“What is it that unites the European Union as a polity? Why is it necessary to democratise the EU? Can EU politicisation help democratising the EU? Why do EU citizens in referenda seemingly vote against the EU? And how can a European identity develop?” (www.routledge.com)

Claudia Wiesner (Fulda), Vivian Seidel (PARI) and Christiane Kuller (Erfurt) discussed these questions with the audience.

Is democracy in crisis, has it even reached the end of its own history, or does it have prospects for development?

In the discussion on these questions, Wolfgang Merkel (Prof. em Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin & Humboldt Universität zu Berlin; Fellow at the Central European University Budapest) and Veith Selk (Privatdozent at the TU Darmstadt & Senior Fellow at the Point Alpha Research Institute) presented their new books to each other. Claudia Wiesner (Professor at Fulda University of Applied Sciences and Managing Director of the Point Alpha Research Institute) moderated the discussion.

Claudia Wiesner, Knud Erik Joergensen and Oriol Costa Fernandes on the differential meanings of “Europe” in the interdisciplinary workshop “Europe in the World. Ideas, Criticism and Challenges”

1. Claudia Wiesner – The Meanings of Europe
2. Knud Erik Joergensen – War and Peace in Europen Studies: a Zeitenwende
3. Oriol Costa Fernandes: Back to the roots? The War in Ukraine and Grand Theories in IR

Panel of the workshop “Europe in the world” with inputs of:

1. August Danielson – The Political and the Technical: How the Depoliticization of EU. Foreign Policy Enables the Forging of Consensus 2. Federica Bicchi (online) – ‘Renaissance’ of European diplomacy or flight from reality?. Perils and promises of European diplomacy in the digital age 3. Elsa Hedling (online) – ‘Visibility’ to Promote or Protect the Image(s) of the EU?: The EEAS and the shifting conditions for the EU in the World

The role and position of Europe in the world have been subject of intense debates in IR and beyond in the last decades. Different strands of argumentation touch on ideational, hierarchical, and material issues.

On the ideational side, criticism of Eurocentrism addresses, on the one hand, a set of ideas, theories and practicing of a rationalist modern ideal of governing, relating to expertise and bureaucracy, and the consequences it had for the destruction of the planet. On the other hand, the Eurocentrism critique questions Europe´s colonial legacy. However, European modernity has a Janus-faced character, as it also stands for the development of representative democracy and human rights.

Regarding the hierarchical and material questions, Europe´s economic prosperity, the question of centre versus periphery in the world economy, and again the question of the planet´s future are at stake:

How does Europe, how does the European Union situate themselves in the Anthropocene?

In addition, the role of Europe and the European Union in the world are now challenged with the War against Ukraine, the question being how the European States and the EU can position themselves in a changing world order. Importantly, Europe in all this is not identical with the European Union.

The workshop unites contributions that tackle one or several of these questions and challenges, theoretically and/or empirically.