Fourth HEIRS Conference, Institut d’Etudes européennes, Université Libre de Bruxelles, April 11-12, 2008

Deadline for 500 words abstracts: 14 December 2007

“European integration without integration of European societies?”

Beyond the political and economic history of European integration, a history of the growing social integration of European societies has become a necessity. Our aim is to tackle some interrelated topics which underline patterns of convergence and resistance related to labour, migration, and social policies in a historical perspective.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- The free circulation of labour has long been hampered by Member States, for instance through the persistence of bilateral accords. Did migration accelerate or slow down the process of European integration?

- How did the European construction and the recent enlargements, together with the unresolved question of Europe’s colonial legacies, challenge the European identity as a post-national construction?

- How did these issues, among others, become an object of social policies (e.g. working conditions, standards of living, housing conditions, regional and urban planning…)?

- How did the process of convergence of European societies influence the course of European integration? Or, on the contrary, to what extent has the process of European integration perpetuated or strengthened the divergent views of national social policies?

HEIRS aims to stimulate the dialogue between historians and scholars from other disciplines in the area of social sciences and welcomes their contribution to the conference.