Center for West European Studies & EU Jean Monnet Center

On April 9, 2026, Dr. Robin S. Brooks delivered the Keynote EU Democracy and Security Lecture at the 24th Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union, hosted by the European Union Center of California at Scripps College. This podcast is a recording of this talk, titled, 'Euro-Atlantic Values' and the Future of Transatlantic Security. Dr. Robin S. Brooks, Robin Brooks is a Visiting Fell...

On May 7th, 2026, the Center for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies hosted its spring EU Democracy and Security Symposium on 'Monarchies to Constitutional Democracies.' This podcast features recordings of presentations by three members of the University of Washington faculty: Raymond Jonas (History), speaking on “France’s Five Republics and what they tell us about how republics are born and h...

On March 6, 2026 Miguel Roncero Martin delivered the keynote address at the West Coast Model European Union event at the University of Washington. Miguel gave a talk titled, "Bounded by Water and Ice: Cooperation, Trust, and the European Democratic Experiment.” Jose Miguel Roncero Martin (Miguel Roncero) is an EU civil servant hosted by the Jackson School of International Studies in 2026, under th...

On April 17th, 2026 three experts delivered an excellent plenary session at the 32nd Annual REECAS Northwest Conference at the University of Washington, on current strategy around Ukraine, REECAS and the European Union today. This podcast is a recording of that address, including a Q&A session featuring keynote speaker Phillips O'Brien. Featured experts: Nargis Kassenova, Senior Fellow and Directo...

On April 16, 2026, Phillips O'Brien delivered his keynote speech of the 32nd Annual REECAS Northwest, an official regional conference of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES). Phillips OBrien gave a lecture on European Strategy and the Ukraine War, a look at how Europe has reacted strategically to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Professor Phillips O’B...

On February 10th, 2026 the Jean Monnet Center for Excellence at the University of Washington hosted its second symposium on EU Democracy and Security. Speakers Ray Lahiri, Timothy Bourns, and Alexander Hollmann presented on the theme 'Europe: Cradle of Democracy.' Podcast introduction is by Guntis Smidchens, Director of the UW Center for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies. Co-funded by the Eu...

On December 4th, 2025 the Jean Monnet Center for Excellence at the University of Washington hosted a symposium on EU Democracy and Security. Markku Jokisipilä presented on the Past, Present, and Future of European Democracy and Security. Introduction by Guntis Smidchens, the director of the UW Center for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies. Markku Jokisipilä was a UW Visiting Professor for Fal...

John Johnson is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. Prior to this he was the Director of the Brussels International Media Hub, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Afghanistan Affairs Unit which operated out of Doha after the fall of Kabul, and the Counselor for Public Affairs in Afghanistan during the evacuation of the Embassy in 2021. Prior to the establishment of the Doha platform, Mr....

Amy Stern (JD, University of Virginia) served as Legal Advisor in the U.S. Mission to the European Union in 2021-2024. She led multi-stakeholder advocacy efforts to secure the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, collaborating with global partners on regulatory challenges impacting privacy, civil liberties, online safety, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and sustainability. This session occurred a...

Co-Funded by the European Union. Justin Petelka is a Ph. D. Candidate at the University of Washington's Information School who studies U.S. and EU Data Privacy Laws. This session occurred at the 2025 EU Policy Forum Educator Workshop: Europe and the EU: Alone in a Multipolar World? at the UW on August 12, 2025. | Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the a...

Co-Funded by the European Union. Dr. Markku Jokisipilä is a Distinguished Professor of Contemporary History, University of Turku in Finland, and Dr. Monika Sus is Professor of Political Science at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, part-time Professor at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute and member of Te...

Co-Funded by the European Union. John A. Albert is an Associate Researcher at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) where he contributes to the Digital Services Act (DSA) Observatory. Nicole H. Buckley is an Associate at K&L Gates’ Seattle office and a member of the Technology Transactions and Sourcing group. Moderated by Jessica Beyer, Assistant Teaching Professor and the Lead of the Jackson S...

Co-Funded by the European Union. Ambassador Michael Carpenter, formerly the Senior Director for Europe at the National Security Council of the Biden Administration, discusses challenges faced by the EU. This lecture was the EU Common Security Lecture at the 2025 Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union. | Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those o...

Co-Funded by the European Union. Dustin Ellis, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Eastern Oregon University, discusses the the 2024 European Parliament Election and Other 2024 Summer Elections. | Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Eur...

Co-Funded by the European Union Ambassador Mark Gitenstein US Ambassador to the European Union, 2021-2025 US Ambassador to Romania, 2009-2012 How is the EU accession process proceeding with Moldova, Ukraine and other aspiring entrants in the region? Ambassador Gitenstein will offer an assessment of the European Commission’s application of its various enforcement tools to ensure compliance by membe...

Co-Funded by the European Union. Deputy Secretary General of NATO Rose Gottemoeller gives the EUCOS Lecture at the 2024 Undergraduate Research Conference on the EU. | Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the...

Co-Funded by the European Union. Associate Professor Guntis Šmidchens, Director CEREAS and Head of Baltic Studies discusses the experience of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia in the European Union at the 2024 EU Policy Forum Educator Workshop. This annual workshop is organized at the University of Washington by the Center for European Studies and the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence. | Funded by the...

Co-Funded by the European Union. Dean LaRue, a lecturer at the University of Washington's Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, discusses the origins of the European Union and its development with special attention to the 2004 "Big Bang" accession of new EU Member States at the 2024 EU Policy Forum Educator Workshop. This annual workshop is organized at the University of Washington by...

An interview by Danny Hoffman, Director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington with Ilmari Käihkö, an associate professor of War Studies at the Swedish Defense University and a researcher at the University of Helsinki. Dr. Käihkö was a guest speaker at the UW for a public event titled, "Finnish/Nordic Perspectives on the War in Ukraine." Recorded in...

The virtual guest talk will assess the results of the May 18 first round of Poland’s presidential election. It is unlikely that any candidate will secure a majority, leading to a runoff on June 1 between Rafał Trzaskowski and PiS-backed Nawrocki. The vote reveals a fragmented political landscape, breaking the traditional PO–PiS dominance, with left-wing candidates collectively gaining notable supp...

Dr. Joyce Mushaben presents her lecture "The Art of Mainstreaming: Ursula von der Leyen in Pursuit of a Union of Equality" on May 25, 2022. Dr. Mushaben was at the time the CIDEU Scholar in Residence at the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies. This podcast was co-funded by the European Union.

The Double-Helix Entanglements of Transnational Advocacy: Moral Conservative Resistance to SOGI Rights in Europe Phillip M. Ayoub is a professor in the Department of Political Science at University College London and Editor of the European Journal of Politics and Gender. He is the author of three books, including When States Come Out: Europe’s Sexual Minorities and the Politics of Visibility (Camb...

Why do women of all socio-economic backgrounds accumulate less wealth than men? Why do marital separations impoverish women while they do not prevent men from remaining or becoming wealthy? In her new book co-authored with Sibylle Gollac, The Gender of Capital: How Families Perpetuate Wealth Inequalities (Harvard University Press, 2023), Céline Bessière answers these questions, drawing from ethnog...

Organized Muslim Women in Turkey: An Intersectional Approach to Building Women’s Coalitions This talk explores the politics of organized Muslim women in Turkey and analyzes their coalitions with other – secular feminist, Kurdish etc. – women’s movements from an intersectional perspective. It provides empirical evidence for significant changes in Muslim women’s politics under the ruling Justice and...

Guntis Smidchens presents his lecture, "Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian “New Idealism” for a Postimperial World" on Aug. 15, 2023. This lecture was part of the 2023 EU Policy Forum Educator Workshop. This teacher workshop is sponsored by the European Union, the UW Center for West European Studies & EU Center, the Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, the Center for...