C. VARIEGATED GEOMETRY, DIFFERENTIATED INTEGRATION AND TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNANCE
The EU’s recurrent crises in normative and economic terms have not promoted the “ever closer union”, but has rather led to a diversification of EU integration through exceptions for individual member states, dual-speed integration in specific policy fields and overall increasing euro-scepticism. Paired with sub-national trends of divergence instead of convergence has led to a profoundly complex variegated geometry of the European Union. This research cluster was dedicated to investigating such centrifugal movements within the EU, starting with the UK referendum on the EU and its consequences for European perspectives and continuing with debates on constitutional futures.
ACTIVITIES
Under this research cluster, three research seminars, one academic conference and one questions & answers session were organised.
- “Constitutions on these islands: Beyond ‘Brexit'”, held on 6 May 2016 was an academic conversation organised in cooperation with the Royal Irish Academy at their premises in Dublin. It offered an opportunity to reflect on the potential consequences of the UK leaving the EU for Northern Ireland as well as the North – South relationships in Ireland, focusing on the general constitutional position, human rights, mobility and policing. (More information about this event, including both a summary and a full report can be found here)
Researchers participating in this activity included:
- This research cluster also hosted the first ever public debate on the consequences of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in Northern Ireland on 29 June 2016: ” After the referendum – what next for the EU and the UK?” This event offered view-points by a panel of high-ranking scholars from Queen’s University Belfast working on different aspects of the European Union integration process, which attracted a huge interest from various audiences including: academics; students; members of civil society; politicians; journalists and bloggers (a report from this event can be viewed here)
Researchers participating in this activity included:
- The half-day seminar “Northern Ireland at the Edge – what next after “BREXIT” ? held on 15 September 2016, served to provide a larger forum to discuss “Challenges, Limits and Opportunities of the Changing Forms of European Integration”. The aim of this event was to generate a debate on the future of the island of Ireland including the potential of the EU’s external border crossing the island of Ireland, options for maintaining EU membership and potential lessons from Liechtenstein, Greenland and Switzerland.The half-day seminar also continued the cooperation with the Royal Irish Academy, as well as with “The UK in a Changing Europe” initiative, funded by the ESRC.(For more information about this event, including a seminar report, a policy briefing paper as well as video podcasts, click here)
Researchers participating in this activity included:
- The idea of differentiated integration of the EU and the UK itself after “Brexit” has also inspired other events which took on a “Brexit” element, as well as additional events, such as the 2017 conference on “Brexit – 15 Months on – Socio-Legal Perspectives for the EU and Europe”. This conference was part of a cooperation between Queen’s University Belfast School of Law and University of Warsaw, Faculty of Law and Administration, following a first conference on 26 November 2016 in Warsaw. It offered a novel perspective to academic debates on ‘Brexit’ in that it moved away from an inward British gaze, focusing instead on the EU and, more specifically, on the key lessons to be learnt from ‘Brexit’ for the future of the European integration project. The conference was structured around two plenary sessions and four thematic parallel sessions with contributions by leading scholars in the field. (For more information about this conference, including a full report, paper abstracts, speakers’ biographical notes, as well as presentation slides, please click here)
Researchers participating in this activity included:
Cluster 3 – Variegated Geometry, Differentiated Integration and Transnational Governance