Call for papers

IPSA World Congress of Political Science, Brisbane, 21-26 July 2018

Panel title: Differentiated integration in the European Union – Consequences for Relations with Neighbours 

Panel description: There are many interesting processes under way in the European Union nowadays. One of them is the development of differentiated integration, including the emerging division into the core and circles (or centre and peripheries). The process has gained in political weight when the member states began to look for the ways out of the euro crisis and the Brexit issue became a reality. It has consequences not only for the members of the EU but also for its relations with the third countries, particularly its neighbours. The main goal of the panel is to take a close look at the impact of the differentiated integration on the EU policies concerning its neighbours – i.e. the enlargement policy and two dimensions of the European Neighbourhood Policy as well as the relations with other EU neighbours including Russia as well as EEA countries, Switzerland and in the future possibly also the United Kingdom.

Many interesting issues are worth discussing here. Historically, we can talk about some concepts of the European integration being actually the first theoretical models of the external differentiated integration (e.g. “the concentric circles”). The crucial question is which concepts can be taken into consideration by working out the models of the external differentiated integration nowadays. Can the old proposals be refreshed and adjusted to the current situation or is it time for new ideas? Actually, there are some models of the external differentiated integration working already in the case of many EU neighbours and their relationships with the EU. However, it is worth investigating the possible development of these models in the future. It is not a purely theoretical question. The current enlargement policy and the ENP are in a crisis. The prospect of accession of new countries to the EU is very uncertain. The ENP is not effective at all. The EU is losing its influence on the neighbourhood. The question is if the development of new or modified models of the external differentiated integration can be a kind of solution to these problems. The differentiation dynamics points to the inadequacy of conceiving the EU membership in binary (zero - one) terms. In this context, the differentiated integration seems to constitute an opportunity for the stalled enlargement policy, especially when it comes to Turkey. Maybe the new models of differentiated integration can contribute also to revitalization of the relationship between the EU and ENP partners, to improve the relations with Russia and to build a new model of cooperation with the UK after Brexit. 

These and many more questions will be posed within the panel organised within the RC03 – European Unification. Welcomed are paper proposals of young and experienced scholars, dealing with both theoretical and empirical aspects of the aforementioned topics. Single case studies and comparative analyses are equally acceptable.

 

If you are interested in participating in the panel, please, send the paper proposal including the title and short abstract (up to 250 words) to Prof. Adam Szymanski, ar.szymanski@uw.edu.pl by 1 October 2017. You will be notified by 3 October 2017 whether your proposal has been accepted to the panel. Please, bear in mind that you will have also to submit the paper proposal to the IPSA website by signing in your individual IPSA account by 10 October 2017.