ITC Conference Grant – Dr. Ioanna Bantouna attended EISA PEC 2022

Dr. Ioanna Bantouna, within the framework of her post-doctoral research in the interdisciplinary field of international relations and international law (IR/IL) at the University of Piraeus, spoke and discussed about the future of International Studies at the 15th EISA Pan-European Conference on International Relations (PEC) in Athens (1-4 September 2022) entitled ‘Pandaemonium: Interrogating the apocalyptic imaginaries of our time’. Her participation promoted a wonderful opportunity for dialogue between experts of international and European studies in Europe and beyond, with the potential to contribute to teaching, research and academic objectives in the field. Her paper presentation explored challenges in EU neighbourhood and Western Balkans in relation to the EU Foreign and Security Policy, its Partners and Rivals in the 21st Century Section and how developments in this policy area relate to the key geopolitical issues directly affecting the EU in the world. She focused on aspects of EU negotiation dynamics, foreign policy, dispute settlement and Balkan cooperation through the interdisciplinary lenses of international relations (IR) and international law (IL) under the perspective that small States – due to their limited capabilities and based on their geographic location – face greater security risks than middle-sized States and superpowers regionally in case of miscalculation within a self-help system of anarchy. She addressed the implications for States’ behavior institutionally at a regional level in terms of the foreign policy of the EU as an actor of regional cooperation in relation to small States’ dispute challenges in the geographical area of the Europe’s Balkans and received valuable feedback in the field. She was also invited to an innovative new research programme in critical international studies as the Chair of an another panel in relation to the Popular Culture and World Politics Section, implying that popular culture and world politics are mutually implicated and building on a transformative, complex and multifaceted research agenda, which cuts across traditional divisions within International Studies.