Winter School On Federalism And Governance, Austria/Italy

Deadline: 31 October 2011
Open to: young researchers and academics, post-docs, post-graduates, undergraduates, civil servants from a local, regional or national government, employees of international organizations or NGOs
Scholarship: A limited number of full and partial scholarships are available

The third edition of the Winter School on Federalism and Governance takes place from 6-17 February 2012 and focuses on Federalism and Minority Protection. The Winter School was honoured by the patronage of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Thorbjørn Jagland.

The Winter School is a postgraduate programme offering a broad range of courses on federalism and governance. It enables academics, post-docs and practitioners to extend their knowledge in multilevel government and governance, especially from a legal and political science perspective. 

The 2012 edition of the Winter School focuses on the topic of “Federalism and Minority Protection”.
Federalism, regionalism, autonomy and devolution often serve to guarantee self-government to minority populations. Several recent federalizing processes are in fact ethnically driven. The link between federalism and minority rights, however, is not sufficiently explored with regard to its most complex governing dimensions. The Winter School provides answers to a series of issues by combining high-level expertise and problem-oriented approaches.

This 10-day programme offers all participants an international, albeit challenging, learning environment. It is carried out one week in Austria (Innsbruck) and one week in Italy (Bolzano/Bozen, South Tyrol) and includes:

• lectures by distinguished academics from Europe, North America and Asia; ·
• roundtable discussions and case studies with experts from various administrations (i.e. local, regional, international and supranational levels);
• institutional study visits and public lectures in Innsbruck and Bolzano/Bozen with high ranking politicians and civil servants.

Successful participants of the programme are awarded 10 ECTS credits. The working language is English.

Eligibility

The Winter School  is open to all nationalities and is designed for applicants who wish to develop and upgrade their knowledge by applying an interdisciplinary and comparative approach:

• young researchers and academics
• post-docs, post-graduates and undergraduate students
• civil servants from a local, regional or national government
• employees of international organizations or NGOs

Please note that the programme builds on assumed knowledge in the area of “Federalism and Minority Protection”.

Scholarship

Several “James Madison Trust” scholarships will be awarded. The organizers distinguish between:
– “full scholarship”  covering the accommodation costs in Innsbruck and Bolzano/Bozen and a contribution towards the participants’ travel expenses (refund).
– “partial scholarship”covering only  the accommodation costs in Innsbruck and Bolzano/Bozen

Everyone is welcome to apply for a scholarship, however, scholarships are limited. Preference will be given to students and to participants from overseas.
The scholarships will be awarded after all applications have been processed by late November 2011. Holders of these scholarships are requested to pay a participation fee of € 100 upon enrolment.

How to apply

On 1 day of the Winter School the group will be broken up into small groups and will discuss the four topics outlined the day before:
A) Territorial and non-territorial autonomy,
B) Cross-border cooperation in ethnic sensitive areas,
C) Immigration,
D) Language, Education and Culture.

In your application you must select one of these four topics to be discussed in the workshop and submit an abstract attached to your application.

Please choose the workshop that you would like to participate in and write an abstract of no more than 500 words answering one question that is related to your favourite topic.

A) Territorial and Non-Territorial Autonomy
1. Compared to territorial autonomy (TA),  non-territorial autonomy (NTA) is quite rare. Please analyse the merits and pitfalls of both TA and NTA on the basis of historical and present examples.

2. Estonia’s “Law on Cultural Autonomy for National Minorities” of 1993 provides one of the quite rare contemporary examples of NTA. Please identify the reasons why only some minorities benefit from it, while others have so far been unable to establish autonomous institutions.

B) Cross-border cooperation in ethnic sensitive areas
1. Social, economic and territorial cohesion is one of the fundamental principles of the European Union.  How is this cohesion-principle related to the concepts of cross-border cooperation and minority protection?

2. Social, economic and territorial cohesion is one of the fundamental principles of the European Union. Are cross-border cooperation and minority protection interrelated concepts?

C) Immigration
1. Please analyse the differences between “old” historical, autochthonous minorities and “new” minorities originating from recent migration.  Do goals, collective nature, a state of permanence, other or none of these factors  contribute to the difference between these two categories of minority groups?  Please explain.

2. Please discuss if and to what extent the application of legal standards which were developed for “old” minorities can be beneficial to the integration of “new” minorities.

D) Language, Education and Culture
Language rights and policies between legal pluralism, political claim(s) and social reality:  please discuss the multidimensionality and interrelationship(s) of these issues from the perspective of both minorities and the State/subnational unit(s) they live in.

1) How do legal and political instruments recognize linguistic difference? To what extent are the instruments implemented?

2) How are language rights and policies negotiated/redefined by other actors rather than the State (e.g. locals, (im)migrants, crossborder agents etc.)?

The application form can be found EXCLUSIVELY online

You will be asked to submit your:
– personal data
– academic and professional education
– work experience (if applicable)
– motivation (max. 250 words)
– abstract (max. 500 words) on one of the topics listed above.
These topics will be further discussed and analyzed in small workshops during the Winter School.
Please note that without your abstract your application will not be taken into consideration!

Before filling in the application form, please make sure to have all requested information ready. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. If you prefer to see a copy of the form before applying, click here for a preview.

To start and submit your online application, please click here. 

Those applications that are successfully submitted and valid will receive a receipt via e-mail within 5 working days after submission. The deadline for submitting your applications is 31 October 2011.
Due to the volume of applications, only short-listed applicants will be contacted further. Successful applicants will be notified by 6 December 2011. The enrolment procedure should be completed within 2 weeks after notification.

Any further questions may be addressed to the organizers at winterschool@eurac.edu.

The Official Webpage