Europe is a place of free movement among nations – or is it? The Schengen area, which was established in 1985 and today encompasses twenty-nine European countries, allows people, goods, and capital to cross borders without restraint. Schengen transformed European life, advancing both a democratic project of transnational citizenship and a neoliberal project of international free trade. But the right of free movement always excluded non-Europeans, especially migrants of color from former colonies of the Schengen states.
Join us for a virtual discussion on January 23 with Prof. Dr. Kiran Klaus Patel, Chair of Modern History at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU), and Young Leader alum Dr. Isaac Stanley-Becker, a National Security Reporter at the Washington Post and author of Europe without Borders. They will discuss the ideas behind the creation of the Schengen area and the opportunities and challenges it has created.
Prof. Dr. Kiran Klaus Patel holds the Chair of Modern History at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU) and is the Director of Project House Europe. Before joining LMU, he held chairs at Maastricht University in the Netherlands (2011-2019) and the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (2007-2011), and an assistant professorship at Humboldt University in Berlin (2002-2007). He has been (inter alia) a visiting fellow/professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales in Paris, the Free University of Berlin, Freiburg University, Harvard University, the London School of Economics, Sciences Po in Paris, and the University of Oxford. His teaching and research focuses on issues of European and US American history. Comparative, transnational, and global approaches are prominently featured in his work.
Dr. Isaac Stanley-Becker (2024 ACG Young Leader) is a National Security Reporter at the Washington Post. He has reported from across Europe and the United States. He received his PhD from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes scholar. His book Europe without Borders was published this month.
