The External

Can leadership within the European Commission shape the EU's response to global crises?

In Episode 16, The External explores the decisive leadership of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, during the first ten weeks of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It features the insights from the research of Professor Elena Baracani (University of Bologna) on how von der Leyen's strategic framing and principled ideas shaped the European Union's unified and swift response to the crisis, helping to position the EU as a more assertive global actor.

Read the article (open access): Elena

Summary

The European Parliament has the ability to play a key role in shaping the European Union's international agreements. But how exactly does it get involved in these complex negotiations? Researcher Marine Bardou from the University of Louvain has conducted a comprehensive study to answer this question, revealing surprising patterns in the Parliament's activities.

Is Europe effectively leveraging Chinese investments to enhance its strategic interests within the liberal international order?

In Episode 14, The External discusses the political intricacies of Chinese investments in Europe with Jappe

Is EU trade policy primarily a market tool or a

In Episode 13, we delve into the complex interplay between market objectives and geopolitical strategies in EU trade policy, guided by research from Dr. Andrea Christou and Professor Chad Damro at the University of Edinburgh. Their study, featured in the Journal of Common Market Studies, investigates the extent to which the EU's Directorate General for Trade maintains its market-focused approach amidst increasing geopolitical pressures.

Read the article (open access): Andrea

Is there a ‘Brussels effect’ through

Read the article (open access): Patrick Wagner

Are identity politics preventing the upgrading of supranational institutions as part of the EU’s response to the War in Ukraine?

Read the article (open access): Tanja A. Börzel,

International organizations change over time, expanding into new areas and abandoning original programmes of work. But are these changes always at the behest of member states?

In Episode 10, The External brings in Dr. Kseniya Oksamytna (City, University of London) to discuss the key findings of her new book Advocacy and Change in International Organizations: Communication, Protection, and Reconstruction in UN Peacekeeping (Oxford University Press 2023), and especially the role of advocacy as a source of change.

In a changing geopolitical landscape, the EU and its member states have introduced novel mechanisms for screening foreign direct investment for national security risks.

In Episode 9, The External provides an overview of a recent article in Global Policy by Professor Sarah Bauerle Danzman (Indiana University) and Professor Sophie Meunier (Princeton University) exploring the factors that explain the rise of national Investment Screening Mechanisms in Europe and comparing the different features of these mechanisms.

The high seas, the polar regions, the atmosphere, outer space, and cyberspace... these areas beyond national jurisdiction have become increasingly contested, especially in an era of rising geopolitics. What role does the EU play in the governance of these areas?

In Episode 8, The External is joined by Professor Joris Larik and Professor Simon Schunz who discuss the growing importance and contestation of 'global spaces' and how the EU approach compares with other key players in the governance of these spaces based on the collective findings from their special issue, edited together with Sieglinde Gstöhl, The European Union and the Governance of Contested Global Spaces in an Era of Geopolitics, in the Journal of European Integration. The special issue also includes contributions from Marianne Riddervold, Andreas Raspotnik and Adam Stępień, Giulia Pavesi and Jan Wouters, and Hanna Smith.

While the COVID-19 crisis had an economic impact worldwide, different states and regions responded with different macroeconomic policies and with very different results.

In Episode 7, The External is joined by Prof Bernadette Andreosso-O'Callaghan and Prof Woosik Moon who compare these different global responses and discuss the key results from their edited volume Economic Policy and the Covid-19 CrisisThe Macroeconomic Response in the US, Europe and East Asia, published by Routledge in 2022.