Crises and beyond: the EU at a crossroads

This section is particularly interested in research that engages with what has been described in the literature as times of ‘permanent emergency’, ‘polycrisis’, or ‘permacrisis’. The idea that we are living in an era of multiple and continuous crises tries to capture the rapid transformation of EU governance and policies and its significance and implications for member-states. Such swift change bears the potential of fracturing the EU with new transversal and multiple cleavages by triggering renewed bilateralism amongst EU member states. On the other hand, the rapid transformation of the EU renders it possible for member-states to move the European project forward, especially in policy areas under crises in which a collective response is needed. Facing a series of crises, with the latest ones being the pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine, the EU has proven resilient. This is even more remarkable given that the polycrisis is global in nature, putting the EU under even more pressure to come up with common solutions and play a pivotal role in international cooperation. Notwithstanding this fact, the EU demonstrated unity with Brexit but also with respect to Russia by imposing sanctions. Moreover, the EU has proven its ambition on the green transition and the digital agenda, while reconsidering and enhancing its strategic autonomy. This has led to a rich body of literature, with scholarship exploring the capacity of the EU and its member-states to move towards what has been describes as coordinative Europeanization. This section seeks to explore the state of the art on crisis-related research in Europe but to also go a step further and explore emerging methodological and theoretical avenues in the crisis-related literature. The section will also discuss what has been learned and what trends can be identified beyond the crisis framework. We are looking for innovative and frontier-edge contributions in various policy areas of the EU in order to understand how the EU-state relationship has been transformed, but also what can we learn from crisis modes of governance and responses at the sub-national, as well as at the national, international and transnational level. We are more specifically looking for papers on: ▪️ How crises have changed the modes of governance in the European Union (EU) and the sustainability of these transformations? ▪️ To what extent has the EU-state relationship been transformed? ▪️ To what extent have crises led to transformations in EU decision-making and policy-making at international, transnational and sub-national level? ▪️ What actors have been strengthened or weakened in times of crisis? ▪️ what policy areas have seen the most drastic transformation? ▪️ are there divergences or convergences in public policy responses across Europe during and beyond crises? ▪️ How has the role of the EU as a global actor developed during crises and by its response to crises?