En collaboration avec l'European External Action Service (EEAS), et sous le patronage de Josep Borrell, Haut représentant de l'Union européenne pour les affaires étrangères et la politique de sécurité et Vice-Président de la Commission européenne, l'Académie proposera ce 14 décembre de 17 h à 19 h la deuxième séance de son « Brussels International College ».

Le deuxième invité sera Thomas Meyer.

Uniquement en visioconférence. Le lien sera envoyé aux inscrits en matinée du 14 décembre.

Conference cycle 2021-2022

In the context of a complex and changing world, it is important to understand how the European Union articulates its values and interests with the common global challenges of the human kind. The Conference cycle 2021-2022 will address the main international political, economic and cultural challenges of the XXI century and the construction of a European Union common strategic culture through an open dialogue with outstanding scholars and highly qualified discussants coming from various cultures and world regions.

This conference cycle is jointly organised by the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium and the European External Action Service, under the patronage and effective participation of Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission. The conference cycle is co-chaired by Didier Viviers, permanent Secretary of the Academy, and Professor Mario Telò, who, as scientific director, will introduce the 2021-2022 program.

2nd Conference:
Universality of values and the cultural dimension of geopolitical competition

December 14th, 2021, 5-7 pm. Session 2 “Universal values in question: The cultural dimension of geopolitical competition”

Chairperson, Mario Telò, Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium

Lecturer, Thomas Meyer

Discussants, Dr Ling Wei, Prof. Ummu Salma Bava

Europe and its agenda are situated in a globalized but fragmented world, characterized by alternative cultures, multiple models of modernity, authoritarian regimes and possible civilization clash. To what extent do ideational diversities allow for multilateral convergences without shifting to closed relativism? How isolated and how communicative is the EU’s identity? How could a multidimensional dialogue with far and near abroad partners, beyond both Eurocentric arrogance and mere utilitarianism, combine the defense of EU’s values with the search for the conditions of multilateral alliances for the common goods?


The Lecturer:
Thomas MEYER is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Technical University of Dortmund and Editor-in-Chief of the political magazine, Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte. He studied Philosophy and Political Science with Profs Theodor W. Adorno, Karl- Otto Apel, and Jürgen Habermas he got his Dr. phil. degree from the Frankfurt University and his University Teaching Qualification from the Free University Berlin. He has held visiting professor and guest lecturer positions at numerous universities, particularly in East and Southeast Asia, including Todai University, Tokyo; Beida University, Beijing; and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India. He directed projects for the prestigious German Research Foundation (DFG) on such topics as political communication and the media (1995-2001), and the theory and practice of social democracy (2000-06). In the 1980ies he was an advisor to Willy Brandt. From 2000-07 he served as Academic Advisor to the European Commission for the Social Sciences and Humanities, and from 2004-08 he was a member of the GARNET Network of Excellence, funded by the European Commission.
Professor Meyer’s research focuses on the Cultural Foundations of Politics, comparative social democracy, European studies, mass media and politics, religious and political fundamentalism. Among his many books: The Theory of Social Democracy (Polity Press, 2007), Identity Mania. Fundamentalism and the Politicization of Cultural Differences and (Mosaic Books, 2001), Media Democracy (Polity Press, 2002), Die Identität Europas (Suhrkamp 2004). From 2016 - to 2020 he directed, in cooperation with Prof. Mario Telò, an international research project on “Multiple Modernities and Multilateral Convergence” at the Macao Institute of European Studies, the results of which have been published in 4 edited volumes by Routledge Publishers, London and New York: Multiple Modernities and Good Governance. London/New York: Routledge (2018); Regionalism and Multilateralism. Politics, Economics, Culture, (2019); Culture, Nationalism and Populism,(2020); and Towards A New Multilateralism. Cultural Divergence and Political Convergence? (2021).