. F. Zimmermann (Eds.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, Edward Elgar, (2013), 393-407.

►W. Betz and N. B. Simpson, The Effects of International Migration on the Well-being of Native Populations in Europe, IZA Journal of Migration, 2013,2.

(6) Migrants’ Wellbeing and Macroeconomic Conditions

Akay, O. Bargain and K. F. Zimmermann: Home Sweet Home? Macroeconomic Conditions in Home Countries and the Well-Being of Migrants, Journal of Human Resources, 52 (2017), 351-373.

(7) Migrants Abroad and the Wellbeing of the Left Behind

Remittances:

►A. Akay, C. Giulietti, J.D. Robalino and K. F. Zimmermann: Remittances and Well-Being among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China, Review of Economics of the Household, 12 (2014), 517-546.

► M. Akgüc, C. Giulietti and K. F.Zimmermann: The RUMiC Longitudinal Survey: Fostering Research on Labor Markets in China, IZA Journal of Labor & Development, 2014, 3:5

► A. Akay, O. Bargain, C. Guilietti, J. D. Robalino and K. F.Zimmermann: Remittances and Relative Concerns in Rural China, China Economic Review, 37 (2016), 191-207.

Social Remittances:

►M. Nikolova, M. Roman and K. F. Zimmermann: Left Behind but Doing Good? Civic Engagement in Two Post-Socialist Countries. Journal of Comparative Economics, 45 (2017), 658–684.

 

First row from the left: Lucian Liviu Albu (Institute for Economic Forecasting), Monica Raileanu Szeles (Transilvania University of Brasov) and GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT & Rockefeller Policy Fellow)

 

Conference participants in front of the Transilvania University of Brasov

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Zimmermann zum Einwanderungsgesetz: Neue Bundesregierung muß das regeln!

Posted on October 17, 2017 by admin

Auf Anfrage der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung (FAZ) stellte Prof. Dr. Klaus F. Zimmermann (GLO-Präsident, Universität Bonn und UNU-MERIT, Maastricht) fest:

Braucht Deutschland das neue Einwanderungsgesetz?

Das von der Union geplante Fachkräfte-Einwanderungsgesetz ist nötig, um die kurz- und langfristigen Bedarfe im deutschen Arbeitsmarkt zu sichern. Es wird im Übrigen in einer Jamaika-Koalition auf Zustimmung bei FDP und Grünen stoßen, die solche Regelungen schon lange für notwendig halten.

Was kann es bewirken?

Es schafft nach Innen und Außen mehr Transparenz und Akzeptanz.

International setzt es Signale, daß Deutschland Fachkräfte benötigt, wir bekommen derzeit gar nicht, was die Arbeitsmärkte brauchen. Und mancher bisher an illegaler Einwanderung Interessierte wird dann  versuchen, den legalen Weg zu gehen. Insbesondere die Möglichkeiten für zirkuläre Zuwanderungsverträge mit potenziellen Einwanderungsländern sind von Interesse. Dabei kommen Menschen, wenn sie Arbeit haben, und sie verlassen das Land wieder, falls die Nachfrage ausfällt. Ein Punktesystem könnte für längerfristige oder dauerhafte Bedarfe klare Signale setzen!

Eine transparente Regelung macht auch den Einheimischen klar, daß Zuwanderer für Deutschland nützlich sind, sie arbeiten und helfen somit allen. Das nimmt den Scharfmachern in der Gesellschaft wichtige Argumente.

Was nicht?

Die Flüchtlingsströme stoppen. Die Obergrenze von 200.000 Menschen pro Jahr ist Populismus. Merkel hatte Recht, unser Grundgesetz sieht sowas nicht vor. Nichts spricht gegen rasche Entscheidungs- und Rückführungszentren, das muß aber erst einmal effizient organisiert werden. Und die richtigen Flüchtlinge haben ein Anrecht auf unsere Hilfe, da haben die Grünen völlig Recht.

Die Verweigerung von Familennachzug ist zumindest nach Anerkennung inhuman und integrationsfeindlich. Auch sollten Flüchtlinge arbeiten können, sobald sie einen Antrag auf Asyl stellen konnten. So können sie sich ihren Lebensunterhalt selbst verdienen und besser integrieren, falls sie dauerhaft im Land bleiben. Dies stärkt ferner die Akzeptanz bei den Einheimischen.

Klaus F. Zimmermann

GLO – Präsident, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University und Universität Bonn, derzeit Rockefeller Policy Fellow in Bellagio/Italy.

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GLO President Zimmermann leaves Bellagio to speak at the Transilvania University of Brasov/Romania

Posted on October 17, 2017 by admin

Klaus F. Zimmermann (President of the Global Labor Organization, GLO, and Co-Director POP at UNU-MERIT) is a Rockefeller Policy Fellow 2017. He just spent several weeks in September and October at the legendary Rockefeller Bellagio Center.

See for further pictures.

Zimmermann soon leaves Bellagio for a conference in Brasov/Romania. The Brasov conference program has just become available:

The Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration within the Transilvania University of Brasov, in collaboration with the Bucharest-based Institute for Economic Forecasting within the National Institute for Economic Research “Costin C. Kiritescu” of the Romanian Academy organizes the International Conference

„Inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Challenges, measures and solutions” (ISEG 2017).

The conference will be held on 20-21 October 2017 in the Transilvania University Hall, Street Iuliu Maniu no. 47A, Brasov.

Conference Program can be accessed here.

GLO Fellows Monica Raileanu Szeles (Transilvania University of Brasov), Lucian Liviu Albu (Institute for Economic Forecasting), Francesco Pastore (University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli) and GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT & Rockefeller Policy Fellow) are members of the Scientific Committee of the conference.

On October 20, 11:00 am, GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann will provide a keynote on “Migration and Well-Being”. There will be further a GLO session:

GLO Session: Issues in Global Labor: Chair: Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT Maastricht and GLO). On October 20, 14:00 pm.

“Overeducation wage penalty among Ph.D. holders: Does the field of study make the difference? An unconditional quantile regression analysis on Italian data”: Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta (University of Naples L’Orientale), Giuseppe Lubrano Lavadera (University of Salerno) and Francesco Pastore (University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli and GLO)

“Remittances and Income Inequality in Nigeria: A Quantile Regression Analysis”: James T. Bang (St. Ambrose University and GLO), Aniruddha Mitra (Bard College and GLO) and Phanindra V. Wunnava (Middlebury College and GLO)

“Protection and Abuse of Property Rights: Political Culture Heritage in the Eastern European Post-Communist Society”: Camelia Florela Voinea (University of Bucharest and GLO)

 

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GLO President Zimmermann speaks at legendary Rockefeller Bellagio Center & in Milan

Posted on October 5, 2017 by admin

Zimmermann is a 2017 Rockefeller Foundation Policy Fellow. He is currently visiting the Bellagio Center to execute research, engage in discussions and provide seminars and lectures.

The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency Program offers distinguished academics, artists, thought leaders, policymakers, and practitioners a serene setting conducive to focused, goal-oriented work, and the unparalleled opportunity to establish new connections with fellow residents from a wide array of backgrounds, disciplines, and geographies. The hospitality and impact of The Bellagio Center in Italy has been legendary.

Klaus F. Zimmermann, Princeton University and UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, has been granted Rockefeller Foundation Policy Fellow to visit the Bellagio Center in October 2017 to execute his research and discuss it with his fellow residents. Zimmermann, who is also the President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), works on migration and global labor economics.

On 4 October 2017, Zimmermann gave a paper at the Bellagio Center on “Challenges of Migration Policy Advice“. On 5 October 2017, he provided a public lecture on “The European Migration Challenge after the German Elections” at the Università Cazzolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano.

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Zimmermann  at the Bellagio Center of the Rockfeller Foundation before he gave a presentation on October 4, 2017 on “Challenges of Migration Policy Advice“.  

Zimmermann at the Università Cazzolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, with GLO Fellow Marco Vivarelli, Professor and Director of the Institute of Economic Policy of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano. On 5 October 2017, after he provided a public lecture on “The European Migration Challenge after the German Elections“.

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Call for papers on “Sexual Orientation and the Labor Market”

Posted on September 23, 2017 by admin

Call for papers for a special issue of the International Journal of Manpower  on: “Sexual Orientation and the Labor Market”

Edited by

Nick Drydakis (Anglia Ruskin University, University of Cambridge, IZA, and GLO) and Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, CEPR and GLO)

An initiative of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), this project is related to the GLO Thematic Cluster on “Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation and Labor Market Outcomes” headed by Nick Drydakis.

Despite the enactment, in English speaking countries and the EU, of labor legislation against discrimination in the labor market based on sexual orientation, LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex) people continue to experience occupational access constraints, lower job satisfaction, wage discrimination (especially gay men), and more bullying and harassment than their heterosexual counterparts (Drydakis, 2014; Valfort, 2017).

Studies for the period 1989–2014 suggest that gay men receive lower wages than heterosexual men of comparable education, skills, and experience. For instance, studies find that gay men earn from 4–5% less than heterosexual men in the Netherlands, France, Greece, and the UK and up to 12–16% less in Canada, Sweden, and the US (Drydakis, 2014). Whether wage discrimination against gay men exists in other regions is of great interest and ascertaining this is of importance for policy interventions. In addition, whether wage discrimination lessens over time in response to policy interventions and legislation is hard to determine in the absence of relevant studies. It is not yet clear whether prejudice-based and/or statistical discrimination is the more appropriate framework for the study of labor discrimination against LGBTI people.

The available studies on sexual orientation and job satisfaction highlight that in Australia, Canada, and Greece, both gay men and lesbians experience lower job satisfaction than do their otherwise similar heterosexual counterparts (Drydakis, 2014). Because gay and lesbian employees face severe workplace harassment and bullying, these conditions may affect their workplace experience evaluations (Drydakis, 2014). Whether factors other than workplace harassment cause gay and lesbian employees’ dissatisfaction requires examination. Also, for instituting appropriate policy actions, it is important to determine whether these job satisfaction differences suffered by sexual orientation minorities exist in other countries.

In general, the dearth of studies makes it difficult to examine how education, occupation, industrial relations, region, core socio-economic characteristics, personality and mental health traits moderate the relationship between sexual orientation and labor market outcomes (Drydakis, 2014). Indeed, although studies suggest that lesbians face prejudice in the labor market, some studies estimate that lesbians earn more than comparable heterosexual women. Lesbians have been found to earn 3% more in the Netherlands, 8% more in the UK, 11% more in Germany, 15% more in Canada, and 20% more in the US. Whether personality characteristics, coping strategies, occupational choices, family structures and/or region positively affect lesbians’ wages is still an open question.

In addition, quantitative research on employment outcomes is scarce for trans people (Drydakis, 2017). A representative study suggests that trans people tend to suffer higher unemployment rates than those reported, in other studies, for the general U.S. population (Leppel, 2016). In addition, the interaction between trans identity, and sexual orientation, and the effects of this on employment outcomes is under-examined (Drydakis, 2017). Whether explicit, legislative employment protection against discrimination on the ground of a trans identity has an effect on employment outcomes has also received little attention (Drydakis, 2017).

Given the aforementioned lack of sufficient literature, the editors welcome empirical papers on labor economics which have a clear and highlighted added value, and solid policy implications, on the following general areas:

  • Testing, in under-examined geographical regions, for wage discrimination based on sexual orientation.
  • Empirically testing and disentangling the forms of employment discrimination (i.e. prejudice-based, and/or statistical discrimination) against LGBTI people.
  • Examining the relationship between sexual orientation, personality characteristics, mental health and employment outcomes.
  • Assessing how moderators (i.e. human capital, educational choices, occupations, family structure, industrial relations etc.) affect the relationship between sexual orientation and labor market outcomes.
  • Testing the relationship between sexual orientation, past/present victimization and labor market outcomes.
  • Quantifying the relationship between sexual orientation and job satisfaction.
  • Evaluating the impact of the legal recognition of same-sex couples on labor market outcomes.
  • Evaluating the impact of employment legislation against sexual orientation and trans identity discrimination on labor market outcomes.
  • Quantifying employment bias against trans people.
  • Examining the interaction between trans identities, sexual orientation and labor market outcomes.

Submissions will be accepted up until the 31th of August 2018. They should be made using ScholarOne Manuscripts, the online submission and peer review system: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijm. Before submission, please verify that you have carefully read the Author guidelines of the Journal. While making your submission, please specify the title of the current call for papers. See also the forthcoming call on the journal website.

Nick Drydakis (Anglia Ruskin University, University of Cambridge, IZA and GLO)

Image result for Nick Drydakis pictures

and Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, CEPR and GLO)

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References:

Drydakis N. (2014). Sexual orientation and labor market outcomes. IZA World of Labor: 111. DOI: 10.15185/izawol.111

Drydakis N. (2017). Trans people, well-being, and labor market outcomes. IZA World of Labor: 386. DOI: 10.15185/izawol.386

Leppel, K. (2016). The labor force status of transgender men and women. International Journal of Transgenderism,  Vol. 17, No. (3−4), pp. 155−164.

Valfort, M. (2017). LGBTI in OECD countries: A review. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 198, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: 10.1787/d5d49711-en

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GLO session on “Issues in Global Labor” at Transilvania University of Brasov Conference

Posted on September 23, 2017 by admin

The Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration within Transilvania University of Brasov, in collaboration with the Institute for Economic Forecasting within the National Institute for Economic Research “Costin C. Kiritescu” of the Romanian Academy organizes the International Conference

„Inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Challenges, measures and solutions” (ISEG 2017).

GLO Fellows Monica Raileanu Szeles and Lucian Liviu Albu of the Institute for Economic Forecasting are involved in organizing the conference. The conference will be hosted by Transilvania University of Brasov and will be held 20-21 October 2017 in the Transilvania University Hall, Street Iuliu Maniu no. 47A, Brasov.

GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann will provide a keynote on “Migration and Well-Being”. There will be further a GLO session:

GLO Session: Issues in Global Labor: Chair: Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT Maastricht and GLO)

“Overeducation wage penalty among Ph.D. holders: Does the field of study make the difference? An unconditional quantile regression analysis on Italian data”: Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta (University of Naples L’Orientale), Giuseppe Lubrano Lavadera (University of Salerno) and Francesco Pastore (University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli and GLO)

“Remittances and Income Inequality in Nigeria: A Quantile Regression Analysis”: James T. Bang (St. Ambrose University and GLO), Aniruddha Mitra (Bard College and GLO) and Phanindra V. Wunnava (Middlebury College and GLO)

“Protection and Abuse of Property Rights: Political Culture Heritage in the Eastern European Post-Communist Society”: Camelia Florela Voinea (University of Bucharest and GLO)

From left to right …..

Francesco Pastore (University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli and GLO)
Aniruddha Mitra (Bard College and GLO)
Camelia Florela Voinea (University of Bucharest and GLO)
Image result for Francesco Pastore PicturesImage result for Aniruddha Mitra PicturesImage result for Camelia Florela Voinea PicturesImage result for Klaus F. Zimmermann Pictures
Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT Maastricht and GLO)

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Update: Central European University (CEU) begins the 27th academic year

Posted on September 23, 2017 by admin

The Central European University (CEU) in Budapest has been under threat recently. The Global Labor Organization (GLO) and Klaus F. Zimmermann as the President of the GLO have supported the CEU with declarations and events. At the occasion of the Opening Ceremony 2017,  Michael Ignatieff, President and Rector of the CEU, has now declared:

“Dear Friends and Supporters,

We begin our 27th academic year at Central European University this week. At our 2017 Opening Ceremony, we welcomed 769 incoming students from 93 countries and recognized the extraordinary teaching and research taking place at CEU and elsewhere in Europe. Our community continues to inspire as we carry forward our mission to search for truth and add to the world’s precious stock of knowledge.

Your support enables this exciting work, and we thank you for your dedication to CEU even as we await the outcome of negotiations between the Hungarian government and the State of New York. I share my opening address below …. and welcome you to watch the video and read the full story here.”

 

“To the ambassadors and representatives of their countries
To the rectors and representatives of Hungarian universities.
To our hard-working faculty
To our dedicated staff
To our returning students
Welcome!

To the incoming CEU class of Masters and Doctoral students—all 769 of you from 93 countries—we hope CEU will be a transformative experience and we welcome you warmly to this community.

For we are a community, brought together as never before by our defense of academic freedom. Let me thank the entire CEU community for standing together, during what I like to call, with British understatement, ‘our little local difficulty.’

As many of you know, New York State, where we are accredited, and the Government of Hungary are negotiating an agreement that would enable us to stay in Budapest. Negotiations continue, but we remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached and ratified by the Hungarian Parliament.

This experience—still ongoing, still unresolved, but hopefully soon behind us—has changed us all. We have rediscovered why free institutions matter and why our open society mission is so important.

We are the only university with such a mission. What does it mean? Let’s be clear, first of all, what it doesn’t mean. It’s worth saying, once again, we’re not a political organization, we’re not an opposition movement, not an NGO. Though we encourage our students, staff, faculty, and alumni to be active citizens and to express their political convictions freely.

We ARE a university: a free, self-governing institution, independent of government, independent of those who finance us, a community of scholars and students whose task is to search for truth and to add to the world’s precious stock of knowledge.

And what is knowledge? The unbroken strand of understanding that human beings have woven together through experimentation, research and experience and that they have passed on from generation to generation.

Our mission as a university is to weave our tiny thread of knowledge into this strand of understanding and to pass it on unbroken to our children.

There is no single vision for an open society—that would violate the principle of openness itself—but all visions of an open society share a critical component: the belief in an epistemology of freedom: that the ideas we need most arise from critical debate and the courage to discard them when they fail the test of reality.

A university lives by this epistemology, but its goals are ethical. We are the institutions whose very essence is to create free people: responsible, prudent, moral human beings who do their best to care for their families, care for their country, care for each other.

An open society is a society of such men and women. Such people are skeptical but passionate citizens. They know the distinction between knowledge and opinion, between a fact and a rumor, between a tweet or a post and a research finding, between passion and sound judgment. Grasping the core of knowledge is hard. It is the work of a university every day, in every class: to teach men and women to make these distinctions, to do so fiercely, to subject all ideological claims—liberal and conservative alike—to the critical scrutiny that only knowledge of real life allows.

This is our mission. We hope you will feel it at work in our classrooms, in our lectures and seminars. We are an institution under constant scrutiny and external pressure. But that must not prevent us from being critical of ourselves. We re-examine our mission every day. We question whether we are measuring up. You will see that we are running a presidential lecture series entitled, Rethinking Open Society. Join us for these talks, form your own opinion about what open society means. The first one is on Monday, and guess who is starting it off: yours truly. So come, be critical. Join the debate.

In a moment you will hear a poem read, by one of the greatest spirits of our region and of our world, Czeslaw Milosz, the Polish Nobel Laureate in Literature. In it you will hear him say, “human reason guides our hand so we write Truth and Justice with capital letters, lie and oppression with small.” You will also hear a Kodaly song sung by a Hungarian artist. Their inclusion in this program is our way of saying: poetry, art, literature, music teach us our mission every day.

We will have a good year, together. I know it. We will argue, we will debate. The library will be full. Your heads will feel full with the pressure of new ideas. You will be changed.

So let us begin the year, proud of who we are: a community of men and women who love knowledge, learning, literature, art and who believe that when we work together, we can help each other on the arduous journey that is never over, the journey to become free men and women.”

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GLO Fellow Jo Ritzen on “A Second Chance for Europe” in Brussels

Posted on September 23, 2017 by admin

A book launch of ‘A Second chance for Europe: Economic, Political and Legal Perspectives of the European Union’, edited by Prof. Jo Ritzen.

The event will take place at the Maastricht University Campus Brussels on Wednesday 22 November 2017, in the presence of guests of honor Mr. Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, Ms. Annemarie Penn-te Strake, Mayor of Maastricht, and Prof. Mathieu Segers, Professor of Contemporary European History and European Integration at Maastricht University.

FURTHER DETAILS on the book and the launch in Brussels.

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