CfP: “Failing Forward or Falling Apart? Crises and Patterns of European Integration” Workshop at Princeton University on September 13, 2019

By Erik Jones, R. Daniel Kelemen, and Sophie Meunier

Abstract: In “Failing Forward? The Euro Crisis and the Incomplete Nature of European Integration” (Comparative Political Studies, 49/7, 2016), we fused together liberal institutionalist and neo-functionalist logics to argue that in some circumstances European integration proceeded through a “failing forward” cycle in which lowest common denominator bargains led to incomplete institutions, which in turn generated crises, which propelled deeper integration through (once again) incomplete institutions – thus setting the stage for the process to repeat itself. Several scholars have since used this framework to explain crisis-based integration dynamics in various policy sectors, such as migration policy (Scipioni, 2017) and the common asylum system (Lavenex, 2018).

We are organizing a one-day workshop at Princeton University on Friday September 13 to take stock of how the Failing Forward framework may help us understand the pattern of European integration both at critical moments in its development and over time.   We welcome papers refining the Failing Forward framework, papers using the explanation in a variety of policy areas, papers applying the Failing Forward analysis to polities other than the EU, as well as papers critical of the framework. We might envision subsequently gathering the papers that most speak to each other into a journal special issue.Thanks to support from the Princeton Institute on International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) and the European Union Program at Princeton (EUPP), we will cover lodging, meals, and partial travel costs.

To apply, please send the following to smeunier@princeton.edu by February 28: title of paper, abstract of about 200 words, and your full name, position, institution, email address, and website.