Pictured: Emily (centre) and Ben (right) with Legal Studies MA student Jay Ramasubramanyam (left), who also presented at the conference.
EURUS MA students Emily Nickel and Ben Globerman presented a joint paper at a graduate student conference on “The State of the EU in Canada and in the Pacific Asia” at the University of Victoria, which took place May 25-27, 2016.
Their paper was titled “Norms in Crisis: Examining the Effects of Securitization on Political Discourse during Elections in Canada and the EU”. It examined the strategic deployment of human rights norms in recent elections in Canada and the EU, focusing on how the “flexibility” of normative language affects the securitization of refugees. Through their research, Emily and Ben hope to contribute to a better understanding of how electoral strategy may influence the manipulation of norms, especially in times of crisis or heightened political interest in humanitarian issues. They also assess the potential effects of such developments on refugee protection. Their travel to Victoria was made possible by a grant from the Carleton University’s Centre for European Studies (CES).
Check out a video about the conference here.