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What is the meaning of Europe? - Michael Zantovsky launches a debate

As part of Europe, the very idea: exploring Europe as a philosophical concept and project, a conference that took place in Bristol on May 9 - 10, Michael Žantovský, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United Kingdom gave the keynote lecture, on “What is the Meaning Of Europe?”. (Video, 50 mins

One cannot escape today the refrain that Europe is in crisis: economic, social, political and environmental. Yet there is no consensus on what defines this crisis. Even the meaning of the subject, "Europe", is a matter of contention. It would seem that there is a neglected existential-political dimension of the crisis concerning Europe's identity, task, role in the world, and even whether it exists in the relevant sense. In response this project aims to investigate the idea of Europe as a philosophical concept and project. Michael Zantovsky's respondents are Teresa Pullano and Anya Topolski, and the event was introduced by Darian Meacham, conference organiser.

The event was held at the Watershed, Bristol, and sponsored by UWE Social Science in the City , the Royal Institute of Philosophy and UWE Philosophy. Video production by Joeffar.co.uk

UWE- Social Science in the City logo
UWE- Social Science in the City logo

Europe: the very idea, an openDemocracy editorial partnership supported by Social Science in the City, a public engagement initiative at the University of the West of England

openDemocracy Author

Anya Topolski

Anya Topolski is a FWO postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy of the Higher Institute of Philosophy at the KU Leuven, Belgium.

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openDemocracy Author

Teresa Pullano

Teresa Pullano is Marie Curie Fellow at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and teaching fellow at Sciences Po Paris. She has recently published La citoyenneté européenne, un espace quasi-étatique (Presses de Sciences Po, 2014) on European citizenship.

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openDemocracy Author

Michael Zantovsky

Michael Zantovsky was a founding member of the Civic Forum during the Velvet Revolution. He served as press secretary, spokesman and political director for the President Vaclav Havel. He founded the broadbased thinktank Programme of Atlantic Security Studies in 2003, and later returned to the Foreign Service, serving as ambassador to the United States, Israel and now the United Kingdom. He has translated more than fifty works of contemporary English and American literature into Czech. 

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