CES is pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 Undergraduate Paper Prize! As winners of the prize, each winner is invited to present their work at the 2027 CES conference at Leiden University.
2026 Winners:
Curran Amster, Middlebury College
Paper Title: “España: Una, Grande y Libre” The Enduring Francoist Inheritance of the Spanish Civil War”
Curran Amster is a recent graduate of Middlebury College, where she majored in International and Global Studies with a focus on European Studies and a concentration in Spanish, alongside a minor in Religion. She graduated summa cum laude and received highest departmental honors for her senior thesis examining the historical relationship between Spain’s far right and regional nationalism in Catalonia and the Basque Country. She grew up in San Francisco, California and is currently interning in the Office of San Francisco Mayor Daniel L. Lurie and the San Rafael District Office of Congressman Jared Huffman. Outside of her academic and professional interests, Curran is a musician and dancer, who enjoys performing live with her band, and teaching guitar and piano lessons at Bird School of Music in San Francisco.
About the paper:
This paper examines the historical relationship between Spain’s radical far-right party Vox and regional nationalism, from the Spanish Civil War to the present. Since Spain’s transition to democracy in 1978, it was considered the exception to the wave of far-right movements that flourished in Europe after the 2008 economic crisis. That is, until Vox gained representation in the Andalusian Parliament in 2018. Spain’s far-right movement shares certain similarities with Europe’s broader far right, generally promoting Euroscepticism, the preservation of national identity, and opposition to collective reminders of Europe’s fascist past. However, this paper argues that, rather than a phenomenon unique to twenty-first-century politics, Vox can be understood as a continuation of Spain’s longstanding conflict over competing national identities, which came to a head at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
By tracing this relationship from the political crises preceding the Spanish Civil War through Franco’s dictatorship to Spain’s democratic transition, this paper identifies how the relationship between the far right and separatist movements in Spain was and remains a source of political polarization. Franco’s Spain treated Catalan and Basque nationalism as existential threats to national unity, and this sentiment is shared by Vox. The popularity of Vox’s platform, which promotes a unified nationalist vision, reflects Spain’s enduring need to address the tension between regional nationalist identities and the far-right vision of a Spain without them.
Mason De Vaul (Georgetown University)
Paper title: “Words into Weapons: How Shifts in EU Defense Discourse Recast the Union as a Necessary Security Actor”
Mason De Vaul is a senior at Georgetown University majoring in Government and Psychology. Originally from New York City, his interests include international law, human rights, and European security. In his academic work, he has approached these subjects through questions of state formation, political violence, and how institutions can safeguard civil liberties. He also studied abroad at Queen Mary University of London, where he further developed his interest in European and international politics. After graduating, Mason hopes to attend law school and pursue a legal career.
About the paper:
In recent years, growing geopolitical instability has intensified questions about the European Union’s (EU) role as a security actor and whether it is evolving into a more traditional defense role. This paper examines these dynamics by analyzing how official EU security and defense rhetoric has evolved, focusing on Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine as the turning point. Drawing on constructivist theories of discourse, framing, and securitization, the study employs qualitative discourse analysis of six representative documents of official EU policy language issued between 2016 and 2025. The analysis focuses on three domains of discourse: (1) unit of analysis, (2) degree of operationalization, and (3) acuteness of threat. Across all three domains, the findings reveal a clear shift from vague, future-oriented language before 2022 to more assertive, concrete, and urgent rhetoric afterward. Rather than claiming that evolving discourse is causing political integration, the paper argues that discourse functions as a constitutive arena in which political roles and authority are constructed and normalized. In this sense, the observed rhetorical shift reflects a reframing of the EU as a legitimate security actor, contributing to a political reality in which deeper integration is increasingly plausible.
2026 Honorable Mention
Meera Bhakta (University of Notre Dame)
Paper Title: “Understanding Irish Refugee Policy & Governance within the European Context”
Meera Bhakta is pursuing an MSc in Translational Oncology as a Naughton Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame (2026) with a degree in Science Preprofessional Studies and minors in International Development Studies and the Glynn Family Honors Program. Her research lies at the intersection of global health and ethics, focusing on how institutions and social structures shape the experiences of vulnerable populations and how public systems and policies can better respond to their needs. She has examined women’s health and healthcare decision-making in Ethiopia and India, and has studied refugee and migration governance in the European context. Across these areas, her interdisciplinary work explores the relationship between institutions, human dignity, and equitable access to care and resources.
About the paper:
This paper examines Ireland’s refugee and asylum policies within the broader context of European migration governance, focusing on the tensions between humanitarian commitments, institutional capacity, and growing nationalist sentiment. Drawing on European Union (EU) policy frameworks and political discourse, it traces Ireland’s transition from a country of significant emigration to one of net immigration, and assesses the development and contested reform of its Direct Provision system.
By comparing Ireland’s approach with those of other EU member states, the paper considers how a nation’s history, geography, and political pressures shape its response to displacement. Although Ireland has historically seen less pronounced anti-immigration mobilization than many European counterparts, rising asylum applications, housing shortages, and opposition to accommodation facilities have increasingly tested its humanitarian commitments. Ultimately, the paper argues that Ireland’s experience reflects broader ethical and political questions facing European democracies: how to balance domestic constraints with international obligations while protecting human dignity, social inclusion, and solidarity.