Fully Funded Summer Institute of Civic Studies | Diplomacy Opportunities

Summer Institute of Civic Studies

The Summer Institute of Civic Studies is an intensive, two-week, interdisciplinary seminar bringing together advanced graduate students, faculty, and practitioners from diverse fields of study. It is part of an effort to build a new inter-disciplinary field of civic studies, aiming to develop ideas helpful to citizens. The notions of civic ideals, civic competence, civic society, civic culture and nonviolent resistance all capture in various ways the perspective of this emerging field.

The Tufts Summer Institutes has been organized around the theme of the interaction of theory and practice. They have aimed above all to establish civic studies as a theoretically serious field.

The European Summer Institute incorporates in addition distinctly European topics, such as the European Union. But within the European Summer Institute, with its roots in Eastern and Central Europe, we have also introduced a deeper second theme. We aim to develop the civic perspective in the shadow of past totalitarianism and its horrors. We look at modernity as a venue of civic work, with special attention to the fact that modernity also produced Lenin, Stalin and Hitler.

The Summer Institute of Civic Studies deals with issues of development of civil society, the role of an individual/citizen in society, the role of education and the role of institutions in supporting, promoting and deepening democracy, and questions related to the ethical foundation of civic issues in a (democratic) society. These topics will be examined in international and comparative perspectives, considering European (especially German) and US-American civic traditions.

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International examples will be discussed in the context of consolidation of democracy in Eastern Europe, and in the context of the recent challenges of populism.

The Summer Institute of Civic Studies engages participants in challenging discussions such as:

• What kinds of citizens (if any) do good regimes need?
• What should such citizens know, believe, and do?
• Should we reformulate the project of democracy in response to the challenge of populism, and if so, how?
• What ought to be the relationships among empirical evidence, ethics, and strategy?

The Summer Institute of Civic Studies is being funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). All participants will be paid for their travel costs, accommodations, meals and full event access.

HOW TO APPLY

Click here to apply

For best consideration apply by March 1, 2018.

All application materials must be submitted in English. The application must include the following:

• A cover letter telling us why you want to participate in the summer institute and what you would contribute (maximum 2 pages)
• A curriculum vitae

All application material can be sent online or as an email attachment in DOC or PDF format to tetyana.kloubert(at)ku.de.

Decisions will be announced in April 2018.

The total number of participants will be limited to 20. We will consider applications from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Germany, Qazaqstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

We are especially interested in applicants who have a long-term interest in developing the civic potential of the region.

The working language of the Summer Institute will be English. Your mastery of the English language must be sufficient to read and understand complex texts from multiple disciplines, and to take part in a lively discussion.

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Read more on the Civic Studies Academy Summer Institute website