JCMS
12 Apr 2023
Blog
EU Digital Single Market Governance: More Public-Intervention, More Responsibility
In the 1990s, European policymakers argued that “the creation of the information society in Europe should be entrusted to the private sector and to market forces” (European Council, 1994). In this regard, the European Union’s (EU) market integration has often been portrayed as nothing more than a Trojan horse of neoliberalism.
JCMS
5 Apr 2023
Blog
How to Choose a Good Boss? Committee Coordinators in the European Parliament
Committee group coordinators are some of the most influential Members of the European Parliament (MEPs): they manage committees’ broad policy agendas, ensure the positions of their European Party Group are coherent across different policy initiatives and maintain high levels of voting discipline at plenary votes.
JCMS
16 Mar 2023
Blog
Labour Migration – a Stop-Gap Solution to the EU’s Deficit of Elder Care
In April 2022, the European Commission (EC) declared that it plans to attract more labour migrants to the European Union (EU). This is a response to the challenges posed by the demographic ageing of the EU, as people are living longer and having fewer children. Those who had traditionally taken care of the elderly – their female relatives – are increasingly unable to do so due to employment obligations.
JCMS
23 Jan 2023
Blog
The Mobilisation of EU Market Power: Drivers, Limits and Future Prospects
The EU is currently mobilising its market power through a range of new policy tools. Examples include the Climate Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAM), the International Procurement Instrument and the Anti-Coercion Instrument. The general aim, as explained in the EU’s trade policy review and the recent industrial strategy, is to make the EU stronger, more assertive and more geopolitically relevant.
JCER Vol 19 No 1
17 Jan 2023
Research Article
The Iconsistency of Czech Presidential Diplomacy and the Growth of Czech Foreign Trade with China
This paper analyzes the relation between the diplomatic activity of Czech presidents and the economic trend of bilateral trade between the Czech Republic and China during 1993-2019.
JCER Vol 19 No 1
17 Jan 2023
Research Article
Financial compliance in Cohesion Policy: how to protect the EU financial interests from domestic fraud
This article addresses the following research question: How did Member States fight fraud in cohesion policy by taking preventive measures during the period 2014-2020?
JCER Vol 19 No 1
17 Jan 2023
Research Article
On framing the EU
This article makes the case for conceptualisation of attitudes towards the EU as interpretative ‘frames’, to be employed as analytical tools for comparison within and between European countries.
JCER Vol 19 No 1
17 Jan 2023
Research Article
Socialising the European Semester? The limited influence of Danish social partners on EU policymaking
While some researchers argue that social policy continues to be subordinated in favour of the economic imperative, others observe a partial but progressive socialisation, both in terms of EU policy outputs and the governance procedure. This article contributes to this debate by providing a national perspective.
JCER Vol 19 No 1
17 Jan 2023
Research Article
To Tie Each Other’s Hands: Italy Negotiating the Introduction of Constitutional Balanced Budget Rules and Independent Fiscal Institutions (2010-2013)
This article presents an in-depth qualitative case study on the negotiations underlying the introduction of an Independent Fiscal Institution and a Constitutional Balanced Budget Rule in Italy.
JCMS
10 Jan 2023
Blog
Why We Need to Understand How EU Governments Communicate About Borders
In March 2020 EU governments unilaterally began closing state borders in an ad hoc reaction to the rapid spreading of SARS-CoV-2. Within a few days, one after the other announced that border crossings would be suspended until further notice. These executive decisions gave us pause: democratic governments are required to communicate and justify their decisions to maintain legitimacy.
JCER Vol 18 No 2
15 Dec 2022
Research Article
In Search of Epistemic Justice in the EU’s Periphery: A Research Synthesis of EU–Turkey Studies
This article provides a systematic mapping of the evolution of EU–Turkey studies from 1996 to 2020 in order to explore the degree of epistemic diversity featured in the discipline as an indicator of epistemic (in)justice.
JCER Vol 18 No 2
15 Dec 2022
Research Article
Teaching EU Law in the periphery: Outlook in Turkey
This study extensively reviews the EU Law curriculum in Turkish higher education institutions and further draws conclusions on the state of this curriculum as compared to the general EU courses.
JCER Vol 18 No 2
15 Dec 2022
Research Article
Europeanization Through Education: Promoting European Studies In Eastern Partnership Countries
The paper discusses the educational dimension of Europeanization in EaP countries from three interrelated perspectives - social constructivism, the Foucauldian concept of governmentality and a post-structuralist reading of centrality and marginality.
JCER Vol 18 No 2
15 Dec 2022
Research Article
Teaching the European Union in Brexit Britain
This contribution to the Special Issue focuses on how we might incorporate ‘peripheral thinking’ on the EU, with a particular focus on teaching the EU at a ‘new periphery’: in Brexit Britain.
JCER Vol 18 No 2
15 Dec 2022
Research Article
Teaching European Integration in Italian Upper Secondary School
The present paper examines how curricula and textbooks portray the integration process in upper secondary school. It focuses on the position they attribute to Italy in different phases and the extent to which they use recent findings of historiography.
JCER Vol 18 No 2
15 Dec 2022
Research Article
Introduction: Teaching and Learning ‘Europe’ in ‘the Periphery’: Disciplinary, Educational and Cognitive Boundaries of European Studies
This introductory article argues that there is a need to introduce a renewed approach to the field of European Studies which takes into account various perspectives from the ‘periphery’ to unfold complexities and challenges of teaching and learning ‘Europe’ away from the immediate geographical and conceptual focus of the European studies.
JCMS
3 Nov 2022
Blog
As Open as Possible, as Autonomous as Necessary – Understanding the Rise of Open Strategic Autonomy
The liberal international order on which Europe’s trade policies were built is increasingly contested. Even before the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there were signs that Europe’s ‘geopolitical holiday’ was over, from growing concerns around technological and economic dependence on rival powers to trade becoming an essential tool in great power politics.
JCMS
1 Nov 2022
Blog
High-quality Institutions Insulated EU Economies during the Pandemic
In our article for the Journal of Common Market Studies, we analyse quarterly data on economic growth and show that institutional quality, measured using the World Bank Governance Indicators and the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom Index, helped to moderate the economic shock, thus contributing to the divergence among EU countries.
JCMS
18 Oct 2022
Blog
The Populist Capture of Hungarian Foreign Policy Institutions: On the Way to De-Europeanisation?
With the rise of right-wing populism in Europe, scholars of EU foreign policy have become increasingly interested in the relationship between populism and foreign policy. Yet, we still know little about what happens to foreign policy institutions when populist parties join governments.
JCMS
13 Oct 2022
Blog
The Case for a Post-Imperial EU Foreign Policy in a Post-Western World
Given this rapidly changing foreign policy context, we have argued in our recent article with JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, that a reckoning with Europe’s post-imperial reflexes is required. Not only because it is the ethically right thing to do, but because it is also the best pragmatic choice for the EU to remain relevant in a multiplex world.
JCER Vol 18 No 1
11 Oct 2022
Research Article
Sir Julian Priestley (1950-2017), Secretary General of the European Parliament, 1997-2007: A case study of a consequential senior European Union civil servant
Despite a growing body of academic literature about the European Union’s public administration, there is a dearth of studies about the most senior managers in the institutions, the Secretaries-General.
JCER Vol 18 No 1
11 Oct 2022
Research Article
Looking for the ‘Social’ in the European Semester: The Ambiguous ‘Socialisation’ of EU Economic Governance in the European Parliament
By discursively exploring the EP reports on the European Semester for the 2014-19 term and analysing the conflicts between political groups and between the EP committees, the article argues that the EP takes an ambiguous and contradictory position on the relationship between economic and social governance and does not provide a real alternative to the status quo.
JCER Vol 18 No 1
20 Sep 2022
Research Article
Evolutionary Stable Global Orders: Co-Relational Power and Multilateral Security Organisations
Drawing on a Foucauldian philosophy of thought, this article proposes the concept of co-relational power, substantively understood as non-zero sum (positive) power – i. e. the power of one actor is not detrimental to the power of another actor, but it is instead a sum of cooperative interactions between actors.
JCMS
29 Aug 2022
Blog
The New EU Industrial Policy: Smart Specialisation Fortifying Capitalist Unevenness
The Treaty of Rome in 1957 did not mention industrial policy as a designated Community competence but its preambles declared a high degree of competitiveness an overarching goal, which indirectly laid the basis for a supranational intervention. Industrial policy has been a key pillar in the gradual reconfiguration of several national markets into one giant single market at the outset but it vanished in name during the decades of neoliberal restructuring.
JCMS
25 Aug 2022
Blog
Why Does Ukraine not Adjust to EU Transport Rules?
On 23 June 2022, the European Union granted Ukraine and Moldova the coveted status of EU Candidate countries. For both countries, the acquisition of an EU Candidate status amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine is of high geopolitical but also symbolic importance. Nevertheless, Ukraine’s and Moldova’s path to EU membership is likely to be thorny, as they have much “homework” to do.
JCER Vol 18 No 1
18 Aug 2022
Research Article
The Queer Necropolitics: Experiences of LGBTQI+ Asylum Claimants During Covid-19 in the UK
The aim of this article is to discuss how the covid-19 pandemic exacerbates inequalities and social isolation by examining the UK Government approach to providing asylum claimants’ access to safe accommodation and health services on the one hand, and charities support of particularly lesbian, gay, bi- and trans-sexual, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) claimants to gain/sustain access to social spaces and social support on the other.
JCER Vol 18 No 1
18 Aug 2022
Research Article
Glass Cliff and Brexit: Theresa May’s legacy as Prime Minister
This article explores the paths that lead May to this position, based on the glass cliff literature. Then, May’s brinkmanship strategy on Brexit is analysed in light of Complex Adaptive Systems’ approach to crises.
JCER Vol 18 No 1
18 Aug 2022
Research Article
Pathways to the EU: An Analysis of German EU Youth Policy Coordination
In the light of domestic coordination processes in federal states, this article deals with the interplay of domestic governmental and non-governmental actors in the development of a German position for negotiations in the EU youth policy field.
JCMS
18 Aug 2022
Blog
National Parties in the EU — Identifying Four Ideal Types
Although an increasing number of political decisions are taken at the European Union (EU) level, national politics remains the prime arena for democratic debate. This deprives the EU of a key source of democratic legitimacy, while showing how national politics are increasingly ‘ruling the void‘. In my article for JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, I argue that national political parties can provide a solution to both challenges by organisationally linking the national and European levels.
JCER Vol 18 No 1
18 Aug 2022
Research Article
Achieving Ambitious Positions in Multilateral Chemicals Negotiations: How does the European Union influence the Negotiation Outcomes?
This paper explains the influence of the European Union (EU) in multilateral chemicals negotiations. Focusing on the Basel Convention, this paper studies two issues negotiated at the Conference of the Parties 2019.
JCMS
15 Aug 2022
Blog
Regional Technological Capabilities & Access to H2020 Funds
In recent years, regions have steadily increased their relevance as key spatial and socio-economic units as well as policy targets of both cohesion and Science and Technology (S&T) policies. Regional innovation strategies for smart specialisation, such as the RIS3, have become a key component of EU Cohesion Policy, supporting the thematic concentration of resources and reinforcing the strategic programming and orientation of policy action.
JCMS
22 Jul 2022
Blog
Discourse Theory and the EU’s Trade Response to COVID
‘Autonomy’, ‘sovereignty’, ‘self-sufficiency’, and ‘protection’ were the talk of the town, and politicians who had ended 2019 wanting to open markets found themselves promoting the ‘reshoring’ of production to safeguard ‘vulnerable’ supply chains. At least on a rhetorical level, the change that COVID provoked in EU Trade Policy was sudden and profound.
JCMS
21 Jul 2022
Blog
Talking or Punishing? The European Commission’s Approach to Democratic Backsliding
Ever since Hungary and Poland started backsliding on democracy and the rule of law in 2010 and 2015 respectively, academics and practitioners alike have racked their brains over one central question: How can the European Union make noncompliant governments enforce European core values such as democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights?
JCER Vol 18 No 1
19 Jul 2022
Research Article
European Union health policy after the pandemic: an opportunity to tackle health inequalities?
Drawing on changes underway in the public health, internal market and fiscal governance elements of EU health policy, this paper explores the potential for the post-pandemic EU health policy framework to better support the reduction of health inequalities.
JCER Vol 18 No 1
19 Jul 2022
Research Article
Actor-Networking European Union Mental Health Governance, 1999-2019
This analysis reveals the Commission’s central but not independent role in EUMHG’s survival, and illustrates how different kinds of actors held ‘expert’ roles in EUMHG depending on the way in mental (ill) health was problematised in EUMHG.
JCER Vol 18 No 1
19 Jul 2022
Research Article
Paradiplomacy and its Impact on EU Foreign Policy
The article has two parts. In the first part, we present three ways cities and regions can influence EU foreign policy. In the second part, we set out the opportunities and challenges that arise from the paradiplomatic activities of sub-state actors.
JCER Vol 18 No 1
19 Jul 2022
Research Article
A Hollow Victory: Understanding the Anti-Immigration Shift of Denmark's Social Democrats
This article analyses the effects of political systems, ideology and polarisation, as well as issue salience and framing on party strategies.
JCMS
18 Jul 2022
Blog
In Networked EU Health Cooperation, Some Members Are More Equal than Others
COVID-19 put health policy in the European Union (EU) high up on the political agenda. Since the pandemic hit Europe, heads of states, health ministers and experts have increased their collaborative efforts to mitigate its effects.
JCMS
15 Jul 2022
Blog
Issue Hierarchization on the European Council Agenda
In an article recently published in JCMS, I propose the framework of issue hierarchization to identify not only the most important problem but also the position of all issues on the entire agenda. This enables us to follow the path of a particular item from a long-term perspective to identify how the issue gets on the top of the agenda and how the position of issues influences the entire agenda-setting dynamic.
JCMS
13 Jul 2022
Blog
The European Semester: An Ordoliberal Construct?
Almost a decade after the last major reform of the European fiscal framework, Eurozone decision-makers have recently engaged in a discussion about the revision of fiscal rules. The pandemic is said to have changed the landscape of European economic policymaking. It has forced policymakers to embrace expansionary fiscal policies to address the diminished economic activity caused by the disruptions in supply and demand.
JCMS
12 Jul 2022
Blog
The Role of Parliaments in the Coming About of the EU’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime
If EU foreign policy continues to be dominated by the Member States, how can we explain the long-lasting activism of (national, cross-level and European) parliaments in EU sanctions regimes? Why did parliaments of different levels engage in the EU’s human rights sanctions regime if they lack explicit competences to shape EU foreign policy? Why did parliaments invest so much time and energy into a project that was unlikely to yield many fruits?
JCMS
11 Jul 2022
Blog
What Does the EU Mean to Dutch Citizens?
Opinions on the European Union (EU) cannot easily be put on the commonly used left-right spectrum. Take the Yellow vests, for example, who are explicitly Eurosceptic but do not affiliate themselves with specific political leanings, or take the constituencies of pro-EU parties, who are by far not always enthusiastic about the EU.
JCMS
8 Jul 2022
Blog
Obstacles to Limiting Financial Systemic Risk in the EU
The 2007-9 financial crisis and the subsequent Eurozone debt crisis posed an existential threat to the single currency and even the European project as a whole. Financial imbalances that had built up in the decade were at the heart of both crises.
JCMS
14 Jun 2022
Blog
Withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention Undermines Turkey’s European Vocation
Europeanization, the impact of European integration on domestic policies, processes, discourses, and institutions of both member and candidate states, is a hot topic. As an integral part of its enlargement process, the European Union (EU) has used the accession negotiations as leverage to promote economic reform as well as democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in candidate countries moving towards EU membership.
JCMS
13 Jun 2022
Blog
Are EU Institutions Really Green?
European Union (EU) leaders introduced the bloc’s most comprehensive plans yet to combat climate change. Unveiled by the European Commission, a dozen of directives would make the bloc’s goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050. The EU institutions are better placed than national governments to set green standards but, are they as green as they said?
JCMS
31 May 2022
Blog
The Curious Non-Stalemate of EU Trade Policy: Progression Amidst Contestation and Deadlock
Through some complex Belgian constitutional settlement, the Belgian regions sometimes have to grant the federal government their fiat to sign international agreements negotiated by the EU. In this case, it’s the Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
JCMS
20 May 2022
Blog
Economic Sentiment Deepens European Monetary Integration
Our paper focuses on several aspects of European monetary integration that have insofar been quite neglected in the literature. Even if the current composition of the EA is an OCA, how well do the future euro adopters fit into the OCA concept? Second, is it possible that the general business cycle synchronization is a mere by-product of synchronicity among the economic sentiment cycles?
JCMS
11 Feb 2022
Blog
Why Do some Labour Alliances Succeed in Politicizing Europe across Borders?
As we show in our new JCMS article, which compares European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECIs) of European trade union federations, popular counter-movements are not necessarily constrained by national silos and nationalist outlooks. But under what conditions are labour alliances succeeding or failing in politicizing EU policymaking across borders?
JCMS
26 Jan 2022
Blog
Corporate taxation in the EU: From politicization to policy change
In our article for JCMS, we explain this policy change by exploring the recent politicization of corporate taxation in the EU. In a politicized context, the proactive agency of EU supranational actors in close interplay with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) emerged as the driving forces behind this change.
JCMS
21 Jan 2022
Blog
How does the ‘Migration Crisis’ impact on EU Relations with African Countries?
In 2015, the EU declared a ‘migration crisis’ and signalled an intention to take swift and determined action in response to migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. By the end of 2015, the number of migrant arrivals and first-time asylum applicants in the EU reached over 1.25 million applications.
JCMS
21 Jan 2022
Blog
The European Decade of Crises - Responsiveness and Responsibility
The last decade for Europe is one that was marked by multiple crises. Between 2009 and 2019, the term austerity dominated every discussion about the economy. The dominance of austerity in the Eurozone crisis years created the impression that there was something fundamentally different compared to previous episodes of politics in hard times.
JCMS
19 Jan 2022
Blog
Neither in, nor out: How the Eurozone crisis gave rise to Disobedient Euroscepticism
In a recent article for the Journal of Common Market Studies, I argue that a new type of Euroscepticism, which transcends this dichotomy, emerged in the context of the Eurozone crisis of the previous decade. I call it Disobedient Euroscepticism.
JCMS
19 Jan 2022
Blog
Populist Radical Right in the European Parliament: a New Force?
Our study tests the coalition-building potential of PRR forces in the area of EU widening, one of the two central dimensions of European integration. Our focus lies on discursive mobilisation: have PRR MEPs been able to develop a cohesive and distinctive narrative on EU enlargement?
JCMS
22 Dec 2021
Blog
How France and Germany created the EU corona recovery fund
The article stresses the decisiveness of France and Germany – the Union’s “big two” – their tight bilateral political cooperation, and their crucial role in EU politics.
JCMS
21 Dec 2021
Blog
European Commission’s Agenda-setting Influence
Who sets the European Union’s policy agenda? The complex nature of the EU’s legislative process, combined with the lack of a clear hierarchy among the core EU institutions, means that it is hard to disentangle the policy contributions of different institutions and determine which one is ultimately responsible for the legislative priorities of the Union.
JCMS
20 Dec 2021
Blog
Deal or No Deal: Revisiting Theresa May’s Brexit Defeat
With the provisional entry into force of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the dust is far from settled on the Brexit process. And yet the culmination of the formal stages of talks on the terms of withdrawal and the future relationship.
JCER Vol 17 No 4
17 Dec 2021
Research Article
Fostering the Political Participation of EU Non-national Citizens: The Case of Brussels
Focusing on Brussels, and in the general on the Belgian case, offers us the opportunity to carry out a quasi-experimental design. Our findings suggest that a mobilisation campaign has a positive regionwide effect on the participation of mobile EU citizens.
JCER Vol 17 No 4
17 Dec 2021
Research Article
Crafting Emotions: The valence of time in narratives about the future of Europe in the Council of Europe (1949)
How are emotional narratives used to mobilise support for or opposition against policy ideas about the institutional set-up of European integration?
JCER Vol 17 No 4
17 Dec 2021
Book Review
Framing TTIP in the European Public Spheres: Towards an Empowering Dissensus for EU Integration
By applying this concept to the public debate on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Oleartshows that concerted civil society action can radically transform the nature of public conflict on European issues.
JCER Vol 17 No 4
17 Dec 2021
Research Article
‘We thought we were friends!’: Franco-British bilateral diplomacy and the shock of Brexit
In this article we analyse the impact of Brexit on the FBBR to date, including the likely aftershocks. We focus on the 2017-2020 Brexit negotiations themselves, and on the matters that escaped those negotiations but which are core to the FBBR namely: security and defence; borders and migration.
JCER Vol 17 No 3
10 Sep 2021
Research Article
Steps towards a European Fiscal Union: Has the Revised Stability and Growth Pact Delivered so far?
By leaving the majority of the countries with high levels of deficit and public debt, the two crises have shown that the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is indeed an unfinished project where the monetary union alone is not sufficient to safeguard the entire EU economy.
JCER Vol 17 No 3
10 Sep 2021
Research Article
Assessing the Impact of Party Identification in Transnational Election Campaigns: Evidence from the 2019 European Parliament Election
Since the introduction of “Spitzenkandidaten” for the presidency of the European Commission, elections to the European Parliament have been characterised by the dynamic between an increasingly transnational election campaign and a national electoral process.
JCER Vol 17 No 3
10 Sep 2021
Book Review
African Europeans: An Untold History by Olivette Otele
The bookAfrican Europeans: An Untold Historyeducates the reader on thiscrucial missingaspectby detailingtheinfluences and activities of Blacks in Europe and how theycontributed to what Europe is today.
JCER Vol 17 No 3
10 Sep 2021
Research Article
Security Communities in Crisis: Crisis Constitution, Struggles and Temporality
How do we approach a security community in crisis? This article theorises crisis dynamics in and on security communities. How do security communities evolve during crises, and how can we best approach such crises analytically?
JCER Vol 17 No 3
10 Sep 2021
Research Article
The Progressive Gendering of the European Union’s Economic Governance Architecture
This study shows the correlation between the European integration process and the progress of gender equality objectives. In particular, it focuses on the effectiveness of economic governance tools to enhance coordination between national policies towards gender equality.
JCER Vol 17 No 3
10 Sep 2021
Research Article
The Difficulty in Engaging the Engaged: Administrative Adaptation to the Early Warning System within the UK Houses of Parliament
This article applies a mixed-methods approach through semi-structured interviews and document analysis to provide a comprehensive account of administrative and behavioural adaptation within the UK Houses of Parliament (HoP) to the EU’s subsidiarity monitoring mechanism, the Early Warning System (EWS).
JCER Vol 17 No 3
10 Sep 2021
Research Article
Parties in the ‘Twilight Zone’: Beyond First and Second-Order Elections for the 2019 European Parliament Elections in Spain
While most research has analysed election-orderness by looking at electoral behaviour, this article looks instead at political parties and political programs in the case of the Spanish 2019 European elections.
JCER Vol 17 No 3
10 Sep 2021
Commentary
Ahead of the 55th Anniversary of UACES: Where is the Academic Interest in the Association?
UACES is an influential association of European Studies. It is an intellectual platform that allows the co-creating of Europe and defining of the future of European Studies.
JCMS
24 Aug 2021
Blog
Independence of the ECB and the ECJ: from active leadership to rubber-stamping?
The eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis proved to be one of the most challenging tasks European policy makers had to face. Political-ideological, democratic, institutional and other constraints prevented the euro area governments from putting an abrupt end to it simply by increasing integration into the fiscal area.
JCMS
24 Aug 2021
Blog
Independence of the ECB and the ECJ: from active leadership to rubber-stamping?
The eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis proved to be one of the most challenging tasks European policy makers had to face. Political-ideological, democratic, institutional and other constraints prevented the euro area governments from putting an abrupt end to it simply by increasing integration into the fiscal area.
JCMS
16 Aug 2021
Blog
The jury is still out on the Economic Partnership Agreements
The negotiations and implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and the 79 countries forming the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) – a group of developing countries largely sharing a colonial past with EU members – were conflict-ridden from the beginning.
JCMS
21 Jul 2021
Blog
The European Union and the international governance of securitisation in finance: from foe to friend?
In the world economy, the European Union (EU) is often portrayed as a ‘market power’, able to leverage the large size of its internal market and its considerable regulatory capacity to influence international trade negotiations and shape global market regulation.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Research Article
Mad Marx? Rethinking Emotions, Euroscepticism and Nationalism in the Populist Left
Through an analysis of Podemos in Spain and the UK Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn, I show how the lines between the postnational EU, the national sovereign, and the popular sovereign are frailer than previously thought.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Research Article
Technocracy and the Tragedy of EU Governance
The tragedy of EU politics being trapped in technocratic governance as condition of the possibility and calamity of coop-eration at the same time is analytically at the heart to understand contemporary approaches of EU (dis-)integration and identity.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Commentary
Return of the Nation-State? De-Europeanisation and the Limits of Neo-Nationalism
This commentary analyses the view that the resurgence of nationalism will lead to the return of the nation-state and an accentuated de-Europeanisation. I argue against this position.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Research Article
Foundations of Regulatory Choice: Precaution, Innovation … and Nonviolence?
The reconciliation of precaution and innovation, we argue, is effective only in a context of social trust about the reconciled definitions. We propose the analytical and normative framework as seal of social trust.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Research Article
Technocracy Revisited: the Polish Security Dispositif and Ukrainian Migration to Poland
The article investigates the reaction of the Polish technocratic security dispositif to the arrival of Ukrainian migrants in Poland between 2014-2020. It contributes to the studies on securitisation and on technocracy.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Commentary
Technocratic Planning and Political Strategies: Territorial Policy in the EU
This commentary examines the EU’s halting development of territorial policy, most recently in macro-regional planning, and the responses of member states’ local and national governmental elites.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Introduction
The Limits of EUropean Legitimacy: On Populism and Technocracy. Introduction to the Special Issue
This article introduces the special issue on populism and technocracy in the integration and governance of the European Union (EU), framing these opposing approaches in the context of polarised debate on the (il)legitimacy of the EU.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Research Article
Euroscepticism between Populism and Technocracy: The Case of Italian Lega and Movimento 5 Stelle
This paper analyses the digital communication of Italian parties Lega and Movimento 5 Stelle during their campaigns for the European Parliament elections (January-May 2019).
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Research Article
‘People like that cannot be trusted’: populist and technocratic political styles, legitimacy, and distrust in the context of Brexit negotiations
As systems of communication, this article argues, populism and technocracy possess dramatically different logics of argumentation, modes of communication and meaning-making, distinct narratives, with appeals to distinct sources of legitimacy.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Introduction
The EU as a Choice: Populist and Technocratic Narratives of the EU in the Brexit Referendum Campaign
The article investigates the main populist and technocratic narratives employed in the campaign in the run-up to the 2016 British EU referendum.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Research Article
Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law Conditionality
This article explores how national executives in Serbia and Bulgaria address European Union (EU) rule of law conditionality by framing it within the populism/technocracy dichotomy.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Commentary
From ‘Brexhaustion’ to ‘Covidiots’: the UK United Kingdom and the Populist Future
This paper approaches the radical right as emblematic of British politics’ shift from centrism towards polarised factions defined not by party but by support or contempt for technical governance.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Research Article
(De-)legitimating Differentiated (dis)integration in the European Union: Between Technocratic and Populist Narratives
This article aims to deal with the differentiation/legitimation nexus in the EU and shed light on the politics of differentiation, while empirically examining legitimating and de-legitimating practices of differentiation as revealed in technocratic and populist narratives produced by major political actors in France, Poland and the United Kingdom.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Research Article
Can citizen science increase trust in research? A case study of delineating Polish metropolitan areas
We assess the relationship between citizens’ participation in scientific research and public trust in research results within social sciences. We conduct an online citizen science quasi-experiment concerning the delineation of metropolitan areas of Poland’s two major cities.
JCER Vol 17 No 2
26 Jun 2021
Book Review
Transregional Europe
The book explores the transregional dimension of both the conception of European spatial planning as well as the activity and praxis of transnational collaboration in Europe.
JCMS
22 Jun 2021
Blog
New Partners? The EU and China in international climate governance
In current international climate governance many eyes are on the EU and China as two of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Since the Trump administration announced the US’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement their relationship in the climate realm has changed considerably.
JCMS
22 Jun 2021
Blog
The Council ‘repairs’ EU transparency rules informally
Analyses of EU transparency traditionally focus on its legal development with little attention to informality. In such accounts, the Council of the EU is routinely understood as an obstructionist force blocking the expansion of transparency, only to be strong-armed into concessions by external pressure.
JCMS
14 Jun 2021
Blog
The Visual Politics of the European Union
The political controversies associated with the visual presence of the European Union (EU) have a longer history than the EU itself. This is evident in the unwieldly processes of designing and adopting common symbols including the EU flag, passport, currency and the visual diplomacy of ‘family photos’ of EU leaders.
JCMS
1 Jun 2021
Blog
Hijacking Europe: Counter-European strategies and radical right mainstreaming
Nativist visions of a Europe’s Union opposed to the EU belong to a classical inventory of radical right (RR) parties. However, an antithetical redefinition of Europe where ‘the image of Europe as a shining city perched on the hill of perpetual peace, social welfare, and inalienable human rights is replaced with the cry of ‘“Europe for Europeans”’ is only one part of RR strategic toolbox.
JCMS
17 May 2021
Blog
Invited politicisation? Exploring the roles of Civil Society Organisations in politicising EU-Western Africa relations from the outside-in
Today’s political reality of populist movements, geopolitical competition and disinformation has inspired an emerging scholarship on politicisation in EU external policy. Yet most of these recent contributions on EU external policy focus on politicisation processes within the EU.
JCMS
14 May 2021
Blog
How the Past and the Future shaped the European Defence Fund
The core argument of our JCMS article Sociotechnical Imaginaries of EU Defence: The Past and the Future in the European Defence Fund is that the EDF is better understood as an outcome of a long process through which certain beliefs about defence technologies and industrial innovation became institutionalised in some EU networks, particularly within the European Commission.
JCMS
21 Apr 2021
Blog
The European Union Global Strategy and the limits of resilience in the case of Belarus
In order to condemn the violence of the regime and to support the people opposing Lukashenko, the EU has put in place a two-level strategy which employs standard hard power instruments in regards to the leadership and a strategy inspired by the EUGS in regards to Belarussians.
JCMS
20 Apr 2021
Blog
Elites and the public in EU integration: the case of the refugee crisis
In the last twenty years, a heated academic debate about the role of the public in EU integration has emerged. Among the so-called ‘grand theories’ explaining EU integration, the impact of EU citizens has largely been perceived as marginal or even ineffective.
JCMS
20 Apr 2021
Blog
The stalemate of transatlantic liberalization: It started before Trump
In the immediate aftermath of the election of Joe Biden the European Commission proposed ‘A new transatlantic agenda’. This ambitious plan emphasizes that together the EU and the US ‘have the reach to set regulations and standards that are replicated across the world’.
JCMS
19 Apr 2021
Blog
Fights over European Union competences are dominated by ambiguity and self-interest
In my article, I revisit the key theoretical claims made by Jupille in his seminal book. What I am chiefly interested in is to find out whether his ideas still hold water in the 21st century, or whether political scientists should discard them as out of date.
JCMS
19 Apr 2021
Blog
How do imposed sanctions impact firms?
Last week, the European Union agreed to impose new sanctions on Russia in response to the attempt to poison the opposition activist Alexei Navalny and his jailing upon return to Russia. Immediately afterwards, Russia threatened to respond in kind.
JCMS
6 Apr 2021
Blog
Is the European Union a complex adaptive actor?
Since its creation, the European Union has aimed to become a key international actor, promoting regional integration, democracy, the rule of law and human rights through its numerous international development programmes around the world. Yet, we should not forget a complementary dynamic that is as important as the EU attempts to diffuse its own institutional practices and values.
JCMS
23 Mar 2021
Blog
Why does the European Union act externally on higher education?
Why would one want to understand the conditions that have allowed for the establishment of the European Union’s (EU) external higher education policy?
JCMS
22 Mar 2021
Blog
(De)politicizing the migration development nexus in Europe
On 25 November 2020, in a surprising move away from its previous positions, the European Parliament voted in favour of making European Union (EU) aid conditional to developing countries’ compliance with migration management measures.
JCER Vol 17 No 1
10 Mar 2021
Research Article
Democratic Legitimacy and Soft Law in the EU Legal Order: A Theoretical Perspective
With the aim to provide a normative direction for future empirical assessment of EU soft law, this article explores the democratic credentials that EU soft law measures should fulfil to ensure their legitimacy.
JCER Vol 17 No 1
10 Mar 2021
Research Article
Member States and Audible Communication within the EU Council Working Groups
The article confirms the effect of socialisation on oral communication as well as the influence of structural factors such as member states’ power and the character of the document under discussion.
JCER Vol 17 No 1
10 Mar 2021
Book Review
Citizenship in the European Union: constitutionalism, rights and norms.
Review of Anne Wesemann (2020). Elgar studies in European law and policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, ISBN: 978 1 83910 316 2, 192pp.
JCER Vol 17 No 1
10 Mar 2021
Research Article
The European Union and the Liberal International Order in the Age of ‘America First’: Attempted Hedging and the Willingness-Capacity Gap
The article argues that, while being limited by American preponderance over international issues, the EU is faced with a willingness-capacity gap but still attempts to uphold the LIO through pragmatic leadership by hedging.
JCMS
2 Mar 2021
Blog
Social Europe? Why EU Migrants Are Denied Social Assistance Benefits at the Street Level
European Union (EU) citizens have become increasingly mobile within the Union. For a long time, free movement as well as cross-border social rights of EU migrants have been extended, especially by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
JCMS
22 Feb 2021
Blog
Revisiting the Trade Effects of the EU-Turkey Customs Union
In 2015, the Turkish government and the European Commission officially started a process for the modernization and expansion of the Customs Union between the European Union (EU) and Turkey.
JCMS
22 Feb 2021
Blog
Centre Right Party Electoral Success on Immigration
In 2015, over one million migrants and refugees arrived in Europe. This wave continued into 2016, with a substantial reduction in 2017 and 2018 taking place.
JCMS
15 Feb 2021
Blog
The Cultural Sources of British Hard Bargaining
Another day, another round of Brexit negotiations. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, UK prime minister Boris Johnson has committed to driving a hard bargain of the EU, setting out unrealistic expectations, signalling the UK is prepared for ‘no deal’.
JCMS
10 Feb 2021
Blog
Mainstream Parties are the key to politicization of Europe in European Elections
After the successful completion of economic integration with the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, public controversies resulting from disagreement on fundamental questions on the scope and future direction of European integration intensified.
JCMS
5 Feb 2021
Blog
Does the promotion of LGBTI human rights cause the politicization of International Development Partnerships?
In the last decade, a number of European donors, including the EU, has framed their development policy within a human rights-based approach.
JCMS
28 Jan 2021
Blog
National policy makers have the final say on the extent of Europeanisation
The impact of European Union legislation varies across different policy fields and across countries. Some policy areas like competition rules are highly, and directly affected, while other areas like social policies and labour market policies are only indirectly affected.
JCMS
12 Jan 2021
Blog
Populist radical right parties and European development policy: politicising the migration-development nexus?
Populist radical right parties (PRRPs) have become a permanent feature of many party systems in European countries. Their electoral success has increased since 2015, when many migrants and refugees came to the EU.
JCER Vol 16 No 3
18 Dec 2020
Research Article
Beyond ‘donor-recipient relations’? A historical-institutionalist perspective on recent efforts to modernise EU partnerships with third countries
This paper presents a historical-institutionalist perspective on the EU’s current efforts to modernise its development policy and reform its various relationships with third countries.
JCER Vol 16 No 3
18 Dec 2020
Research Article
What Is the European Union? A Cultural Shared Risk Community!
In this commentary, the author continues his first reflections on European Union cultural history, which opened up this field and introduced the theory of ‘paradoxical coherence’.
JCER Vol 16 No 3
18 Dec 2020
Research Article
Integration theories and European education policy: bringing the role of ideas back in
This article contends that these transformations raise a theoretical puzzle in terms of the understanding of the two mainstream theories of European integration.
JCER Vol 16 No 3
18 Dec 2020
Research Article
Trust, Integrity and the Weaponising of Information: the EU’s Transparency Paradox
Drawing on 22 qualitative interviews with EU officials and representatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), this article demonstrates that low QA is in fact a deliberate policy, with the European Commission openly acknowledging its reliance on public control to police the information it provides through its online systems.
JCER Vol 16 No 3
18 Dec 2020
Research Article
Framing the European Fund for Strategic Investments: A Comparative Analysis of the EU's Institutional Discourse
Using policy frame analysis, this article zooms in on the discursive patterns of the European Commission, European Parliament and Council, expecting to find transport infrastructure a key theme given the low investment levels in this sector after the financial crisis in 2008.
JCER Vol 16 No 3
18 Dec 2020
Research Article
Non-elite conceptions of Europe: Europe as reference frame in English football fan discussions
Our main research question aims at identifying how identifications of fans have been unconsciously Europeanised in the wake of an ongoing Europeanisation of the game.
JCMS
9 Nov 2020
Blog
Between the European Union and Russia: A Decade in the Contested Neighbourhood
European Union’s (EU) capacity of influencing (and even changing) other actors without recurring to coercion is one of its defining features as an international player. Although it has been seriously challenged by the economic and financial crisis, migration crisis, terrorists’ attacks and the Brexit, the countries to EU’s East continue to look for strengthening of their existing ties with the EU.
JCMS
5 Oct 2020
Blog
Do institutions help achieve greater value for spending European taxpayers’ money?
European and national politicians, journalists and citizens have often raised questions on how EU funds are used. The media tends to cover this topic whenever it can frame issues of mismanagement or corruption
JCER Vol 16 No 2 (Special Issue)
6 Jul 2020
Introduction
EU development policy: evolving as an instrument of foreign policy and as an expression of solidarity
This article introduces the special issue on the evolution of European Union development policy, against the background of fundamental challenges that have emerged since the 2009 Lisbon Treaty.
JCER Vol 16 No 2 (Special Issue)
6 Jul 2020
Research Article
The Impact of Brexit on Aid: EU and global development assistance under a realist UK scenario
By analysing the shifting profile of British aid since the Brexit vote and also the terms of the withdrawal, this article intends to shed light on its future course.
JCMS
6 Jul 2020
Blog
Taking central bank politicization seriously
What is it, exactly, that makes the European Central Bank political? In an article recently published in the Journal of Common Market Studies I try to put some order and clarity into this issue by, first, reconstructing the ways in which the term politicization is currently employed.
JCMS
30 Jun 2020
Blog
EU Cohesion policy in the spotlight
In this study, we explored media coverage of EU Cohesion policy – the largest EU investment policy for reducing economic, social and territorial inequalities.
JCER Vol 16 No 2 (Special Issue)
26 Jun 2020
Research Article
A New Scramble for EurAfrica?
The article argues that Brexit will intensify a ‘new scramble for Africa’ and highlights emerging challenges for European development cooperation vis-à-vis normative pledges to sustainable development.
JCER Vol 16 No 2 (Special Issue)
16 Jun 2020
Research Article
Paradigm Shift or Reinventing the Wheel? Towards a Research Agenda on Change and Continuity in EU Development Policy
The main aim of this article is to propose a research agenda on change and continuity in EU development policy.
JCER Vol 16 No 2 (Special Issue)
16 Jun 2020
Research Article
Towards a Functional Division of Labour in EU development cooperation post-2020.
This paper traces the evolution of the European approach to DoL and highlights the major reasons for its limited successes. It claims that among most important ones was the imprecise and inadequate description of the EU’s own comparative advantage and added value.
JCER Vol 16 No 2 (Special Issue)
16 Jun 2020
Research Article
The Challenge from within: EU Development Cooperation and the Rise of Illiberalism in Hungary and Poland
This article examines how the emergence of ‘illiberal democracy’ in Hungary and Poland has impacted the behaviour of these two countries in the EU’s international development policy making processes.
JCER Vol 16 No 2 (Special Issue)
12 Jun 2020
Research Article
African Agency and EU-ACP Relations beyond the Cotonou Agreement
With the Cotonou Agreement due to expire in 2020, formal negotiations towards a new partnership agreement between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states began in September 2018.
JCER Vol 16 No 2 (Special Issue)
12 Jun 2020
Research Article
Irreconcilable Tensions? The EU’s Development Policy in an Era of Global Illiberalism.
A range of factors has contributed to the rise of illiberalism globally, leading to heightened geoeconomic rivalry while complex changes in global development governance facilitate the use of aid as an instrument of political and economic self-interest.
JCER Vol 16 No 2 (Special Issue)
2 Jun 2020
Research Article
The Legal Status and Effects of the Agenda 2030 within the EU Legal Order
This article explores the legal status and effects of the Agenda 2030 within the EU legal order. It refers to different forms of international law as a ‘connective tissue’ between the EU legal order and the Agenda 2030.
JCMS
20 May 2020
Blog
Can the European Parliament make the European Central Bank accountable?
Since the euro crisis, the European Central Bank (ECB) has expanded its powers from monetary policy to banking supervision in the Eurozone.
JCMS
20 May 2020
Blog
Combating Antimicrobial Resistance in EU
There are lessons to be learned from the EU’s responses to the Covid-19 crisis. The pandemic reveals the absolute need for further cooperation in the EU if the member states are to manage these types of health crises effectively.
JCMS
13 May 2020
Blog
The European Union and the Responsibility to Protect
The EU’s engagement with the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) – a principle agreed by UN members in 2005 to prevent and respond to atrocities – reflects a surprisingly mixed record in some respects.
JCMS
1 May 2020
Blog
The Shifting Impact of Religion on Attitudes Toward the European Union
What factors shape public attitudes toward the European Union (EU)? Observers of public opinion during the early stages of European integration found a stable ‘permissive consensus’ among citizens that allowed elites to pursue the project without deep public scrutiny.
JCMS
7 Apr 2020
Blog
EU Narratives of Regionalism Promotion to ASEAN
The experience of regionalism in Asia, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in particular, shows us that the EU is merely an example of regionalism, at best a source of inspiration, but not the defining regionalism paradigm.
JCMS
7 Apr 2020
Blog
In God we trust? Identity, institutions and international solidarity in Europe
The financial crises, bailouts and subsequent political backlash in several countries, made policy makers and researchers seek explanations for public support for – and resistance against- redistribution within the EU.
JCMS
20 Mar 2020
Blog
Do we know what our concepts do in our analyses?
In my article I provide an analytical framework for studying what our theories and concepts do It proposes the concept of performativity as a well-suited analytical tool.
JCER Vol 16 No 1
17 Mar 2020
Teaching, Learning and the Profession
Synchronous Online-Teaching on EU Foreign Affairs: A Blended-Learning Project of Seven Universities between E-Learning and Live Interaction
In this paper, we interrogate and reflect on this teaching experience by elaborating on its technical and didactical aspects, presenting its innovative character, outlining its strengths and weaknesses, and providing recommendations for colleagues.
JCER Vol 16 No 1
3 Mar 2020
Teaching, Learning and the Profession
Using Policy Briefs as Assessment to Integrating Research-Led Employability in Foreign Policy Courses
The aims of this paper are to highlight the way policy briefs were employed as an assessment tool on a final year foreign policy orientated Politics/IR module in a UK university.
JCER Vol 16 No 1
3 Mar 2020
Introduction
Innovative Teaching on European (Foreign) Affairs
This special section seeks to extent our knowledge on teaching innovative methods in European Union (EU) Foreign Affairs in time of challenges, politicisation, and digitalisation.
JCER Vol 16 No 1
3 Mar 2020
Teaching, Learning and the Profession
Teaching the EU in Brexit Britain: Responsive Teaching at a Time of Uncertainty and Change
Drawing on an action research approach, this article explores how the referendum result affected what and how this educator teaches the EU at a time of uncertainty and change for the UK.
JCER Vol 16 No 1
3 Mar 2020
Teaching, Learning and the Profession
Teaching EU Foreign Policy via Problem-Based Learning
In this contribution I showcase my experience of integrating an active learning element in my teaching of EU foreign policy, by experimenting with Problem-Based learning.
JCMS
27 Feb 2020
Blog
Why European asylum policies should account for refugees’ preferences
The European Union remains deeply divided on how to establish responsibility-sharing among its member states and how to reform the Common European Asylum System (CEAS).
JCMS
13 Feb 2020
Blog
Economic Nationalism and Bank Resolution in Italy
Is economic nationalism still alive when it comes to banking in the EU, and if so, what drives it? How have EU institutions responded so far?
JCMS
4 Feb 2020
Blog
Conducting EU foreign policy in times of crises and dissent
In the last decade, dissent among EU member states about the EU’s fundamental values has increased as a result of some national governments’ refusal to implement decisions and consent to previously agreed policy on issues related to human rights, rule of law and migration.
JCMS
3 Feb 2020
Blog
Surveillance policies and party cohesion in the European Parliament
The wave of terrorist attacks that affected Europe in 2015-2017 as well as the revelations of Edward Snowden in 2013 jointly framed the demand for a new social contract in the field of surveillance and privacy and its acceptable limits.
JCER Vol 16 No 1
3 Feb 2020
Book Review
EU Policy Making on GMOs: The False Promise of Proceduralism
This monograph examines the regulatory framework for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the European Union.
JCER Vol 16 No 1
9 Jan 2020
Research Article
The Council of the EU in Times of Economic Crisis: A Policy Entrepreneur for the Internal Market
This article fills that gap by analysing debates in the Council of the European Union on two major strategies: the Small Business Act for Europe and the Europe 2020 strategy.
JCMS
9 Jan 2020
Blog