The European Union: Past and Present

If you are a teacher in Virginia and want to learn about international relations and the European Union's role as a international government organization, then look no further than Virginia Tech, which has been newly honored as a Jean Monnet Center for Excellence. 

Jean Monnet Centers exist in only eleven colleges and universities throughout the United States. They function as "a focal point of competence and knowledge on European Union subjects, [bringing] together high-level experts to create links between the various disciplines and resources in European studies and to form links with academic institutions in other countries." In their essence, Jean Monnet Centers serve to educate American communities about the European Union and create dialogue around international issues. 

In this episode, Dr. Yannis Stivachtis, chair of VT's Jean Monnet Center, and Colin Baker, the Center's Assistant Director for Education and Outreach join Sam to discuss the history of the European Union, it's current challenges, and it's goals for 2021. 

If you teach anything relating to Europe, government, the modern world, or international relations, you MUST listen to this episode! 

(Plus, you'll love listening to Yannis and Colin's lovely European accents.)

Contact Colin Baker if you have any questions regarding the EU and Virginia Tech's Jean Monnet Center: cbakermcps@vt.edu 

Links for the episode:

The EU's Covid/vaccine response: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_2081

Lesson plans aimed at middle/high school on the issue of national/European/cultural identity: https://historia-europa.ep.eu/en/educators-teachers/classroom-activities/who-do-you-think-you-are-identity

Re: supranational organization vs inter-governmental organization, with the EU being a hybrid of both, a nice chart of that is on this page: https://carleton.ca/ces/eulearning/introduction/what-is-the-eu/extension-what-are-international-organizations/