European Governance and Politics Programme

*10 scholarships are available for applicants from Widening countries, covering all school-related costs, including air travel and accommodation.

More specifically, participants will examine:
▪️ political participation and online campaigning
▪️ social movements and contentious politics
▪️ media, political elites, and EU institutions
▪️ comparative perspectives, with a focus on underrepresented regions

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴—𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙩?

The EGPP Summer School, co-organised with @sns.it‬, offers a thought-provoking forum for early-career researchers to explore democratic erosion through a multidisciplinary lens.

Learn more & apply now🔗 buff.ly/NhA5Nq1

⌛ 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥-19 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤?

📌 Join the final conference of the @eui-egpp.bsky.social's 𝙍𝙀𝙂𝙍𝙊𝙐𝙋 project, as leading scholars reflect on the post-pandemic governance landscape & future challenges for European liberal democracies.

Register now 🔗 buff.ly/rHXO5IT

Experts will ask:
🔸 Which elements of the liberal project are essential and universalisable?
🔸 What explains the appeal of illiberal alternatives?
🔸 Can small states remain liberal in a post-liberal world?
🔸 How should the West respond to shifting power structures?

Join us on 9–10 June for a high-level event exploring the contested legacy and future of liberalism and transatlantic cooperation.

📌 This event will reflect on whether the liberal order can be adapted to centre human welfare more genuinely and inclusively.

Register now 🔗 buff.ly/nMibnRF

Coming up on 24-25 June, the @eui-schuman.bsky.social will host the REGROUP project final conference.
Find out more about the event below👇

Veronica Anghel "By surviving the greatest challenge to its democratic foundations since the end of the Cold War, 🇷🇴 has for the moment come back from the brink. But by relying in part on an emergency judicial intervention to do so, it may have further eroded key institutions’ democratic legitimacy."

🗳️ Following the success of EU&I, EGPP and Fundacja Stan launch 𝗪𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗰𝘇𝘆𝗞𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘀—a VAA for the 2025 Polish presidential elections. 🇵🇱
Answer 23 policy questions and compare your views with the candidates.
✔️ Neutral, ✔️ research-based, ✔️ accessible to all.

Try it now 🔗 wyborczykompas.pl

📌 Next week, join Oksana Antonenko as she explores how sanctions are transforming Russia’s political economy and global positioning—and what this means for the EU’s long-term strategy.
🔹Opening remarks by Ivan Stefanec (former MEP, EPP)
Register here 🔗 buff.ly/q4hvBtb

📅 On Wednesday, 14 May 2025, join Sergio Fabbrini as he presents his book on how intergovernmental governance has shaped the EU and explores a federalist alternative for European integration.

Register now to join the discussion 👉 buff.ly/CUjRAUC

Join Andrea Capati and Maria Giulia Amadio Viceré as they examine the role of ideas in shaping EU policymaking on Ukraine. Drawing on Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the 2022 invasion, they explore how ideas steer EU foreign policy.

Register now 🔗 buff.ly/As0iBRq

📌 Join Jonathan Zeitlin as he examines how the EU balances uniform regulation with national diversity through experimentalist governance—applying common rules while continuously revising them across sectors like electricity, banking, pharma, and competition.

Register now 🔗 buff.ly/CcPljPf

📌 Are polarised citizens less committed to democracy?

Next Wednesday, 23 April, join Lisa Janssen as she presents findings from 3 studies on how affective polarisation shapes democratic commitments and political support in Europe.

Register now 🔗

📌 Why did Warsaw shift from a long-standing policy of nuclear restraint?

This Wednesday, Monika Sus will explore the internal + external drivers behind Poland’s push to join NATO’s nuclear-sharing programme after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Register now 🔗 buff.ly/aUhJ5s1

🧭 Why EU enlargement is a strategic necessity Launching her series on EU enlargement dilemmas, Veronica Anghel argues that enlargement is no gamble, but a strategic necessity. In crisis, enlargement transforms external risks into shared responsib...

📌 Get in touch & become part of this project for knowledge translation for the wider public between the @ecpr.bsky.social 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗣 & the @eui-schuman.bsky.social @eui-egpp.bsky.social @eui-eu.bsky.social

bit.ly/3ZTcq0O

🧭 Excellent new contributions to the debate on the EU's geopolitical turn & enlargement in EU strategy @ecpr.bsky.social THE LOOP

◾Russia’s hybrid warfare on EU enlargement-Denis Cenusa 🔗 bit.ly/4cv26BV
◾EU enlargement: why citizens matter in shaping the debate -
Giselle Bosse 🔗 bit.ly/42Cy4Zs

📌 This Wednesday, join Christina Zuber to explore how majority and minority nationalism shape political competition across Europe, drawing on over a decade of EPAC (Ethnonationalism in Party Competition) expert survey data.

Register now 🔗 loom.ly/nxr39Ws

Check out the conference programme for more information on the panels' topics and discussions 🔗 lnkd.in/g7znUzaw

Paweł Marczewski (Batory Foundation) analysed civic mobilisation in Poland from 2015 to 2023, highlighting how civil society organisations have countered illiberal governance—and questioned whether the recent democratic turnaround is sustainable.

Aleksandra Krstić (University of Belgrade) shared personal insights from her journalistic experience to illustrate how Serbia’s media regulator has been co-opted as a tool for authoritarian consolidation.

Veronica Anghel and Erik Jones (@eui-eu.bsky.social) introduced the concept of “democracy bubbles” to explain why apparently resilient democracies can suddenly collapse—and how they are developing a framework to anticipate institutional breakdown.

🗣️ Licia Cianetti and Nick Cheeseman (University of Birmingham) explored how a state’s administrative, coercive, and extractive capacities influence both the onset and consolidation of authoritarianism.

🔍 How do state capacities shape the trajectory of democratic backsliding?

As the 2025 EGPP Annual Conference is underway, the first panel addressed a critical question: how do institutional capture, state capacity, and democratic fragility interact in today’s political climate?

Delighted to give the keynote at this great conference on resisting autocracy and democratic resilience at the @eui-eu.bsky.social today. The lecture draws on the project “Back from the Brink”, coedited with Isabela Mares and forthcoming in Comparative Political Studies ⬇️

Democracy is under pressure. As autocratic tactics take hold, 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜?

The 2025 EGPP Annual Conference gathers experts to examine authoritarian resilience, digital control, and global governance challenges.

Learn more and register now 🔗 buff.ly/80xsRI7

🎙️ In this episode of the BBC podcast 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘺, experts examine the rapid rise of Calin Georgescu, the annulled election results, and what this means for 🇷🇴 Romania, the EU, and NATO.

🔹 EGPP co-director @vanghel.bsky.social shares her insights.

Listen to the full episode here 🔗 buff.ly/w0eLgMT

In this discussion, Kalypso Nicolaidis will explore the third democratic transformation, examining how the EU can serve as a laboratory for democratic change through decentring, doubting, experimenting, and decolonising.

📍 Register now to join 🔗 www.eui.eu/events?id=56...

Thinking European first and its implications Faced with heightened geopolitical uncertainty, the European Union should base its actions on an overarching principle of ‘thinking European first’

If you want to support a European response to the turbulence coming from across the Atlantic, this piece offers a strong blueprint for action: www.bruegel.org/analysis/thi...