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Off-Site Event: On the Path to Political Power: Race and Representation in Europe and the United States

The event will address racial and ethnic minority representation in European politics, amidst changing demographics and growing tensions surrounding national identity, immigration, and terrorism.

Date & Time

Thursday
Jul. 19, 2012
11:00am – 12:00pm ET
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Overview

This event will be held off-site at Room 2456, Rayburn House Office Building
RSVP to European.Studies@wilsoncenter.org

The event will address racial and ethnic minority representation in European politics, amidst changing demographics and growing tensions surrounding national identity, immigration, and terrorism. Empirical data from Dr. Terri Given’s book on minority representation, voting behaviors, and advocacy in Europe will be discussed as well as recent changes in minority leadership in France following recent elections. Questions of whether minority political participation in Europe is increasing and its potential impact on the transatlantic relationship will also be addressed.

Opening Remarks: Congressman Alcee L. Hastings
Panel Discussion: Dr. Terri Givens, Professor, U-T Austin, and author and editor, Immigrant Politics: Race and Representation in Western Europe
Rokhaya Diallo, President, Les Indivisibles, and media personality, France
Moderator: Mischa Thompson, Policy Advisor, Helsinki Commission
Closing Remarks:  Nida Gelazis, Senior Associate, European Studies Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Alcee Hastings was first elected in 1992 and is currently serving his 10th term in the U.S. Congress. Mr. Hastings has distinguished himself as an attorney, civil rights activist, judge, and now Member of Congress. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, he became the first African-American Federal Judge in the State of Florida, and served in that position for 10 years. Mr. Hastings was elected to Congress as the first African-American from Florida since the post-Civil War period. Throughout his lifetime, he has championed the rights of minorities, women, the elderly, children, and immigrants. Among Congress’ most respected voices in international affairs, Mr. Hastings is Ranking Democratic Member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. In 2007, Congressman Hastings became the first African-American to chair the Commission and continues his work in the areas of human rights, economic development, and parliamentary diplomacy.

Dr. Terri Givens is an associate professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. An expert on global migration, immigration politics and anti-discrimination policies, her work focuses on Europe – specifically Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Her academic interests include the radical right, immigration integration and antidiscrimination. She is the author/editor of several books on immigration policy, European politics and security, including Voting Radical Right in Western Europe, Immigration Policy and Security and the upcoming ImmigrantPolitics: Race and Representation in Western Europe, (March 2012). She is affiliated with the LBJ School of Public Affairs, European Studies, the Center for Women and Gender Studies and the Center for African-American Studies. Dr. Givens has served as director of the Center for European Studies, the France-UT Institute, and the Robert S. Strauss European Union Center for Excellence, the Texas Language Roadmap and as co-director of the Longhorn Scholars Program. She has also served as vice provost – overseeing the university’s undergraduate curriculum and spearheading global initiatives as its chief international officer.

 Dr. Givens received her PhD from UCLA in Political Science in Comparative Politics and Methodology, her M.A. (also in Political Science) from UCLA and her B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University. She has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the German Marshall Fund, the Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Society, as well as numerous grants and fellowships allowing her to conduct extensive research in Europe. She is a member of the American Political Science Association, Council of European Studies, European Studies Association and International Studies Association and speaks French and German. A sought-after expert and speaker, she has lectured and served on panels at international and national conferences on topics as diverse as immigration politics, the radical right, elites and minorities, the globalization of public policy and how to obtain a book contract. A popular writer, blogger and social media enthusiast, Givens can be found online at http://www.terrigivens.com, via her blogs: http://givensimmigration.blogspot.com, http://givenseurope.blogspot.com, her column with Inside Higher Ed www.insidehighered.com/advice/running and on Twitter @TerriGivens. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Michael Scott and two boys, Andrew and Brandon.

Rokhaya Diallo is the founder and former president of Les Indivisibles, a French organization that uses humor and irony to fight racism and stereotypes. By raising awareness of these issues, Les Indivisibles seeks to engage the French public as well as government leaders in creating an alternative discourse. Ms. Diallo regularly contributes to RTL, the main radio station in France. She is also a columnist and commenter on the TV channels Canal Plus and i-Tele. She has her own cultural show on the youth radio Le Mouv'. Since september 2011 is co-directing “Egaux, mais pas trop” a series of reports about diversity issues in France for La Chaine Parlementaire (the parliamentary channel). She has been a guest speaker at several conferences in the U.S. and Europe. In March 2010, she was invited by the U.S. Department of State to take part in the International Visitor Leadership Program. She is currently the country, conducting research and lecturing on the topic “Managing ethnic diversity in the US.” Ms. Diallo is the co-author of L'Appel Pour une Republique Multiculturelle et Postraciale (Respect Magazine editions), of Un Troussage de domestique (edited by Christine Delphy - Editions Syllepse - September 2011) and La France Une et Multiculturellle which will be published (edited by Edgar Morin and Patrick Singaïny- April 2012 (Fayard). Her books include: Racisme: mode d’emploi, published in 2011 (Larousse) and A Nous La France published in 2012 (Michel Lafon). Her website can be found at: http://www.rokhayadiallo.com

Mischa Thompson is a Policy Advisor at the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission). Her portfolio includes tolerance and non-discrimination, migration and integration, and corporate citizenship issues within the 56 participating OSCE states, including the European Union. She also serves as an organizer of the annual Transatlantic Minority Political Leadership Conferences and seminal Black European Summit held in the European Parliament. Prior to being appointed to the Commission, Dr. Thompson served as a Professional Staff Member and Congressional Fellow within the U.S. House and Senate working on international racism, foreign policy, trade, economic development, and security issues. A Fulbright Scholar and National Science Foundation Fellow, Dr. Thompson holds a PhD from the University of Michigan, her research focusing on intergroup relations and socially disadvantaged populations in U.S. and Europe.

Nida Gelazis is Senior Associate of the European Studies Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. At the Wilson Center since 2003, she has worked on projects that relate to the European Union, EU enlargement; the legacies of the conflict in the Western Balkans; European Energy Cooperation, and the emerging questions of minority rights and migration in a changing European context. Previously, she was Managing Editor of the East European Constitutional Review at the University of Chicago Law School and at the Constitutional and Legislative Policy Institute in Budapest, and was the Research Associate for the East European Programme at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, at the European University Institute in Florence. She has published a number of articles and book chapters on democratic state-building, constitutionalism, judicial reform, EU enlargement, international migration and minority rights, and co-edited the book Cities after the Fall of Communism: Reshaping Cultural Landscapes and European Identity.

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Global Europe Program

The Global Europe Program addresses vital issues affecting the European continent, US-European relations, and Europe’s ties with the rest of the world. We investigate European approaches to critical global issues: digital transformation, climate, migration, global governance. We also examine Europe’s relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our program activities cover a wide range of topics, from the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE to European energy security, trade disputes, challenges to democracy, and counter-terrorism. The Global Europe Program’s staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media.  Read more

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