Periodic Reporting for period 3 - EU3D (EU Differentiation, Dominance and Democracy)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-08-01 bis 2023-07-31
During the last two decades the EU has become more differentiated. The financial and refugee crises and rule of law backsliding have brought up a rise in domination understood as unjustified exercises of power. The COVID-19 pandemic struck Europe hard. Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine shows how power politics can replace laws and norms. The many crises and challenges have exposed the EU’s internal and external vulnerability but have also shown an at times remarkable EU ability to fashion coordinated responses.
The EU is a distinctly differentiated political system, which has bearings on its ability to deal with the problems of dominance (untrammeled power politics) and the prospects for establishing viable democracy.
EU3D’s main objective has been to specify the conditions under which differentiation is politically acceptable, institutionally sustainable, and democratically legitimate. Equally important, EU3D specifies the conditions under which it is not, when conditions of dominance prevail, and discusses this in relation to the Future of Europe debate.
The need for theory: The EU’s challenges are unique and require developing a suitable theory of political differentiation for separating democratic forms of differentiation from differentiation-driven forms of dominance.
Problem diagnosis: EU3D has sought to single out those issues and issue-areas that are particularly problematic from a dominance perspective, with focus on the Euro and refugee crises, the role and status of refugees and border controls, as well as terrorist and other security threats. EU3D traces their causes and structural-historical embedding and considers the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in relation to these findings, with emphasis on governing capacity and legitimacy, and to clarify the type and scale of reforms needed.
EU reforms: EU3D’s second part has tapped public sentiments and discerning and assessing democratic reforms. It has focused on the social and institutional conditions for improving the EU’s capacity and resilience. It has examined the social basis for reforms through surveying individuals in terms of what they see as the main problems facing the EU and in terms of what constitutional visions they prefer or reject. EU3D also focused on media as core conveyers of information on what the EU is and on institutional proponents of democratic reforms – parliaments and regional/municipal actors, coupled with a broad assessment of future of Europe reform proposals.
Policy and polity recommendations: By singling out those forms of differentiation that engender dominance, EU3D has provided important knowledge on the conditions under which reforms may fail or succeed. It provides benchmarks for determining which polity models are viable and which ones are not. EU3D has published seven policy briefs outlining project findings, disseminated widely to policy makers. The project has hosted national and European level policy dialogues, inviting key stakeholders to debate the research topics of EU3D. In addition, EU3D researchers participated in events, connected with its network of stakeholders and invited policy makers and other influential stakeholders to its conferences and workshops.
The EU is a distinctly differentiated political system, which has bearings on its ability to deal with the problems of dominance (untrammeled power politics) and the prospects for establishing viable democracy.
EU3D’s main objective has been to specify the conditions under which differentiation is politically acceptable, institutionally sustainable, and democratically legitimate. Equally important, EU3D specifies the conditions under which it is not, when conditions of dominance prevail, and discusses this in relation to the Future of Europe debate.
The need for theory: The EU’s challenges are unique and require developing a suitable theory of political differentiation for separating democratic forms of differentiation from differentiation-driven forms of dominance.
Problem diagnosis: EU3D has sought to single out those issues and issue-areas that are particularly problematic from a dominance perspective, with focus on the Euro and refugee crises, the role and status of refugees and border controls, as well as terrorist and other security threats. EU3D traces their causes and structural-historical embedding and considers the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in relation to these findings, with emphasis on governing capacity and legitimacy, and to clarify the type and scale of reforms needed.
EU reforms: EU3D’s second part has tapped public sentiments and discerning and assessing democratic reforms. It has focused on the social and institutional conditions for improving the EU’s capacity and resilience. It has examined the social basis for reforms through surveying individuals in terms of what they see as the main problems facing the EU and in terms of what constitutional visions they prefer or reject. EU3D also focused on media as core conveyers of information on what the EU is and on institutional proponents of democratic reforms – parliaments and regional/municipal actors, coupled with a broad assessment of future of Europe reform proposals.
Policy and polity recommendations: By singling out those forms of differentiation that engender dominance, EU3D has provided important knowledge on the conditions under which reforms may fail or succeed. It provides benchmarks for determining which polity models are viable and which ones are not. EU3D has published seven policy briefs outlining project findings, disseminated widely to policy makers. The project has hosted national and European level policy dialogues, inviting key stakeholders to debate the research topics of EU3D. In addition, EU3D researchers participated in events, connected with its network of stakeholders and invited policy makers and other influential stakeholders to its conferences and workshops.
In the third and final project period, EU3D has worked on ensuring that the analytical framework, which was presented in EU3D Research Paper 1: ‘Europe’s triangular challenge: Differentiation, dominance and democracy’ has been embedded in all of EU3D’s work packages. EU3D has produced a journal special issue entitled ‘Historical sources of domination in EU economic governance’. The relationship between dominance and differentiation – with explicit attention also to the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian attack on Ukraine is assessed in the book ‘Differentiation and Dominance in Europe’s Poly-Crises’, which uncovered a complex interplay between differentiation and dominance in the EU context. The EU can be a source of dominance; as a fragile and vulnerable entity it can also be subject to dominance and external vulnerability can engender internal forms of dominance.
EU3D has produced comprehensive comparisons of the EU with other forms of political entity: two federal polities; the US and Canada and two regional associations, ASEAN and Mercosur, including a database on regional organisations and a book manuscript on comparative regional integration (EU, Mercosur and ASEAN) and their relation to external and internal differentiation.
On EU reforms, EU3D examines popular perceptions and bases for understanding and accepting differentiation and has examined parliaments as sources of reforms. EU3D has used surveys and survey experiments to increase our understanding of how citizens across Europe conceive of and evaluate different types of differentiation and possible EU. Two comprehensive media assessments were produced: a comparative report on mediated debates and media impacts on EU differentiated integration, dominance and democratic reform, and a paper on media narratives. A major large-scale analysis of parliamentary debates in 11 national parliaments and the EP was published.
The searchable EU3D Database on Reform Proposals, published on the EU3D website, includes 948 reform proposals on the future of the EU (2015 and 2022). The database provides a specific in-depth focus on several key member states and a wide range of civil society actors active at both national and European level. There is an accompanying report, Reform Proposals for the future EU (2015-2022).
Finally, EU3D actively engaged with stakeholders to ensure a strong linkage of research and policy in the area of differentiation through numerous events and activities. A series of policy dialogues have been organized in the partner countries and at EU level. EU3D has made analyses and insights available to a broader audience on the Future of Europe Blog and in the EU3D Insights series. EU3D partners have held a number of public events for students and the broader public, and researchers have been invited to discuss their research with policy stakeholders and practitioners at numerous external events. They have also done podcast and news media interviews, and the project has produced a series of short videos, in addition to making recordings of events available to the public.
EU3D has produced comprehensive comparisons of the EU with other forms of political entity: two federal polities; the US and Canada and two regional associations, ASEAN and Mercosur, including a database on regional organisations and a book manuscript on comparative regional integration (EU, Mercosur and ASEAN) and their relation to external and internal differentiation.
On EU reforms, EU3D examines popular perceptions and bases for understanding and accepting differentiation and has examined parliaments as sources of reforms. EU3D has used surveys and survey experiments to increase our understanding of how citizens across Europe conceive of and evaluate different types of differentiation and possible EU. Two comprehensive media assessments were produced: a comparative report on mediated debates and media impacts on EU differentiated integration, dominance and democratic reform, and a paper on media narratives. A major large-scale analysis of parliamentary debates in 11 national parliaments and the EP was published.
The searchable EU3D Database on Reform Proposals, published on the EU3D website, includes 948 reform proposals on the future of the EU (2015 and 2022). The database provides a specific in-depth focus on several key member states and a wide range of civil society actors active at both national and European level. There is an accompanying report, Reform Proposals for the future EU (2015-2022).
Finally, EU3D actively engaged with stakeholders to ensure a strong linkage of research and policy in the area of differentiation through numerous events and activities. A series of policy dialogues have been organized in the partner countries and at EU level. EU3D has made analyses and insights available to a broader audience on the Future of Europe Blog and in the EU3D Insights series. EU3D partners have held a number of public events for students and the broader public, and researchers have been invited to discuss their research with policy stakeholders and practitioners at numerous external events. They have also done podcast and news media interviews, and the project has produced a series of short videos, in addition to making recordings of events available to the public.
EU3D’s critical theory of political differentiation is intended to serve as a sorting mechanism for separating constructive from pathological forms of differentiation. It starts from the notion that the EU has a distinct differentiation configuration that we need to consider democracy and dominance against. EU3D’s research has provided new insights into how differentiation and dominance interact within this complex constellation. Such knowledge is essential for the design of future differentiation scenarios because it provides us with benchmarks for determining which polity models are viable and which ones are not. EU3D provides important knowledge on the conditions under which reforms may fail or succeed and thereby supports the EU in concentrating reform efforts on the most pressing concerns (including the latest issues pertaining to the corona pandemic and the Russia – Ukraine war). In terms of wider societal impacts, EU3D aims to give citizens a better understanding of the conditions and limitations of European integration and the different future scenarios.