Given the strong dependence of many European countries on Russian gas and oil exports, the war in Ukraine has created fundamentally new conditions for the European energy policy leading to calls and first steps (such as the scrapping of the North Stream 2 pipeline) to reduce this dependence. The seminar addresses dependence issues, as well as debates on the impact of the war to the transition to renewable energy sources, the redirection of trade from Russia to other providers, and the role of nuclear power (with potential divisive effects both between and within member-states).

One of the most significant changes in West European politics in the past 40 years is the emergence of the new cultural divide. However, there is substantial variation across countries, over time and between issues in how the issues comprising the new cultural divide, such as immigration, European integration and the environment, have manifested themselves in West European party systems. This development raises the question of what mechanisms bring these new issues into established party systems. The literature has so far focused on the role of new political parties and critical junctures like the Eurocrisis or the 2015 migration crisis. This talk argues that the left-right structure and the incentives it provides for mainstream parties to expand political conflict to include new issues is a key condition for the integration of new political issues into party competition. Rather than seeing the integration of new issues as a matter of the emergence of a new, second conflict, it argues that new issues become central to party competition if the existing conflict structure, which in Western Europe means the left-right structure, presents established mainstream parties with vote-seeking or coalition-building incentives to focus on new political issues. If such incentives are not present, new political issues will not establish themselves as central issues in party competition. The talk uses Ireland as a negative case study to develop the argument.

Christoffer Green-Pedersen is a Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University. He has published extensively on party competition, agenda setting, and public policy in comparative perspective.

Speaker: Prof. Christoffer Green-Pedersen (University of Aarhus)

Chair: Prof. Gary Marks (University of North Carolina)

REGSITRATION

How should the Ukraine war and more generally, geopolitics, shape our understanding of European integration? Liberal institutionalism, neofunctionalism, and postfunctionalism have in common that they ignore heavy international conflict. Neorealism ignores domestic politics. How, in short, do we need to adapt our theoretical lenses to better assess the implications of Ukraine for the course of European integration and the nature of political competition?

EU and NATO member states have made big announcements after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Some who are not members of NATO, debate whether to join the military alliance. Others declare a significant increase in their defense budget and yet others again, who had opted out of the EU’s security policy, now will hold a referendum to join it. And the EU has converted institutional structures to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine. In this session, we will discuss these initiatives and asses what kind of change they signify and to what possible effect.

Will the war in the Ukraine make the EU more state-like? Will it boost the centralization of coercive and fiscal power? Bellicist theories of state-building may suggest that it should. I will assess the evidence of the EU’s first reactions to the war in the Ukraine and explain why even ‘bellicist’ integration is unlikely to usher in a European superstate.

The Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute is pleased to announce the Graduate Research Workshop on the Comparative Politics of Europe, 27-28 June, 2022.

The workshop, led by Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks, Julia Schulte-Cloos, and Eroll Kuhn, is an opportunity for Ph.D. students to present and receive feedback on their dissertation research in a constructive environment.

Ph.D. students writing dissertations on the comparative politics of Europe or the European Union are invited to apply. Those selected to participate in the workshop will present their research and participate in all workshop activities.

Following Croatia’s accession to the EU in 2013, the phrase ‘enlargement fatigue’ became common place and the enlargement to the Western Balkans was slow and tortuous. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has altered the dynamic of enlargement. Ukraine followed by Moldova and Gorgia applied for membership of the Union. President Zelensky wants ‘fast track’ membership. At Versailles, EU leaders acknowledged that Ukraine is part of the ‘European family’’ and requested the Commission to prepare an Opinion on Ukraine’s membership. There is considerable debate on what this means for processes and procedures surrounding enlargement. Will the existing enlargement system remain in place or will the EU have to reassess the fundamentals of the enlargement process itself.