14-15 October March, 2011
Conference:
Both Canada and the European Union (EU) are complex multilevel governance systems where authority is dispersed between orders of government ─ local, regional, provincial, national and supra-national ─ as well as across spheres and sectors including markets, stakeholders and citizens. Each political system uses different modes of governance, resulting in different degrees of effectiveness in policy-making and implementation.
Since 1996, Canada has made significant governance changes to social programs by devolving responsibility from the federal government to provinces and territories, or by reducing conditions on federal funding. While this has led to many positive outcomes and enhanced provincial and local flexibility, little attention has been paid to whether reforms are also needed to pan-Canadian institutions and processes to ensure that decentralized governance in Canada is working as effectively as it could.
This conference looks to the European Union (EU) for ideas on how Canada might improve collaborative governance in social policy. ‘Soft’ governance tools through the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) ─ including voluntary coordinated action, exchange of best practices, benchmarking, codes of conduct, and comparative analysis ─ help EU member states work towards pan-European goals and policy convergence while respecting their differences.
22 March, 2010
The University of Victoria will be hosting a Symposium next month, on 28 April (afternoon/evening) and 29 April (all day), on the theme
Democracy and Participation Symposium: What can Canada and the European Union learn from each other?
Speakers from all over Canada and the EU will be presenting. The format of this symposium is such that we encourage an active participation of academics, students, members of the policy community, the media, and the general public.
Participation is free, but we ask that you register in advance. More details about the Symposium and registration sign up details can be found here: http://web.uvic.ca/jmc/sym_about.php
Note that there will be two other major political science events in Victoria around this time: the European Community Studies Association - Canada (29 April-1May) and the British Columbia Political Science Association conference on 7-8 May.
21 March, 2010
New Jean Monnet Chair Ad Personam goes live (http://web.uvic.ca/jmc)
12 March, 2010
New book is published:
Ruling Europe: The Politics of the Stability and Growth Pact, with
Martin Heipertz, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; ISBN-13:
9780521197502, published 12 March 2010.
4 January, 2010
Professor Amy Verdun takes on the role of Chair of the Department of Political Science.
4 August, 2009
Professor Amy Verdun will be away from Victoria from August until the end of December 2009. She will be visiting professor at the University of Leiden, Department of Political Science. She is no longer the Graduate Advisor. For Graduate matters, please contact Professor James Tully (gradpol@uvic.ca). Whilst in Europe her email will remain the same.
24 June, 2009
Professor Amy Verdun has been awarded the Jean Monnet Chair Ad Personam from the European Commission. Worldwide twenty-five of these prestigious awards have been granted in this year’s competition. Amy Verdun is the only Canadian recipient, and the first to hold such a Chair in Canada. The list of results in this competition can be found here.
19 June, 2009
Prof Michelle Cini, University of Bristol, UK and Prof Amy Verdun, University of Victoria, Canada will be taking over as editors of the Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS). The term of the outgoing editors, Jim Rollo and Daniel Wincott ends in summer 2010. Professors Cini and Verdun will be gradually taking over this role, starting summer 2009, so as to ensure continuity.
Although JCMS has been in existence for 47 years, it is the first time that women editors have been appointed. More information about the journal is available here. JCMS has been the flagship journal of the UK based University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) www.uaces.org.
29 May, 2009
New Publication by Amy Verdun:
Special Issue of Journal of European Public Policy. Ten Years if EMU: What Have We Learned in Political Science, Guest Editors Henrik Enderlein and Amy Verdun. Volume 16 Number 4, 2009. Routledge, Taylor & Francis, ISSN 1350-1763
6 April, 2009
Amy Verdun is awarded the UVic Craigdarroch Silver Medal for Excellence in Research.
23 December, 2008
New Books by Amy Verdun:
Innovative Governance in the European Union: The Politics of Multilevel Policy-Making in the European Union (2009), Ingeborg Tömmel and Amy Verdun (eds), Boulder: Lynne Rienner publishing, forthcoming January, ISBN 978-1-58826-639-2 (HB); ISBN 978-1-58826-614-9 (PB), 370 pages.
Globalization, Development and Integration: A European Perspective (2009), Pompeo Della Posta, Milica Uvalic and Amy Verdun (eds), Houndmills: Palgrave-Macmillan, forthcoming, January, ISBN 978-0-230-55401-6, 368 pages.
The European Union and Asia: What Is There to Learn?, Amy Verdun (ed.) (2009), New York: Nova Publishers ISBN-10: 1604565365; ISBN-13: 978-1604565362. (Reprint. Previously published as Special Issue of Current Politics and Economics of Asia, Vol 17 No 1, pp. 1-265).
21 December, 2008
South East and Eastern Europe Countries EU Accession Quandary: An International Conference
The conference will run from 16 - 17 January, 2009. For more information please visit the conference website here
21 December, 2008
Welcome to Amy Verdun's new website which will be her new permanent online presence. For those of you looking for course material and contact information, the necessary links are provided under the "University of Victoria" section accessible through the main menu.
