37 students participating in the teaching research project "20 Years of European Citizenship: Progress And Challenges" were welcomed by Mayor Sören Link. The ceremony took place on 29 October in the City Hall of Duisburg. The project under Oliver Schwarz is carried out in cooperation with the Europe Direct Information Centre of Duisburg and financed by Stiftung Mercator. Please click here for more information (in German).

For a common project of the Jean Monnet EU Research Group Oliver Schwarz looks out for a research assistant position (wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft). The application deadline is 15 November 2013. Further information can be found here.

Citizens of Duisburg have been interviewed by students of the Faculty of Social Sciences during the project weeks at the start of studies. The theme of the interviews was the European citizenship. The activities were led by Caroline Kärger, Oliver Schwarz, Theresia Smolka, Jennifer Stachowiak and Toralf Stark. The interviews are embedded in a common project with the Europe Direct Information Centre of Duisburg. The project is financed by Stiftung Mercator. Please click here for the press release (in German).

With the beginning of lectures the consultation hours of Oliver Schwarz will take place Tuesdays from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. beginning on 22 October 2013 and ending on 28 January 2014. To make an appointment, please click here.

On May 23, Oliver Schwarz took part in the debate "The Euro crisis - macroeconomic backgrounds, social consequences and political answers". The panel discussion was organised by the Chair of Didactics of Social Sciences. A short report (in German) can be found here.

The double democracy deficit of European security and defence policy: Paradox of a counterfactual legitimacy model of parliamentary control?

Is the Common Security and Defence Policy of the EU (CSDP) suffering from a democratic deficit? This normative discussion is approached through an exemplary analysis of the German, British and European Parliament as well as a categorization of the EU-27 that aims to provide a comprehensive answer to this central question. A single generally accepted model of parliamentary control of European security and defence policy does not exist. General conclusions about a democratic deficit of the CSDP are based on a counterfactual legitimacy model of parliamentary control, which falls short of taking into account the variety of historically grown perceptions and traditions of security and defence policy in the 27 Member States. Therefore, the democratic legitimacy of CSDP remains sufficiently guaranteed as long as the existing national procedures for parliamentary control are fully complied with.

To visit the ZParl's website, please click here.

On Friday, April 12, the third workshop of the junior research group "The challenge of legitimacy. Society and government under changed conditions" will take place. The focus this time is on informal institutions, governance and public administration in young and established democracies. An overview of the planned schedule for the workshop is available here.

With the beginning of lectures the consultation hours of Oliver Schwarz will take place Thursdays from 4 to 5 p.m. beginning on April 9, and ending on July 16. To make an appointment, please click here.

Oliver Schwarz' latest article "The Albanians in Macedonia and the Ohrid Framework Agreement" [in German] can be found in the anthology "Die Republik Kosovo – Der jüngste Staat Europas" recently published by Nomos.

Olaf Leiße / Martin Roth / Christian Gesellmann
Die Republik Kosovo - Der jüngste Staat Europas
Eine politische Bestandsaufnahme seit der Unabhängigkeitserklärung
Nomos 2013, 381 p., paperback,
ISBN 978-3-8329-7564-7

On March 20, Oliver Schwarz will held a lecture about "The enlargement of the EU. An all-purpose tool of European foreign policy" at the Europainstitute. The institute is the Center for European and International Studies at the University of Basel.

On March 5, Oliver Schwarz discussed with students on the topic "The dilemma of European integration: Deepening, enlargement, or both?". The workshop was organized in the context of the Spring School 2013 at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

On February 21, Oliver Schwarz held a lecture about "Germany and Europe" at the Radboud University Nijmegen. His presentation was part of the lecture series "Questions for the 21st Century".

The consultation hours of Oliver Schwarz during semester break are online available on Doodle. To make an appointment, please click here.

On Thursday, January 18, Oliver Schwarz attended the ceremony "50 years of the Élysée Treaty - Cérémonie 50 ans d'amitié franco-allemande" held in the plenary hall of the parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Further information about the ceremony can be found here.

On Wednesyday, January 16, Oliver Schwarz discussed on the topic "A Europe divided? Greece and Spain during the crisis" with pupils of the Bischöfliche Maria-Montessori-Gesamtschule Krefeld. To enter the website of the European School, click here.