GPIS Dissertation Defense

Old Dominion University

College of Arts and Letters

The Graduate Program in International Studies

Doctoral Dissertation Defense

VISEGRAD REVIVAL:  WHERE LESS IS MORE, IN THE PROSPECT OF SMALLER NUMBERS

 Aaron G. Sander

Having been rife with conflict, the regionalism born in Europe in the middle of last century was an attempt to bring greater cooperation to a continent.  For two generations, the Community of Europe has grown – now more deeply intertwined than ever and widened nearly to the edge of the continent.  Today, the European Union may be seen as an entity much greater than simply the sum of its parts, with its paradoxical notion of having “unity in diversity.”  And yet the discord emanating from such diversity that remains among its members does not lend itself to the solidarity necessary for increased integration.  In fact, even sustainment in its current form is questionable.  Criticism was justified beforehand; however, tensions have only been made worse by the ‘2008’ financial crisis, and the Crimean crisis; and, unfortunately, the road ahead is likely to continue to be bumpy.  This work will focus on the persistent divisions between Western Europe and East Central European states, and will discuss the latter’s rather unique position and whether their benefits from having joined EU outweigh the costs.  Its thesis is that a return to the cooperation and interdependence of Central Eastern Europe, of historic Visegrad, is in the better interest of the subregion, as well as wider Europe, than the panregionalism epitomized in the EU project.

Dissertation Chair:  Dr. Regina Karp

Dissertation Committee:         Dr. David Earnest

                                                                        Dr. Peter Schulman

BAL 7009

Thursday, June 2

10:00 a.m.

Sander-Dissertation Flyer.docx  (13.3 KB)

Posted By: Margo Stambleck
Date: Wed Jun 01 09:41:10 EDT 2016