The ‘Europe in the world’ research area ties the study of European and EU external relations, power, strategy, actors, institutions and ideational compositions with changes and challenges in global politics. We scrutinize primarily (i) the national and European levels, questioning what Europe stands for both through the lens of political elites but also the public, (ii) the inter-regional level, situating Europe in the world, comparing it to other regional experiences, (iii) the global level, disentangling global, international and transnational influences coming from the world to Europe and vice versa and (iv) how these different levels are interconnected.

Scholars working in this research area seek to integrate theoretical and conceptual insights from a wide range of perspectives in international relations, political science, sociology, history, regional area studies, and international law, with politically relevant empirical analysis. They contribute to the theoretical and political debates on European and international affairs, questions about a changing global or international order, and how unified and autonomous the European voice really is. They engage with key areas of European external affairs and addresses some of the big questions confronting Europe and the EU in the decades ahead.

Central research themes of the research area include:

• Europe’s role, place and ideational foundation(s) in 21st century global politics
• The impact of world politics on Europe’s on-going transformation, as for example politics in the Asia-Pacific
• Europe’s relations broadly, including the EU’s evolving relations with the major and emerging world powers (including the US, China, Russia, India, Brazil), as well as regional and global/international organisations
• The evolution and challenges of EU foreign, security, and defence policies, including questions of purpose, strategy and institutional forms
• The relationship between the EU’s security apparatus to other external policies such as trade, environment or development
• The uneven development of the EU as a ‘high politics’ actor in global affairs
• The foreign, security, and defence policies of individual European states or groups of states
• The impact of the environment and development on regional and global politics

The ‘Europe in the World’ research area’s animating vision is to bring together early-career and established scholars and practitioners in the field, both from within and outside the European University Institute, and to generate cutting-edge, innovative and widely-read research through its workshops, conferences, research, seminars, and publications. To this end, this multidisciplinary thematic area brings together scholars who specialise in international institutions, area studies, security studies, strategic studies, diplomatic history, history of ideas, sociology of organizations, international law, political economy, and foreign policy analysis. Interdisciplinary and comparative research is welcome. We invite applications for Max Weber, Jean Monnet, or other fellowships in these and related areas of inquiry.

‘Europe in the world’ seminar series schedule 2023-24