Populism and the Geoeconomic Turn in the European Union

Abstract

Two parallel developments have shaped politics in the European Union in recent years. On the one hand, the EU has entered what has been called a geoeconomic turn. Driven by the increased weaponization of economic interdependence on the part of great powers and by the more widespread use of economic coercion, the EU has promoted notions of economic security and started devising ways to react to increasing great-power rivalries. On the other hand, populist parties have gained traction in most European countries, pushing for a re-shaping of their countries’ agendas. Meanwhile, populist governments in some European countries have tried to reshape some of the foundations of the EU’s foreign economic policies. The proposed panel aims to look at how the two broad trends of populism and the geoeconomics turn have intersected in the EU. It asks about the role of populism in shaping the EU’s policies on geoeconomics issues. In particular, it is interested in how populist actors have contributed to complicating coalition-building around issues related to economic security. Further, it looks at how populism impacts the politicization of foreign policy. The panel thus integrates perspectives from EU studies, International Political Economy, and Foreign Policy Analysis.

Title	Details
A New Geoeconomic Power? The EU in the Face of Populism and a Retreat from International Liberalism	View Paper Details
Geoeconomic Faultlines? Party-political cleavages on EU geoeconomic instruments	View Paper Details
Between a Rock and A Hard Place: Negotiating the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act in Times of Populism and Geoeconomic Uncertainty	View Paper Details
The Politicization of Foreign Policy: Populists and the Geoeconomic Turn in Europe	View Paper Details