Dr. Magda Giurcanu has a forthcoming paper in Party Politics with Petia Kostadinova (University of Illinois at Chicago). The paper is titled: “Europarties’ election pledges and European Commission legislative priorities: An assessment of their overlap”.

Abstract: Utilizing a newly compiled dataset, this article demonstrates that some election pledges made by the transnational Europarties are included among the European Commission legislative priorities issued during the pre-legislative stage. The dataset consists of 597 promises made by four transnational Europarties during the 2004 and 2009 European Parliament elections, and of 698 subsequent Commission intentions. Focusing on the time periods during the Barroso Presidencies, the article’s findings suggest that 1) Decision-making rules in the European Parliament help us understand which transnational pledges are included in Commission priorities; and 2) Promises by two Europarties: the EPP and ELDR, are more likely to be considered by the Commission than those of other parties. Our results speak to scholarly debates on the place of the Europarties in the EU inter-institutional relations and more broadly on the democratic legitimacy of the Union.

Party Politics is a peer-reviewed major, international journal that provides a forum for the analysis of political parties, including their historical development, structure, policy programmes, ideology, electoral and campaign strategies, and their role within the various national and international political systems. The 5-year Impact Factor of Party Politics is 2.41.

• Spend six weeks in a marvelous city — “Magic Prague” has something for everyone!
• Gain 6 credits that fulfill degree requirements in Political Science majors and minors, Security Studies program, and Russian Studies minor
• 3 ECU Political Science credits and 3 transfer credits from the Anglo-American University, our host institution– AAU offers a wide range of courses in the social sciences and humanities
• Excursions to Radio Free Europe, the Museum of Communism, Yalta Bunker, Czech Parliament, the US Embassy, Terezin, Cesky Krumlov, and Konopiste
• Enjoy affordable prices and student discounts in the heart of Europe!

Dr. Armin Krishnan will serve as a panelist at the Army Autonomy and AI Symposium of the Association of the United States Army on November 28 in Detroit on the panel Robotics, Autonomy, and Artificial Intelligence in Small Units.

Col. Robert Scott Barker (Ret.) will facilitate a town hall meeting at the VA Center in Greenville  NC on the 4th of December. The event will take place from 3:00-5:00 and all veterans are welcome to attend to talk with VA leadership about matters of concern.

The following students enrolled in the “Visegrad in the 21 Century” course taught by Dr. Magda Giurcanu, with Dr. Armin Krishnan as guest speaker, presented research posters at the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium (SNCURCS) hosted by NC State University in Raleigh on Nov 10, 2018.

• Andrew Li and Maya Gonzalez, “A comparison of the Involvement of Young People in the Czech Velvet Revolution and Tunisian Arab Spring”
• Spence Hodges, “The Current State of the Refugee Crisis and Immigration into V4 States”
• Alexis Newman and Kaleigh Calloway, “Anti-Communist Movements and Opposition to Communism Prior to 1989”
• Cady Willard and Deyanira Sanchez, “Communist Nostalgia in Hungary and Poland”
• Alexa Braithwaite, “Thersienstadt Labor Camp and the Propaganda behind it”
  Artis Destiny and Brown Wilson, “Russian Online Propaganda”

In addition, George Hendrix, mentored by Dr. Magda Giurcanu, presented the following research paper at the same conference: “The Roles of Social Media in 21 century Populism(s): US Presidential Campaigns”.

ECU’s students participation in the SNCURCS conference was made possible through the generous sponsorship of the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Visegrad International Fund.

The Student Chapter of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) of the MPA program is sponsoring a panel event on Monday, November 26, 2018 at 6:00 – 7:15 PM at Rivers W-105A. The event—which focuses on flooding, community resilience and sustainability, and local government capacity—will consist of brief presentations from our panelists followed by a question-and-answer session. Panelists include both ECU faculty members and local government practitioners.

competed in the National Model United Nations (NMUN) conference in Washington, DC from November 9-11, 2018. Students Kaitlyn Rose, Dustin Younts (MUN Club Vice President), Morgan Musumeci, Suramie Jlay, Molefi Henderson, Paula Acevedo, Menna Abdel-Salam, and Aji Njie (MUN Club President) represented the country of Saudi Arabia (pictured below with Faculty Advisor Marie Olson Lounsbery). Students collaborated with other student delegations from around the world to draft and pass resolutions dealing with issues of international importance, including climate change and food security, expanding protections for victims of gender-based violence, and the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS.

On November 1 Dr. Eamon was a guest on a live public radio special focusing on the 2018 elections and background in North Carolina. There were three segments in the one hour program. He was the guest on the first which focused on evolution of NC politics and speculation on 2018. Sponsored by WFAE in Charlotte and WUNC in Triangle, program was aired on most North Carolina public radio stations.

On Nov. 9, three political science faculty were honored at the 2018 Faculty Book Award ceremony for books published in academic year 2016-2017. Dr. Armin Krishnan was recognized for his Why Paramilitary Operations Fail (Palgrave Macmillan), Dr. Alethia Cook was honored for Terrorist Organizations and Weapons of Mass Destruction: US Threats, Responses and Policies (Roman & Littlefield), and Dr. Jody Baumgartner for The Internet and the 2016 Presidential Campaign (with Terri Towner, Lexington). Congratulations to all three!

Peter Francia and Jonathan Morris, on behalf of the Center for Survey Research, co-authored a report on the state of public opinion towards the legalization of sports gambling. The report generated press attention from several media outlets across the nation, including the Miami Herald, Kansas City Star, and Sacramento Bee, as well as from newspapers across the state of North Carolina, including The News & Observer of Raleigh and The Charlotte Observer.