University of Victoria professor Amy Verdun, political science, will give a lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 22 entitled “The Geopolitics of the European Union’s Single Market for Financial Services.” She will discuss crucial case studies highlighting geopolitics of the single market in financial services in the European Union.
In addition to her duties as a professor, Verdun is the founding director of the University of Victoria’s European studies program and chair of the Dutch Political Science Association. She has also served on the Steering Committee of the European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on the EU, is former president of the International Political Science Association Research Committee 3 on European Unification and is a former member of the European University Institute Alumni Association Executive Committee.
In the lecture, Verdun will examine the development and utilization of the single market, including its use as a weapon against challenges to European liberal democracy.
Verdun will examine three case studies. First, the events following the post-2008 financial crisis,in which the European Union used its status as a single market to try to rewrite the rules of global finance. Next, she will cover the Brexit negotiations, in which the entire bloc negotiated together against the United Kingdom to protect its integrity, and third, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where the EU weaponized its single market to levy heavy sanctions against Russia.
The lecture will begin at 4:30 p.m. and will be held in 224 Weill Hall or virtually via Zoom.
Additional support for the event comes from the Institute for European Studies, the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and the government department.