Critical European Thinking - ECONOMICS AND GOVERNANCE: WHERE IS EUROPE BOUND FOR?

Critical European Thinking is a seminar series whose main purpose is to offer a biting analysis of the European environment. The discussion will focus on the roots and the consequences of the long-lasting economic crisis that has hit Europe. The approach will not be limited to the economic interpretation, but will suggest socio-political insights as well, since this broader perspective is an essential feature to think and understand critically such a complex topic.

The first seminar will host two speeches:

«Whither the EU?» by David K. Levine

The EU is neither a state nor not a state but falls somewhere in between. It lacks the basic tools of the state: tax collection, policing power, an army. It never-the-less has many of the responsibilities of a state – fiscal policy, expenditures, money, borders. What does evolutionary theory and history have to inform us about where the EU is likely to go next?

«Challenges to Liberal Intergovernmentalism» by Fabio Franchino

The presentation will assess the explanatory power of  liberal intergovernmentalism – a ‘baseline’ theory of regional integration – on the basis of the best theory-based book-length studies of the most active period of treaty reform in the history of the European Union – from the Treaty of Amsterdam to the Treaty of Lisbon and recent analyses of the sovereign-debt and migration crises. Finally, it will summarize works on voting behavior, cleavages and coalitions in the Council.