Ian Cooper
Ian Cooper is Research Fellow at the DCU Brexit Institute and Scientific Coordinator of the BRIDGE Network. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and previously worked in Oslo, Cambridge and Florence.
Activity
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Ian Cooper replied to David Hyett
Thank you for your comment. For your information the course was launched on 5 October 2020, and it was up to date at that point in time. It is true that the Brexit section of the course became out of date as a result of the trade agreement that was struck between the EU and the UK on December 24. These are the hazards of working on current events! We may in...
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Ian Cooper replied to John King
There is no need to apologize! I welcome your opinions. We may revise the course in future and so I am always looking for ways to improve it. Happy new year!
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Ian Cooper replied to John King
Thank you for your comment. We have striven to present the Brexit story in a factual and unbiased way, but of course it is possible we have fallen short. Can you give us a concrete example of where we have been biased?
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Ian Cooper replied to Katharine Jones
@KatharineJones
Dear Katharine, my thoughts are with you. I very much hope that all works out well for your friend. Come back anytime to finish the course! We are keeping it active until at least January 2021, so you have plenty of time.
Best wishes,
Ian -
Ian Cooper made a comment
Thank you and congratulations to everyone who made it to the end of the course! We really appreciate your continued engagement with the course material, your thoughtful comments and your interactions with your fellow learners!
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This is an interesting discussion!
The kind of populism that Helle Krunke is describing is right populism. I don't think that Sinn Féin would fit her definition of populism. But my point above is that some political observers and actors make the argument for that there can also be populism on the left and that Sinn Féin fits that definition. In fact, Eoin Ó... -
@MattScott @ElisaBird @HeatherP
Thank you for pointing out this mistake, and I apologize for the delay in addressing it! I assure you that I read all the discussion threads on this course but somehow I missed this comment. I will see that the PDF is fixed.
UPDATE: It has been fixed. -
@HeatherP
Thank you very much for alerting me to this error! I will make sure that it gets fixed. -
Ian Cooper made a comment
@JoséRicardoMartins
Thank you for your question! In this video Helle Krunke identifies populism as basically a right-wing movement. But there is actually an ongoing academic debate among political scientists concerning whether populism can also be left-wing. The difference is that whereas right-wing populism is more cultural, tending towards nationalism and... -
@JoséRicardoMartins
Thank you for your question! In this video Helle Krunke identifies populism as basically right-wing movement. But there is actually an ongoing academic debate concerning whether populism can also be left-wing. The difference is that whereas right-wing populism tends towards nationalism and the exclusion of immigrants and other minorities,... -
@KatharineJones
Yes, that is quite a good summary of the Euro-crisis!
The only thing I would add is that not all the blame should be placed on the US banks. The crisis in the US was the trigger, but it revealed fundamental weaknesses in EMU which were already there beneath the surface. -
@KatharineJones @KatieSummers
Thank you for your comment and question. Katharine is correct to point out that only Eurozone countries participate in the main bailout funds -- first the temporary EFSF and then the permanent ESM. And so the UK was not really involved in the bailout of countries during the Eurozone crisis.
Incidentally, the new Covid-19... -
@HeatherP @AnthonyRandall
Thank you very much for pointing out this error! I will see about getting it fixed.
UPDATE: It is now fixed. -
Great question raised by @PatrickByrne and @ThereseGrace. The answer is actually is little complicated but also very interesting.
The authority of the CJEU is sometimes direct and sometimes indirect. Its authority is direct when it is adjudicating a dispute between the EU institutions and/or the member states, such as in an infringement action, where the...
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Great question raised by @PatrickByrne and @ThereseGrace. The answer is actually is little complicated but also very interesting.
The authority of the CJEU is sometimes direct and sometimes indirect. Its authority is direct when it is adjudicating a dispute between the EU institutions and/or the member states, such as in an infringement action, where the...
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Very late answer to @PatrickLedwidge and @IsobelJ
We call it the Republic of Ireland in the Brexit context to make clear what we are talking about. Believe me, in EU circles, when talking about this political entity they just call it "Ireland" which is its proper name (in English) -
If you have made it this far, you are already registered!
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Ian Cooper made a comment
Great question raised by @PatrickByrne and @ThereseGrace. The answer is actually is little complicated but also very interesting.
The authority of the CJEU is sometimes direct and sometimes indirect. Its authority is direct when it is adjudicating a dispute between the EU institutions and/or the member states, such as in an infringement action, where the...
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Ian Cooper made a comment
I want to personally welcome you to Week 4, the final week of the course. Congratulations for making it this far!
This week is timely because we cover the Covid-19 pandemic and the EU response, as well as some reflections on the future of Europe.
I look forward to a constructive exchange of views with you.
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Ian Cooper replied to Riccardo Bernardini
Happy birthday Riccardo! I hope you find the course interesting and informative. Our other Lead Educator, Federico Fabbrini, is also Italian -- you will see he gives a number of short lecture videos throughout the course.
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Ian Cooper replied to Andre Woolgar
Hi Andre, it is great to hear from someone who came to one of our events! Unfortunately we have had to switch to having events online instead. Our next event (just announced) will be on November 26 at 3 pm with Thomas Byrne, Ireland's Europe Minister. Details to follow.
http://dcubrexitinstitute.eu/2020/10/beyond-brexit-the-conference-on-the-future-of-europe/
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Ian Cooper made a comment
Welcome everyone to Week 3 and congratulations for having made it this far!
We are particularly proud of this week because it covers two very important subjects, and one of which -- the Rule of Law crisis -- which has received less attention than the others. We try to show that this crisis is a problem for the whole of the EU and not just for the people in... -
@WimPelt Yes, next week we will talk about Covid-19 and the European response
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Yes! In Week 4 there is lots of material on the Covid crisis and the EU's economic recovery package.
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Ian Cooper replied to Keith Fenton
This is an interesting debate, and we will discuss Migration at much greater length in Week 3. For the record, we did think about the use of the term "migrant." To us it seemed a fairly neutral term, describing a person who moves across an international border. It is more general than refugee (which is a specific type of migrant). "Immigrant" to my mind...
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Ian Cooper made a comment
I am very impressed with so many thoughtful and insightful comments on this page. Keep them coming!
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Ian Cooper replied to Brian O'Toole
Why did Charles de Gaulle veto British membership of the EEC? His stated reason was geopolitical -- that the UK would tilt the EEC towards the USA. During the Cold War, De Gaulle pushed for an autonomous European strategic posture between the USA and the USSR, and he claimed that the UK was too Atlanticist (pro-USA).
However some (cf. Andrew Moravcsik) argue... -
Ian Cooper replied to John Cope
In general after the Brexit vote, public opinion in other EU member states showed a rise in the popularity of staying in the EU. Populist parties have generally moved away from a policy of leaving the EU (such as the Rassemblement National in France), reflecting the commonly held view that Brexit has been a mess. In Italy there was initially anger at the EU's...
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Ian Cooper replied to Joyce J
The UK has left the EU, and so is no longer represented in EU bodies. But all the EU rules still apply to the UK and will continue to do so until December 31, 2020. After that a new deal may be in force, but that is still being negotiated. The Withdrawal Agreement will apply no matter what -- it has already been agreed and entered into force -- but now the UK...
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Ian Cooper replied to Annette R
There is a bit more about the EP elections and the choice of Von der Leyen as Commission President in step 1.17.
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That is a mistake! Thank you for pointing that out. It has now been fixed.
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Great quote!
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Ian Cooper made a comment
Welcome to Week 2 of the course! I want to personally welcome all those who are continuing with the course, as well as everyone who has just joined.
I am the Lead Educator on the course, and also a co-creator, and so I am personally invested in making sure it is a success! If you think there are ways to improve it, please tell me.
I believe that as...
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Ian Cooper made a comment
Welcome to Week 2 of the course! I want to personally welcome all those who are continuing with the course, as well as everyone who has just joined.
I am the Lead Educator on the course, and also a co-creator, and so I am personally invested in making sure it is a success! If you think there are ways to improve it, please tell me.
I believe that as...
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Ian Cooper replied to Joyce J
I can answer your question about the backstop. It is quite complex as a legal matter but there are two main differences between the original backstop (from December 2017) and the final version in the 2019 Withdrawal Agreement. In the original version it was supposed to be a last resort/ insurance policy that would only kick in if no other solution could be...
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Ian Cooper made a comment
Good morning and welcome to all those who have joined the course. We hope you find it interesting and informative. I look forward to hearing your comments and questions!
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Ian Cooper made a comment
Good morning everyone. I am delighted to see new people joining the course. I want to welcome you and I very much hope you will find it informative and enlightening. If you like the course, please tell your friends and colleagues about it because we are trying to reach as wide an audience as possible.
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Ian Cooper made a comment
Paul's answer to Joyce is correct. I would just add the following point.
Prior to Brexit, people from all over the EU had the right to live and work in the UK. The fact that the UK was not in Schengen just meant that they had to pass through passport and immigration controls when they entered the UK. But it meant that the UK had stronger control over people... -
Ian Cooper made a comment
Good morning! I want to wish a warm welcome to all newcomers to this course. I hope you find it interesting and informative.
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Incidentally if the UK had asked to join before 1958 (when de Gaulle came into office) they probably would have got a much more positive reception. And sure enough they got a positive answer after de Gaulle left office in 1969.
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Good question (also asked by Brian):
Why did Charles de Gaulle veto British membership of the EEC? His stated reason was geopolitical -- that the UK would tilt the EEC towards the USA. During the Cold War, De Gaulle pushed for an autonomous European strategic posture between the USA and the USSR, and he claimed that the UK was too Atlanticist (pro-USA).... -
Ian Cooper replied to Cyril Mc Grane
Word of mouth -- wonderful!
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Ian Cooper made a comment
Good morning!
I want to welcome all newcomers to the course. I look forward to your comments. -
These are excellent points. We thought about including some of these but we decided that the focus of this course is to look at the story of Brexit more from the EU perspective rather than the British perspective. The questions in the Miller case (the powers of parliament) are constitutional questions internal to the UK, as are the questions regarding the...
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@LukeADSmith Yes, that it right -- see my reply
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We thought about including climate change as one of the crises that we would cover in this course. But when we first designed the course (pre-Covid) we had originally planned to just focus on the first four on the above list, for the reason that they were mainly European problems requiring a European solution. Climate change, by contrast, is a truly global...
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Ian Cooper made a comment
To me this result (so far) is fascinating. I'm not surprised that Covid-19 has the greatest number of votes, given that all of us are living through that crisis. But I'm surprised that Rule of Law crisis came in 2nd place. That issue is not in the news nearly as much as the others, and we don't cover it in this course until Week 3. Based on the comments I...
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Ian Cooper made a comment
I want to personally welcome all the learners on this course.
I am the Lead Educator on the course, and also a co-creator, and so I am personally invested in making sure it is a success! If you think there are ways to improve it, please tell me.
I believe that as educators we have an obligation to share expert knowledge in the public interest. Knowledge...
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Ian Cooper made a comment
I would like to warmly welcome you to our new course which launches today.
We have created it for anyone who is interested in learning more about the European Union.
I hope that you find it useful and informative. I look forward to meeting you and sharing an exchange of views.
