16 DECEMBER 2013 — How did the public express their will regarding integration in the European Union in past and recent times? And what does this say about the general voting behavior in the EU?
Dr Jos Elkink from University College Dublin will match factual evidences drawn from history with theoretical explanations to look at the “Public opinion and Voting Behaviour in Europe” in his open lecture on Friday, 20 December at Peking University.
The history of public attitudes towards European integration will be described, with a focus on the history of European integration referendums. The behaviour of the public towards the elections for the European parliament will also be highlighted.
These attitudes and behaviour will be then interpreted in the light of theories, but empirical investigations to support them will also be offered.
20 December, Peking University, Leo KoGuan Building, Room 515, 15:10-18:00
The event is open to the public.
The activity is part of the course in European Studies for Peking University’s Master and PhD students given in collaboration between the European University Centre, the School of Government and the Centre for European Studies at Peking University, with lecturers coming from Peking University, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Autonomous University of Madrid, Lund University, University College Dublin and University College London.
A new series of open lectures organized by the European University Centre at Peking University will be launched again starting in March 2014.
Dr Jos Elkink works as Lecturer in Social Research Methods for the Social Sciences at SPIRe and the College of Human Sciences Graduate School since September 2007. He was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Harvard-MIT Data Center of the Institute of Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, where he consulted students and staff on the use of quantitative methods and software in their research. His PhD research project, at Trinity College Dublin, concerned the development of an agent-based model of the world-wide diffusion of democracy, combining insights from comparative politics, transition politics, international relations, and recent developments in computational research methods.
The study provides insights in possible explanations why countries that are surrounded by democracies have a higher probability of making a transition to democracy themselves. Currently, Dr. Elkink is involved in research concerning the estimation, interpretation and presentation of spatial econometric models with discrete dependent variables. His research interests include quantitative research methods, research methods for the social sciences in general, computational approaches, and democratization studies.
Full bio available at http://www.ucd.ie/research/people/politicsintrelations/drjoselkink/.
European University Centre at Peking University (EUCPU)
Room 204, Wei-Li Building, Tan Siu Lin Centre for International Studies
Peking University, Haidian District, Beijing, 100871
Tel: +86(0)10 6275 5387
Email: euc2009@pku.edu.cn
Website: www.lu.se/pkueuc
