The Centre's research activities lie predominantly in the realm of the EU's external relations, decision-making, as well as domestic politics within European countries.
Current research areas of the Centre for the Study of European Governance include the following:
From its inception the European Union and process of European integration were elite driven, with input from ordinary people generally being indirect.
Over the past three decades, however, citizens of the EU began to leave their mark on the EU more directly, as witnessed by referenda on EU issues and European parliamentary elections.
CSEG thus aims to understand the nature of mass attitudes toward the integration project and how events like elections and referenda are used by citizens to make an impact on the EU.
CSEG research in this area:
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Identity, Interests and Attitudes to European Integration (Palgrave 2006)
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Elections and Voters (Palgrave 2009)
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European Elections and Domestic Politics: Lessons from the Past and Scenarios for the Future (University of Notre Dame Press 2007)
Find out more about CSEG's research on citizens .
For a full list of CSEG's Citizens publications, visit Dr. Lauren McLaren and Professor Cees van der Eijk publications page.
States
One result of the growth in size and scope of the European Union is that traditional understandings of what a 'state' is have come under increasing challenge. In addition to the question of whether the EU itself can be seen as a state, there is a growing debate about the role, the range, and the capacity of states as traditionally understood: multi-level governance, delegation and 'sectorisation', the rise of regulation, and debates about the proper remit of states in relation to citizens have all combined to make it harder to identify how states function in contemporary Europe.
CSEG seeks to explore some of these issues in more depth, focusing for example on democratisation in southern Europe, EU integration and political management of ministerial bureaucracies in east-central Europe, and decision-making in the EU.
CSEG research in this area:
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Constructing Democracy in Southern Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Italy, Spain, and Turkey (Routledge 2008)
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Spain and the European Union (Palgrave 2004)
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Developments in European Politics (Palgrave 2006)
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The changing colours of the post-communist state: the politicisation of the senior civil service in Hungary (European Journal of Political Research, 47:1, 2007)
Find out more about CSEG's research on states .
For a full list of CSEG's State publications, visit Professor Paul Heywood and Dr.Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling publications page.
Security
There are a number of projects within CSEG related to the external policies of the European Union. Professor Wyn Rees works on EU-US security cooperation, both in the field of external and internal security. Dr Catherine Gegout specialises on European military intervention in Africa.
CSEG research in this area:
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Transatlantic Counter-Terrorism Cooperation: The New Imperative (Routledge 2006)
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European Foreign and Security Policy: States, Power, Institutions and American Hegemony (Toronto: University of Toronto Press)
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Causes and Consequences of the EU's Military Intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo (The European Foreign Affairs Review, 10:3, 2005)
Find out more about CSEG's research on security .
For a full list of CSEG's Security publications, visit Wyn Rees and Catherine Gegout publications page.