The Summer School “Cultural Dimensions of Politics in Europe” is a one week program for undergraduate and postgraduate students of various nationalities and academic backgrounds (political science, sociology, media studies, anthropology and cultural studies, behavioural sciences, gender studies) from all parts of the world. The program is designed for those who are interested in and would like to learn more about the cultural aspects of political institutions and processes.

The program is running since 2008 and attracted students from all over the world who were enthusiastic about Prague with its numerous cultural attractions and magic life-style. Our students were enjoying the lively and thought provoking atmosphere of the courses and benefited not only from formal classes but also from the possibilities of discussing their research interests with the teachers.

Here are some opinions of our students:

“Thank you so much for some excellent lectures and I think I can say confidently that we all had a fantastic week in Prague overall. The summerschool was so well organised and our group could not have been nicer and a more interesting bunch to discuss these issues with!” (Amy Busby, UK, CDPE 2009 student)

“... it was so beneficial and so intriguing that time went by quickly and I enjoyed it so much.” (Anikó Kurucz, Hungary, CDPE 2009 student)

In 2010 we aim at drawing closer attention to the cultural dimensions of political institutions and processes in Europe (e.g. policy making, political communication, migration and citizenship in the EU). The European Union has come ever closer to defining its finalité politique, yet how this political body will perform largely depends on identities, values and cultural imageries shared by its citizens. The objective of the program is to equip students with the most recent research findings on if and how contemporary European institutions and processes of Europeanization rely on values and deeply rooted cultural symbols which are capable of mobilizing people to action, (re)creating identities as well as rendering EU policies and politics legitimate. Why do people in the EU migrate? Why is the EU flag blue in colour and what do the twelve stars mean? In answering these and many similar questions, we suggest a bottom-up perspective, i.e. a focus on how these processes and phenomena are actually interpreted and experienced by social actors. Politics and policies of the EU are produced not only by the EU institutions but also through the commonsensical practices of people involved in them either insiders or a subjects. The program will pay particular attention to the construction of the political in the processes of communication that is fundamentally a cultural process. Thus, the program’s purpose is to discuss changes in the political culture throughout Europe.

The program’s ultimate goal is to allow students to broaden their possibilities of interpreting political phenomena. It is aimed at providing students with the knowledge and analytical skills in the area of cultural analysis of political events, processes and institutions. The distinguished lecturers from European and American prestigious universities will share their ideas with students; dialogue with experts, practitioners and fellow students on CDPE2010 issues will allow the participants to cultivate their knowledge in a motivating multicultural milieu.