European Integration and European Regional Cooperation
For the Jean Monnet Chair for Political Science and EU integration please visit the website:
www.uibk.ac.at/politikwissenschaft/jean-monnet-chair/
About
The research cluster of the Innsbruck Center for European Research (www.icer.at) brings together research and university teaching facilities on European integration and European Union studies. ICER aims to strengthen the critical and multidisciplinary analysis of the EU, examine the EU’s frameworks for polyarchic, multi-level, -channel, and –actor governance, provide a forum to stimulate the development of innovative analytical tools and teaching resources, increase the accessibility of information sources on the EU, and to stimulate the debate and research on the EU. ICER is an integral part of Innsbruck University’s Research Platform Organizations & Society (www.uibk.ac.at/orgsoc/index.html.en), and cooperates with the Research Area “Cultural Encounters - Cultural Conflicts” (http://www.uibk.ac.at/fsp-kultur/), the Research Area Research Area Alpine Space - Man and Environment (http://www.uibk.ac.at/alpinerraum/ ), and the Research Centers “European Integration”, “Federalism – Politics and Law”.
Research carried out by ICER focuses on three core subjects:
Development of and theorizing the EU's primary law and its related socio-political bases
- Processes to render the EU more democratic, efficient and effective,
- European “soft law” or “tertiary law”, i.e. inter-institutional agreements , rules of procedure, and other informal, inter- and intra-institutional arrangements as constitutive parts for developing European primary law ,
- Interparliamentary cooperation with regard to the changing roles and functions of the European Parliament and (sub)-national parliaments ,
- Political parties and EU integration, right-wing populist, nationalist and eurosceptic parties in the EU.
- Discussions about the future development of the EU and theoretical concept building concerning conditions, drivers and brakes for EU integration and disintegration.
Decision-making processes, negotiation strategies and conceptual problems regarding the implementation of EU policies
- Balancing EMU and reforming European Economic and Social Policy
- Common Agriculture Policy and structural reforms in the alpine regions
- International Agreements and the EU’s Common Commercial Policies (https://www.icer.at/research-projects/eutrap/ )
- European Environmental Policy
- European and Tranalpine Transport Policy (https://www.icer.at/research-projects/govmotalp/)
Policy preferences of state and civil-society actors in the EU member states
- Processes of direct democracy in European Policy
- Trans-Alpine and Trans-Arctic cooperation in European Policy (http://www.tragov.eu/ )
- EU policy making in Austria and inter-ministerial coordination (https://www.facultas.at/list/9783708912448 )
For more information please visit the website of the Jean Monnet Chair for Political Science and EU integration.
Members
Prof. Dr. Andreas Maurer, Jean Monnet Chair and Head of ICER ( website)
Ass. Prof. Dr. Camilla Mariotto ( contact)
Dr. Doris Dialer ( website)
Prof. Dr. Heinrich Neisser
Michael Wolf, MA ( contact)
Philipp Umek, MA ( contact)
Frida Karlsson, MA ( contact)
Verena Kretzschmar, MA ( contact)
Affiliated and Past Members
Prof. Dr. Annegret Eppler ( website)
Ambassador Prof. Dr. Michael Reiterer ( contact)
Dr. Gaby Umbach ( website)
Prof. Dr. Elisa Baroncini ( website)
Dr. Markus Warasin ( website, contact)
Dr. Melanie Plangger ( contact)
Dr. Katharina Crepaz ( website)
Dr. Natascha Zeitel-Bank ( contact)
Thomas Walli, MA ( contact)
Prof. Dr. Clara Portela ( website)
Current Projects
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Andreas Maurer, 2018-2021
Abstract:
"Democracy and Parliamentary Involvement in EU trade policies - DEPATRADE" envisages to deepen knowledge on the EU's trade policy within the wider framework of its foreign policies and at the intersection of trade policy and other EU policy fields with a dedicated external dimension. DEPATRADE concentrates on the altered commercial policy tasks and functions, with the central question being whether and to what extent these reforms have the potential to improve in the democratic legitimacy of the EU's common commercial policy and a reduction in the democracy deficit. Building on the University's curricula for the BA, MA, and PhD programmes in Political Science, DEPATRADE offers a unique EU studies programme on the issue of EU foreign and trade policies and their parliamentary dimensions. Building on the conceptual framework on "multi-level-parliamentarism", we aim at teaching on, discussing and analysing the EU's trade policies and its functional interlinkages with regard to the concepts of parliamentary democracy and dual legitimacy of the EU, and the roles, profiles, and functions of parliaments, interest groups and non-governmental organisations. DEPATRADE's overall questions are the following: Do the dynamics of international trade politics and global governance erode parliamentary democracy? How do parliamentary bodies (re)-act in and adapt to a dynamic, multi-layered, institutional and procedural set up. Do international treaties matter - and in how far do they matter - for the set-up and the functioning of parliamentary involvement and democracy? Our ambition is to offer students, young researchers, academia, political practitioners, and civil society organisations a comprehensive, theoretically grounded and balanced reflection on the development of the EU's trade policy, its functional links to development, environmental and climate, monetary and human rights policies as well as to the general framework of the EU's Foreign and Security policy.
Past Projects
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Andreas Maurer, 2014-2017
Abstract:
The project „Multi-level democracy and inter-parliamentary cooperation: Progressing towards cross-level parliamentarism” (MILDIPA) intends to turn the academic and public spotlight on the roles and functions of national parliaments and the European Parliament in EU policy-making. Against the background of the academic and public debate on the democratic foundations of the Union and the relations between the EU and its citizens, MILDIPA will look at the foundations, development and practice of inter-parliamentary cooperation in order to discuss prospects for its future. The project aims to attract a high level of student, academic and wider public feedback. It consists of four elements: (1.) traditional and innovative teaching modules for both undergraduate and graduate students covering the European Parliament and European elections, European parties and party politics in the EU, European policy-making in national parliaments, and inter-parliamentary cooperation between both levels of parliaments, (2.) a workshop and research seminar series on challenges, opportunity structures and new developments in inter-parliamentary cooperation, (3.) an inter-parliamentary congress, and (4.) a website giving access to the deliverables of the university lectures, workshops, seminars and the congress, as well as providing a unique portal on literature and documents on inter-parliamentary cooperation. These tools will provide means to foster interactive research, study and debate between students and political, academic and civil society actors, as well as the broader public. All results will be actively disseminated in a range of media: (1.) on the internet thanks to the continued maintenance and promotion of the information portal, (2.) in hard print form, through the Chair’s book on “Inter-parliamentary Europe” (with Palgrave Macmillan), and (3.) through edited volumes (with Innsbruck University Press) bringing together peer-reviewed papers of the workshop and seminars series.
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Annegret Eppler/Andreas Maurer, 2015-2018
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Andreas Maurer, 2017
Recent Publications
Eppler, Annegret/Maurer, Andreas (eds.) (2019): Europapolitische Koordination in Österreich. Inter- und intrainstitutionelle Regelwerke, Funktionen und Dynamiken (Europawissenschaftliche Reihe 5), Baden-Baden: Nomos.
Maurer Andreas (2019): Germany and the EU: Managing Differentiation to Avoid Structural Segregation, in: Kaeding, Michael/Pollak, Johannes/Schmidt, Paul (eds.): The Future of Europe. Views from the Capitals, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 41-44.
Mariotto, Camilla (2019): Negotiating implementation of EU fiscal governance, in: Journal of European Integration / Revue d'Integration Europeenne, pp. 1-22.
Maurer, Andreas/Wolf, Michael (2018): Agenda-Shaping in the European Parliament and the European Commission's right of legislative initiative, in: Ege, Jörn/Bauer, Michael/Becker, Stefan (eds.): The European Commission in Turbulent Times. Assessing Organizational Change and Policy Impact, Baden-Baden: Nomos, pp. 53-84.