23 Jan Didier Georgakakis–Business and Society Seminar

Posted at 13:49h in Business & Society Seminars by

March 27th, 2018 / 14:30 – 16:30 / Paris Campus (Room 2112)

For the 17th Business & Society Research Seminar, ESCP Europe & Sustbusy Research Center welcomes:

Didier Georgakakis

Professor of Political Science at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Belgium

for a presentation on his new book:

European Civil Service in (Times of) Crisis

Palgrave ed. 2017

“Didier Georgakakis’ study of the EU civil service elegantly dismantles polemical notions about “Brussels bureaucrats” and social science claims that bureaucrats are everywhere similar. He describes how EU civil servants formed themselves and were formed historically to “build Europe”. Recently they have been deconstructed and redefined to assist in managing globalizing neo-liberalism, however. Theoretically and methodologically, this excellent book reminds us that French political sociology has much to teach us how to understand today’s world.” (George Ross, Université de Montréal, Canada, Brandeis and Minda de Gunzberg Center for European Studies, Harvard Unversity, USA)

“While there is ample research on most of the institutions of the European Union, the civil service, i.e. the staff of the European Institutions, has been under-studied, in spite of their crucial role. This book helps to redress the balance.  It makes available in English the important work of Didier Georgakakis, who gives us a comprehensive view, integrating ethnographic observation with sociological theory, of the many challenges that have reshaped the European civil service and threatened its core values.” (Carolyn Ban, University of Pittsburgh, USA)

“There is little research on international officials, but this book shows what the civil servants of the European Union do, who they are and how their work is organized. It also reveals the managerial reform that has been going on since the late 1990s, with far from positive effects: an instructive and alarming book.” (Bob Reinalda, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands)

“Didier Georgakakis’ new monograph makes a major contribution to our understanding of the EU civil service and also sheds light on a so-far unacknowledged dimension of EU crisis. While it is an important book in academic terms, it also has implications for the practice of public policy and management in the EU specifically and in international organisations more generally.” (Michelle Cini, University of Bristol, UK)

Coordinating Professors:

Aurélien Acquier (aacquier@escpeurope.eu)

Valentina Carbone (vcarbone@escpeurope.eu)

For questions please contact Téréza Ponce (tponce@escpeurope.eu ).

For people outside ESCP Europe, if you wish to attend, please print this announcement and show it at the welcome desk.