1st Politeia International Conference Proceedings - Europe at the Crossroads: Leadership, Challenges and State of Play

In this edition is included papers from the presentations, the booklet of our 1st POLITEIA International Conference and the book of abstracts. The first POLITEIA International Conference of Political Scientists took place at Zappeion Megaron in Athens, the capital of Greece, organized by the Hellenic Association of Political Scientist under the Auspices of H.E. President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Prokopios Pavlopoulos. Furthermore, it was held with the support of the European Commission (Representation in Greece), by the United Nations Regional Information Centre (UNRIC) for Greece and Cyprus and it was included in those actions using the emblem of the United Nations Academic Impact. Last but not least, this conference organization was supported by 21 partners such as academic institutions, academic laboratories, scientific associations, societies and youth associations.

In this Conference there were more than 150 distinguished speakers, such as Ministers, MEPs, MPs and Regional Governors, Professors, Researchers and International Experts from Universities, Research Centers, Institutes and International Organizations, who participate to an open dialogue mainly focused on Europe. The Conference language was both in Greek and in English and we provided live interpretation. The title of the Conference was “Europe at the Crossroads: Leadership, Challenges and State of Play”. We organized it around a series of topics about EU challenges and prospects for the future, in which among other was including EU Governance and Regional Development, Public Policy and Administration, Foreign Policy and International Relations, Politics, Sustainable Development and Energy Politics, Social Cohesion, Inequalities and Social Policy, Labour Market, macro-Economic Policy and Financial Markets and the role of EU to response to the multiple crisis of the last decade such as Economic and Refugee Crisis, EU integration etc.

The focus on Political Science combined with a structured interdisciplinary approach, provides an evidence – based framework for the multiparametric analysis of both the European state of play and the rising challenges at the supranational, national and regional level. Through the promotion of Civil Society engagement, and by maintaining cooperation with international and national institutions, the Hellenic Association of Political Scientists (HAPSc) was aimed to both cultivate the critical spirit of its members and acquire a more decisive role in the formulation of political decisions. Intending to expand its constant contribution to public debates through its scientific approaches, HAPSc organized this Conference, in which the aspiration was to formation into an interdisciplinary think tank platform, through which cooperation over current scientific and political issues can be possible. Acknowledging the multidimensional challenges that the European Union is faced with and being aware of the multidisciplinary character of those issues, the first International Conference “POLITEIA” aims to reflect both on the European Current Affairs and the constantly increasing challenges arising in the international system.