
Solidarity in Europe and the World
We think of solidarity as “the ability to engage in cooperative activity to strive for common goals, and a sense of unity and bonding” (Jeffries, 2014, p. 7). Following Mbembe’s lead, solidarity entails the mutual recognition of our common vulnerability and finiteness and in turn creates a basis for dealing with it.
In the multi-layered network of structures of living together, solidarity can find an expression at different levels and in a variety of intensities. The extent of solidarity that can serve as basis for collective action also arguably varies with the sources of vulnerability. These may vary from the human condition itself, in line with Mbembe’s cosmopolitan argument, to less inclusive definitions of “we” based e.g. on pre-existing “bonds which unite men with another”, as Durkheim (in Lukes, 1972, p. 139) or Sen (2009) would argue, or constitutional bonds, in line with Rawls or Habermas (Banting & Kymlicka, 2017, pp. 5-47, p. 3-4).
Historically, solidarity has come to be centrally anchored at the level of the nation-state, where the “nation” defines a “we” that claims to rule itself (Appiah, 2018, p.147) and that therefore also can both invoke national sovereignty to fend off external influences and, internally, justify the enforcement of particular entitlements and duties. Consequently, the predominant role of supra-national structures has been seen as merely to support national-level structures in fulfilling this role. This tradition is deeply rooted in European Humanism (Grotius in Nussbaum, 2019, pp. 105-55), which has been a rich source of inspiration not just to reflect on solidarity but also to justify a model of civilization imposed through colonization or other strategies of western domination.
Projects
SCRIBANI network
gathers 15 European Jesuit centres on the social construction of Europe
FUCE
UCSIA is part of the European Federation of Catholic Universities, which offers a summer school on European Humanism in the Making
Peace Education Chair
examines an aspect of peace in its manifold manifestations and subjects it to a scholarly multidisciplinary investigation.
News
Meet our new ELP fellow!
UCSIA welcomes Maria Cordero-Fernández from Nicaragua as the third fellow of the European Leadership Programme. She will join the UCSIA team for the coming year. UCSIA has supported this Jesuit Social Centre (JESC) programme since 2020. Maria obtained an international master’s degree in rural development in 2021 and will focus on the topic of food security.
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Scholarship Louis Bruyns
UCSIA finances a scholarship for a PhD student at a university in the Global South, who wants to spend a period at the University of Antwerp under the supervision of an entitled UAntwerp academic staff member. During his/her stay at UAntwerp, the student will also co-organize a public event on a topic of concern for the Global South!
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