30 March 2008 deadline for the proposals.
Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be confirmed by 30 April 2008.

While confronting a certain sense of crisis in the management of immigrant diversity, many European countries are opting for a citizenship-based approach. The current debate might suggest that we are standing before an important change of direction. This political response is being used both as a re-active and as a pro-active perspectives. With the aim of contributing to this ongoing European debate, the objective of this seminar is the collection of research projects on this issue from a variety of perspectives. The seminar’s goal is tackling both the institutional and the normative aspects of EU citizenship policies and of those of other immigrant destination countries.

6 - 7 March 2008

The purpose of this seminar is to analyse the current dilemmas as regards universal service obligations in different service sectors, according to the latest research, and to debate the policies established in recent decades in Latin American countries. The aim is to establish productive dialogue between the current academic research projects on these issues by bringing together academics from different disciplines and regulators with long experience in the region and from different sectors of services that have been regulated.

The 2005-2008 Asia-Pacific Action Plan acknowledges that one of the Spanish government’s top priorities is to "support postgraduate Asian studies, training for translators and interpreters, research and increasing grants…" to prepare a future generation of experts on Asia. In accordance with these objectives, Casa Asia and the CIDOB Foundation are hosting a new round of these seminars which will be presenting the training courses, grants and aid available for students at the main institutions offering educational programmes related with the Asia-Pacific region.

Europe Lunch with Eneko Landáburu.

Though the Lisbon Treaty has rejected the proposed post of a Minister of Foreign Affairs for the European Union, it has taken a substantial step forward with respect to common mechanisms for the management of the Union's external relations. In a world that is increasingly multi-polar, Europe has to take a more active role in defending its interests, as well as the values behind the process of European integration. In this context, the Consell Català del Moviment Europeu and the CIDOB Foundation have invited the Director General of External Relations of the European Commission to speak at a Europe Lunch.

The presence of Chinese business and investment has grown exponentially in Africa in recent years, a factor that has made the debate on this dynamic an issue of inescapable current importance. China's growing role in the African continent - a fact that reaffirms the country’s desire to become a global actor - has important implications for the continent as well as for the policies of European governments, companies and organisations with a presence on the continent. Casa África and Casa Asia, in collaboration with the CIDOB Foundation, are to hold a round table discussion on this issue, which will feature experts of international renown and will also represent the institutional presentation of Casa África to Catalan civil society.

25 - 27 March

In current debates on colonialism, some authors make a distinction between colonialism and 'coloniality', the latter being understood as a historical phenomenon that is much more complex than colonialism, and which has lasted until the present. The concept moots the existence of a hierarchy of power that enables the re-production of relationships of territorial and epistemic domination that perpetuate exploitation and which, in turn, subordinate and minimise the knowledge, experience and ways of life of those who are dominated and exploited.

Framed within the context of Latin America, this cycle is comprised of three conferences in which different aspects of the de-colonial theory and geopolitics of knowledge will be analysed. The conferences form part of a wider series of activities that include the participation of the Complutense University of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Pre-enrolment on the 2nd Master's is open until 29 February

A unique, innovative, high-quality Master's Programme on the Euro-Mediterranean area devised with the aim of training professionals to be the new leaders with a genuine Euro-Mediterranean vision, and of promoting integration between Europe and the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean. The programme is promoted by the MAEM/MEMA network of universities and other academic institutions throughout the Euro-Mediterranean area, and which have worked together since 2001 with the support of the European Union programme Interreg III B MEDOCC. The course will be given in different cities, at the headquarters of the different organisations that belong to the network.