My debate to take up boxing

I just finished watching Million Dollar Baby and NOW I get the controversy. I must be especially thick because I had missed all references to the ending and why Catholics were protesting the hell out of it!

In light of the Shiavo case, I am sure it’s only intensified people’s feelings. Decent movie, powerful story, but not sure it deserved all the accolades; just my opinion.



So I just sent off another bundle of paperwork for yet another scholarship. I seriously hope that all my referee’s work and my qualifications earn me some money! The £9,000 for tuition—read $18,000—added to my existing debt, is going to kill any chances of me ever owning property. Maybe I’ll take up boxing…


Sitting in Sala Café Bar on Broughton Street, I was reviewing the handbook and syllabus for my course work. Cover your eyes, HOLY FUCK, I have a lot of damn reading to do! I will never complain about not having enough to do again. To give you an idea, just for ONE week of ONE of the three classes I’ll be taking in the fall, the reading list to be prepared for class:


Week 2 Readings
p Allen, David, and Michael Smith (1998), “The European Union’s Security Presence: Barrier, Facilitator, or Manager?,” in The European Union in the World Community, Carolyn Rhodes, ed., 45-63. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
p Allen, David, and Michael Smith (1991), “Western Europe’s Presence in the Contemporary International Arena,” in The Future of European Political Cooperation: Essays on Theory and Practice, Martin Holland, ed., 19-39. London: Macmillan.
p Allen, David, and Michael Smith (1990), “Western Europe’s Presence in the Contemporary International Arena,” Review of International Studies 16, 1 (Summer): 19-37.
p Bretherton, C., and J. Vogler (1999), The European Union as a Global Actor, London: Routledge, Chapter 1, pp. 15-45.
p Cameron, Fraser (1998), “The European Union as a Global Actor: Far from Pushing Its Political Weight Around,” in The European Union in the World Community, Carolyn Rhodes, ed., 19-43. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
p Cosgrove-Sacks, Carol (2001), “The EU as an International Actor,” in Europe, Diplomacy, and Development, Carol Cosgrove-Sacks, ed., 3-28. Houndsmill, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
p Cremona, Marise (2004), “The Union as a Global Actor: Roles, Models and Identity,” Common Market Law Review 41: 553-573.
p Duke, Simon (2002), “Preparing for European Diplomacy?,” Journal of Common Market Studies 40, 5: 849-870.
p Duke, Simon (1999), “Consistency as an Issue in EU External Activities,” EIPA Working Paper 99/W/06.
p Ginsberg, Roy H. (1999), “Conceptualizing the European Union as an International Actor,” Journal of Common Market Studies 37 (September): 429-454.
p Ginsberg, Roy H. (2001), The European Union in International Politics, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, Inc., Chapters 1-3, pp. 1-55.
p Govaere, Inge, Jeroen Capian and An Vermeersch (2004), “In-Between Seats: The Participation of the European Union in International Organizations,” European Foreign Affairs Review 9, 2 (Summer): 155-188.
p Haaland Matlary, Janne (2004), “Human Rights,” in Contemporary European Foreign Policy, Walter Carlsnaes, Helene Sjursen and Brian White, eds., 141-154. London: Sage Publishers.
p Hill, Christopher (1993), “The Capability-Expectations Gap, or Conceptualizing Europe’s International Role,” Journal of Common Market Studies 31, 3 (Spring): 305-328.
p Hocking, Brian (2004), “Diplomacy,” in Contemporary European Foreign Policy, Walter Carlsnaes, Helene Sjursen and Brian White, eds., 91-109. London: Sage Publishers.
p Jorgensen, Knud Erik (2004), “European Foreign Policy: Conceptualising the Domain,” in Contemporary European Foreign Policy, Walter Carlsnaes, Helene Sjursen and Brian White, eds., 32-56. London: Sage Publishers.
p Jupille, Joseph and James A. Caporaso (1998), “States, Agency, and Rules: The European Union in Global Environmental Politics,” in The European Union in the World Community, Carolyn Rhodes, ed., 213-229. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
p Knodt, Michele, and Sebastiaan Princen (2003), Understanding the European Union’s External Relations, Routledge.
p Manners, Ian J., and Richard G. Whitman (1998) “Towards Identifying the International Identity of the European Union: A Framework for Analysis of the EU’s Network of Relationships,” European Integration 21: 231-249.
p Peterson, John, and Mark A. Pollack, eds. (2003), Europe, America, Bush, Routledge, Chapter 1, pp. 1-12.
p Peterson, J., and Sjursen, H., eds. (1998), A Common Foreign Policy for Europe?, London: Routledge, Chapters 1-2, pp. 3-36.
p Pollack, Mark A. (2001), “International Relations Theory and European Integration,” Journal of Common Market Studies 39, 2: 221-244.
p Pollack, Mark A., and Gregory Shaffer (2001), “Chapter 1,” in Transatlantic Governance in a Global Economy, Mark Pollack and Gregory Shaffer, eds. Rowman and Littlefield Press.
p Putnam, Robert (1988), “Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games,” International Organization 42: 427-460.
p Rhodes, Carolyn (1998), “Introduction: The Identity of the European Union in International Affairs,” in The European Union in the World Community, Carolyn Rhodes, ed., 1-17. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
p Sedelmeier, Ulrich (2004), “Collective Identity,” in Contemporary European Foreign Policy, Walter Carlsnaes, Helene Sjursen and Brian White, eds., 123-140. London: Sage Publishers.
p Sjostedt, Gunnar (1977), The External Role of the European Community, Farnborough, Saxon House.
p Smith, Karen (2003), European Union Foreign Policy in a Changing World, Cambridge: Polity Press, Introduction and Chapter 1, pp. 1-51.
p Smith, Michael E. (2004), “Toward a Theory of EU Foreign Policy-Making: Multi-Level Governance, Domestic Politics, and National Adaptation to Europe’s Common Foreign and Security Policy,” Journal of European Public Policy 11, 4: 740-758.
p Smith, Michael E. (2001), “Diplomacy by Degree: The Legalization of EU Foreign Policy,” Journal of Common Market Studies 39, 1: 79-104.
p Tewes, Henning (2001), Germany, Civilian Power and the New Europe, Palgrave Macmillan.
p White, Brian (2004), “Foreign Policy Analysis and the New Europe,” in Contemporary European Foreign Policy, Walter Carlsnaes, Helene Sjursen and Brian White, eds., 11-31. London: Sage Publishers.
p White, Brian (1999), “The European Challenge to Foreign Policy Analysis,” European Journal of International Relations 5, 1.
p White, Brian (2001), Understanding European Foreign Policy, Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave, Chapters 1-3, pp. 1-70.
p Whitman, Richard (1998), From Civilian Power to Superpower? The International Identity of the European Union, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave.
p Youngs, Richard (2004), “Normative Dynamics and Strategic Interests in the EU’s External Identity,” Journal of Common Market Studies 42, 2: 415-435.

p Readings on the US and European Integration
p Ellwood, David W. (1992), Rebuilding Europe: Western Europe, America and Postwar Reconstruction, London and New York: Longman.
p Featherstone, Kevin, and Roy Ginsberg (1996), The European Community and the United States in the 1990s: Partners in Transition, 2nd edition, London: Macmillan.
p Gann, Lewis Henry, and Peter Duignan (1998), Contemporary Europe and the Atlantic Alliance, Blackwell Publishers: Oxford.
p Grosser, Alfred (1980), The Western Alliance: European-American Relations since 1945, London: Macmillan.
p Gardner, Anthony Laurence (1997), A New Era in US-EU Relations?: The Clinton Administration and the New Transatlantic Agenda, Brookfield, VT: Ashgate.
p Lundestad, Geir (1997), “Empire” by Integration: the United States and European Integration, 1945-1997, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
p Milward, Alan (1984), Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1945-51, London: Methuen.
p Philippart, Eric, and Pascaline Winand, eds. (2001), Ever Closer Partnership: Policy-Making in US-EU Relations, Brussels: P.I.E.-Peter Lang.
p Pollack, Mark, and Gary Shaffer, eds. (2001), Transatlantic Governance in a Global Economy, Rowman and Littlefield Press.


Needless to say, I’ve already purchased a few books and started reading; they weren’t cheap either; I really need to look into this boxing thing…