International Conference

Consumerism and Environmentalism
in a Globalizing Europe

Friday, 14 October 2005
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
8417 Social Science Building
1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI
map

This conference is free and open to the public. Prior registration not required.

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CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION:

Historically consumerism and environmentalism have been alternative sites for exercising political power: before women had the vote, they could exert influence through purchasing choices; as of this writing (late September 2005) the German Green Party is being courted to help bring about a majority in the German parliament after a stymied election. This conference brings together scholars and public policy practitioners who focus on European consumerism and environmentalism to discuss how these vital political and cultural forces are changing due to European integration and enlargement.

Twentieth-century nationalizing projects affected how Europeans viewed themselves as purchasers and residents of the physical world. In specific national contexts, local and regional groups effectively hindered, or enhanced, national identity depending upon their own agendas. We will explore whether contemporary internationalizing projects in the expanding European Union are creating new sites for conformity, resistance and identification. For example, are modes of governance such as the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC) becoming the means through which consumers can expand their influence from single-action campaigns into broader political movements? The BEUC is composed of voluntary consumers organizations throughout most of the 25 EU member nations, which work as a unit to lobby decisions made in the global economy. The BEUC functions as a global political actor, making recommendations to the European Parliament and participating in the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue. And an environmental initiative, the Danube River project, offers green Europeans in 14 countries a site of mutual concern and social action.

In the course of the conference we will examine how these internationalizing projects are offering national constituents—whether Czech, German, or Slovenian—new ways of acting as distinctly European citizens. Are EU initiatives and directives contributing, albeit in subtle fashion, to the creation of a distinctively European identity? Or are national identities resurging under threats such as globalization and imposed EU regulation? Conference participants have been chosen because of their expertise on European public policy, the political history and the sociology of consumption and the environment. Topics include attacks on cherished “national” foodstuffs, rivers as sites of revitalized European identity and/or contention, the persuasive hidden power of consumption under communist regimes, the creation of “Europeanized” consumers and advocacy groups, and policies on land and water rights, their use and ownership.

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CONFERENCE PROGRAM:

Conference Convener & Moderator: Elizabeth Covington
(Executive Director, European Studies Alliance, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

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Sponsors:
Center for German and European Studies
Center for European Studies
European Union Center of Excellence

213 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706
Tel: 608.265.8032 | Email: european@intl-institute.wisc.edu | URL: http://europeanstudiesalliance.org