European Studies Centre events

St Antony's College - Investcorp Lecture Theatre

From crisis to crisis: Can Europe keep up - or change course?

Speaker: Comfort Ero

Date & Time: May 1, 2026, 5:00 pm

Comfort Ero brings her global perspective as President and CEO of the International Crisis Group to Europe’s mounting challenges, examining how changing power dynamics are transforming conflicts and security. Informed...
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St Antony's College - North Site, European Studies Centre - Seminar Room

Escaping from inequality: Is Europe trapped by history?

Speaker: Walter Scheidel

Date & Time: May 5, 2026, 5:00 pm

After rising during the early modern age European economic inequality greatly contracted from the 1910s to the 1970s, much as it did in other parts of the world. Even though...
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St Antony's College - North Site, European Studies Centre - Seminar Room

Can cultural life thrive under authoritarianism? Evidence from Greece, 1970-1973

Speaker: Stathis Kalyvas

Date & Time: May 7, 2026, 5:00 pm

Contrary to dominant narratives that portray cultural life in Greece under the Colonels’ dictatorship (1967–1974) as suppressed, this event features Stathis Kalyvas discussing his latest book, which reveals a surprising...
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St Antony's College - North Site, European Studies Centre - Seminar Room

Democratic commitment: Why citizens tolerate democratic backsliding

Speaker: Natasha Wunsch

Date & Time: May 12, 2026, 5:00 pm

Why do citizens often fail to act as effective bulwarks against democratic backsliding? Drawing on a recent monograph, this talk argues that political culture plays a key role in explaining...
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St Antony's College - North Site, European Studies Centre - Seminar Room

Reinventing liberalism: Europe’s project of freedom in an age of crisis

Speaker: Franziska Brantner

Date & Time: May 14, 2026, 5:00 pm

Europe’s idea of freedom, forged in the Enlightenment, remains an unfinished project. As Élisabeth Badinter observed, it is not a historical period but an ongoing endeavour. Today, that project faces...
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St Antony's College - North Site, European Studies Centre - Seminar Room

Let’s agree on Poland: Democracy, Division, and the Political Imagination

Speaker: Magdalena Baran, Karolina Lewestam, Ziemowit Szczerek

Date & Time: May 19, 2026, 5:00 pm

In 2017, over 130 Polish intellectuals, spanning the ideological spectrum, began meeting as the Social Contract Incubator, to design attempt institutions strong enough to hold disagreement. The result was Let's...
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St Antony's College - North Site, European Studies Centre - Seminar Room

Hungary after the election: Domestic change and European implications

Speaker: Zselyke Csaky, Zsolt Enyedi, Peter Kreko

Date & Time: June 2, 2026, 5:00 pm

This seminar explores the political and institutional implications of Hungary’s recent election, focusing on both domestic developments and their wider European significance. It brings together leading experts on Hungarian and...
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St Antony's College - North Site, European Studies Centre - Seminar Room

The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East

Speaker: Sean Matthews

Date & Time: June 4, 2026, 5:00 pm

Caught between wars raging in both Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Greece is an island of relative stability. Popularly considered the cradle of Western civilisation, this is a Christian...
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