Project description
Unmasking cultural stereotypes in EU governance
Cultural stereotypes pervade discussions on EU governance, perpetuating divisive notions such as ‘the lazy Greeks’ or ‘the stingy Dutch’. Negative stereotypes in particular can create friction between nations, stoke Euroscepticism, and even lead to discrimination. While existing research has identified political rhetoric and media coverage of stereotypes, their impact on the conduct of national and EU officials remains largely unexplored. The ERC-funded EUROTYPES project will address this gap, investigating the influence of cultural stereotypes on cooperation and effectiveness in EU governance, with a focus on civil servants rather than political elites. The project promises to unveil hidden dynamics at play and push the boundaries of our understanding of how stereotypes affect European integration.
Objective
Cultural stereotypes are often present in the political and media discourse on European Union (EU) governance: e.g. the lazy Greeks, the tax-dodging Italians, the stingy Dutch, and so forth. Especially when stereotypes are negative, they create conflict between national governments, fuel Euroscepticism among voters, and can lead to the discrimination of citizens or Member States. Yet while stereotypes have been studied in political rhetoric and media coverage, we know little about their impact on the behaviour of national and EU officials. To address this gap, EUROTYPES sets out to investigate how cultural stereotypes impact cooperation and effectiveness in contemporary EU governance.
The project is the first of its kind because it studies stereotypes among civil servants as opposed to political elites in the EU, who often use stereotypes strategically for electoral gains. The focus is on multi-level policy enforcement, a new phenomenon in European integration which captures the participation of national and EU civil servants in joint on-the-ground operations in border control, law enforcement cooperation, financial supervision, etc. Since they are not socialized in Brussels or running for office, such officials are much more likely to (genuinely) display cultural stereotypes.
EUROTYPES pushes the frontiers of knowledge in several directions. First, it applies an original version of qualitative content analysis to identify stereotypes relevant for multi-level policy enforcement. Second, it uses recent developments in experimental research to capture the role of stereotypes among civil servants. Theoretically, the project constructs an innovative account of stereotypes as habits and positions them vis--vis other explanations of political behaviour (interests, norms, ideas). The goal is to show whether and how stereotypes hinder EU cooperation and, in the long run, establish a comprehensive research agenda on cultural stereotypes in transnational bureaucracies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology governance
- humanities languages and literature literature studies literary genres essays
- social sciences political sciences public administration bureaucracy
- social sciences sociology social issues social inequalities
- social sciences law
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2311 EZ Leiden
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.