Juan Díez Medrano (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid & IBEI) joins the GLOBE Webinar Series to discuss his new book, "Europe in Love: Binational Couples and Cosmopolitan Society" (Routledge 2020). A short discussion and a Q&A with the audience will follow the presentation.

The GLOBE Webinar Series – The Future of Global Governance – presents the latest and most cutting-edge research in global governance and gives audience members the opportunity to directly engage with leading scholars in the field. Each webinar focuses on a significant new book that has potential to shape future thought on global governance, featuring a presentation by the author, an intervention from an expert discussant, and a Q&A session with the audience.

Participation is free and the webinar can be joined from anywhere in the world. Access the GLOBE Webinar Channel and check the featured videos for the past webinars

About the book:  Inter-marriage both reflects and brings social change. This book draws on a unique survey of randomly selected samples of national and European binational couples to demonstrate that the latter are core cells of a future European society. Unrestricted freedom of movement has enabled a rise in the number of lower-class and middle-class binational couples among Europeans. Euro-couples fully integrate in their host cities but secure less support in solving everyday problems than do national ones, partly because of a relatively small network of relatives living close-by. Embeddedness in a dense international network and a cosmopolitan outlook also distinguish them from national couples. The book challenges the view of cosmopolitanism as exclusively middle-class and highlights contrasts between lower-class and middle-class binational couples. Furthermore, it shows that social cosmopolitanism among binational couples is not matched by a commensurate weaker national identification that would enhance support to a more federal Europe.

About the author: Juan Díez Medrano is Professor of Sociology at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) and Research Fellow at Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals. The focus of his research is the study of nationalism and European integration. His publications include Divided Nations (1995) and Framing Europe (2003).

Moderator: Kari Otteburn (KU Leuven)