Each year, at the European University Institute in Florence, the European Governance and Politics Programme (EGPP) hosts an Annual Conference that focuses on a crucial theme for the European Union. This is part of the EGPP’s strategy to promote engagement on contemporary issues through various types of events. Speakers are selected by invitation, with the exception of the Annual Conference 2020-2021 which was organised exclusively through a call for paper, in order to increase the outreach of EGPP and include young scholars across Europe and beyond.
The inaugural (2018) Annual Conference, ‘2017: Europe’s Bumper Year of Elections’, organised by Brigid Laffan and Lorenzo Cicchi, was held on 8-9 March 2018. It alternated a series of election country-specific panels with thematic ones, devoted to specific elements that characterised the political and electoral scenario of 2017. An edited volume, containing a selection of the papers presented during this conference and divided into country-specific and thematic chapters, was then published.
The second (2019) Annual Conference, ‘Effects of multilevel governance’, brought together cutting-edge research on the political, social, and cultural consequences of multilevel governance on 23-24 May 2019. The conference, organised by EGPP Associates Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks, explored three themes, namely how multilevel governance affects the structure of political conflict, ethno-territorial conflicts and social solidarity.
The third (2020-2021) Annual Conference, ‘Europe’s changing political system and issue space. What lessons from the 2019 European elections?’, took place as a virtual event on 25-26 February 2021. The conference, entirely composed by papers selected through a call for papers, was organised by Lorenzo Cicchi, Brigid Laffan and EGPP Associates Diego Garzia and Alexander H. Trechsel.
The fourth (2022) Annual Conference, ‘Representation in flux and the future of democratic innovations’, organised by Prof. Daniele Caramani took place on 7-8 April 2022 in Florence. Scholars focused on major case studies of democratic innovations at local, national and EU level and discussed the transformation of conventional representative institutions within and across borders.
The fifth (2023) Annual conference, organised by Prof. Daniele Caramani was the first of a two-series conference titled ‘Multi-dimensional crises and their impact on European politics and governance’ which took place on 30-31 may 2023. Discussions were devoted to the impact on politics. This included consequences for cleavage structures, conflicts and actors, politicisation and mobilisation, party politics, populism, European identity and solidarity. Divisions were analysed from a territorial (i.e. European integration) perspective and functional (i.e. comparative politics) perspective.
The sixth (2024) Annual Conference will be the second series of the ‘Multi-dimensional crises and their impact on European politics and governance’ conferences and will focus on the aspect of governance.
Below you can explore programmes participants and multimedia from the Annual Conferences.
5th Annual Conference: Multi-dimensional crises and their impact on European politics and governance | 30-31 May 2023
The fifth Annual Conference took place at the European University Institute on 30-31 May 2023. Its goal was to understand how the multiple crises the European Union and its member-states have been confronted with have (1) created new conflicts and changed existing ones and (2) transformed governance structures and introduced new ones.
Organiser: Daniele Caramani
4th Annual Conference: Representation in flux and the future of democratic innovations | 7-8 April 2022
The fourth Annual Conference, which took place at the European University Institute on 7-8 April 2022, explored how citizens’ trust resonates with changing patterns of representation, the responsiveness of democratic systems towards popular demands for inclusion in decision-making and competent problem solving of complex issues.
Organiser: Daniele Caramani
3rd Annual Conference: ‘Europe’s changing political system and issue space. What lessons from the 2019 European Elections?| 25-26 February 2021
The third Annual Conference, which took place at the European University Institute on 25-26 February 2021, presents high-level scholarly research on, broadly, the drivers and consequences of the electoral results of May 2019, as well as the European political space and its (reshaped?) dimensionality. Simon Hix, who will join the EUI in September 2021 as Stein Rokkan Chair in Comparative Politics gave a keynote speech.
Organisers: Lorenzo Cicchi, Diego Garzia, Brigid Laffan and Alexander H. Trechsel
2nd Annual Conference: ‘Effects of Multilevel Governance Conference’ | 23-24 May 2019
The second Annual Conference, which took place at the European University Institute on 23-24 May 2019, brought together cutting-edge research on the political, social, and cultural consequences of multilevel governance.
Organizers: Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks
1st Annual Conference: ‘2017: Europe’s Bumper Year of Elections’︱8-9 March 2018
The first Annual Conference, held at the European University Institute on 8-9 March 2018, alternated a series of election country-specific panels with thematic ones, devoted to specific elements that characterized the political and electoral scenario of 2017.
Organizers: Brigid Laffan and Lorenzo Cicchi