Rethinking European politics

Organised by

• Department of Political and Social Sciences

The main purpose of the presentation is to shed new light on the importance of accommodation of difference/diversity for the European Union, what that implies for our theoretical understanding of political (dis)integration, and whether there are broader lessons from the European experience of value and relevance for other contested polities. Accommodation figures centrally in the broader body of literature on multinational federations and other forms of contested polities and policies, and this body of literature holds valuable resources for the study of the EU.

In the EU context, prevailing accounts of integration have not paid sufficient heed to how integration is often bent to serve the need for accommodation. Accommodation is not merely a technique it is also a mindset and culture and can be traced in institutional arrangements and process dynamics (of coming together or moving apart). Thus far no systematic assessment has been undertaken to clarify the role of accommodation for the shaping of the EU as a political system. Such an account needs to include the importance of historical context, notably the deep conflicts that marked Europe after the Second World War and during the Cold War. Healing these rifts have involved large-scale efforts at reconciliation. Europe’s historical legacy underlines the need to consider how accommodation and reconciliation are related. Tracking these issues to the present provides new knowledge and understanding of the EU’s resilience when faced with the upsurge of populism and Euroscepticism in a world where rule of law and constitutional democracy appear more and more to be hanging in the balance.