Kacper Szulecki - Articles

 

Student of international relations and sociology at the Free University in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and the Warsaw University, Poland. Previously studied political science and psychology at the University of Oslo, Norway, and the Warsaw School of Social Psychology. Areas of interest include dissidentism, democratic revolutions, politics nad history of central Europe, theories of IR, sociology of social science and football.

Barbares Ante Portas! Explaining the European Union’s Eastern Enlargement

The question of recent Eastern enlargement of the European Union remains controversial among some groups in the “Old 15” member-states, seeing the new members as “barbarians at the gates” of civilized Europe. Why the EU decided to allow full membership of the 10 post-communist countries of "Eastern Europe"? Why did they choose this option over other forms of integration. I evaluate the usefulness of two approaches to European integration – liberal intergoverntalism and social constructivism. Read

By: Kacper Szulecki | 28/11/2008 | International Studies

D-day Evasion. European Day Against the Death Penalty Controversy: Underlying Conflict and the Democratic Deficit

The article analyses the recent controversy over the establishment of a European Day Against the Death Penalty - the interest groups, the standpoints of delegations, and the public opinion. The main argument is that very little is being done to address the problem of large public support for capital punishment in the EU, while much is said about the supposedly 'pan-European' resistance towards the death penalty. Read

By: Kacper Szulecki | 17/01/2008 | International Studies