Latest Blog Posts

Scholars often look at international organizations, such as the European Union (EU), in splendid isolation. Over the last decade, however, researchers have paid more attention to how international organizations interact and what this means for international cooperation.

As we await decisions on extensions and general elections, I thought we might step back and consider the question of how the UK might behave during its remaining time as a member state. In the run-up to the new extension, there was much talk from Leave MPs and activists in Westminster about trying to sabotage […]

The process of differentiated integration explicitly separates insiders and outsiders into different institutions. Within the Eurozone crisis, the institutional separation between ‘euro-ins’ and ‘euro-outs’ reached a new high. Alexander Schilin takes a social constructivist approach to reexamine the relationship between differentiated integration and interpersonal separation within the EU.

The longstanding “duopoly” between the two major parties is over: The 9th European Parliament (2019-2024) will have a political centre that is both larger and more multi-coloured, with more broadly liberal or green Members. Populist Radical Right Parties gained in weight, too, but their success was – overall – significantly smaller than expected.

When Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minister and the leader of Fidesz (Hungarian Civic Alliance), lost the General Elections in 2002, his advisor of the time Jozsef Debreczeni said Orban had drawn one conclusion from this election result: “This democracy thing, where power can slip so quickly from you, was no good.” Despite gaining 13 […]

A new Jean Monnet Project launches to promote diversity, inclusion and multidisciplinarity in European Studies.

At 8pm last night, the government published the legislation for Boris Johnson’s proposed Brexit deal. The Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) is 115 pages long and has an extra 126 pages of explanatory notes. MPs have just 24 hours to digest this WAB before casting their first key votes on it later tonight. The legislation is […]

Patrik Taufar argues that taking a decentring approach to the EU’s human rights policies may promote engagement and ensure the effectiveness of the policy. He frames this argument within the question of the future of Europe and what steps must be taken to ensure the existence of ‘a next European century’.

“In each one of us, in differing degrees, is contained the person we were yesterday, and indeed, in the nature of things it is even true that our past personae predominate in us, since the present is necessarily insignificant when compared with the long period of the past because of which we have emerged in […]

Phew, what a couple of months. But wait, the political drama is to continue at home in Brexitland in the coming months. As I was writing this blog, the British MPs were debating the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s deal with the EU on the UK’s exit from the European Union. However, by the time […]