Working Groups & Research Themes

Effect of Growth & Stability Pact on New Member States

Once a country joins the EMU, it no longer has the ability to conduct independent monetary policy. If a country experiences a macroeconomic shock that is different from that of the aggregate members of the EMU, then the only instrument available to counter that shock is fiscal policy. The other option, instigating structural change, lacks the ability to respond quickly to disturbances. The fear is that if a country experiencing an economic downturn finds itself close to the deficit rule of 3% of GDP, then the country must raise taxes and reduce spending just when it needs to do the opposite to stabilize output. This study will analyze policy before and after entry into monetary union. Data will be gathered from the OECD, Eurostat, and from diverse national accounts.

Fiscal Policy in the EU Member States

This project examines the impact of private financial markets, especially those for government bonds, on national government compliance with the EU's fiscal rules. These rules, initially included in the Maastricht Treaty and now embodied in the Stability and Growth Pact, are vital for new member states seeking to participate in EMU.

The European Union as a Foreign Policy Actor

This project is a series of four small workshops, each with two invited speakers that focus on the EU as a foreign policy actor in the broader context of the current debates in comparative politics and international relations on the impact of external actors in domestic political change. The core question of the new working group is a vital one for policy makers: what determines the quality of emerging democratic institutions in states that are transitioning away from authoritarianism, and how do international actors influence the process? The EU's evolution as a foreign policy actor, whether in cooperation with or as a counterweight to the US, is the prime focus of the series.

The New Architecture of EU Governance

"New Architecture" addresses new forms of governance and policy learning in the EU, including the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), consisting of policy coordination processes based on benchmarking national progress towards common European objectives and organized mutual learning in an iterative multi-year cycle. Specific components include Experimentalism and Learning in EU Governance, Law and New Governance in Europe, and Constitutionalism.

Party Positioning on European Integration

This group is run in collaboration with researchers at the Free University, Amsterdam, and involves faculty and graduate student participants from the US and Europe. The group's earlier series of workshops resulted in a published volume, European Integration and Political Conflict, (Cambridge UP, 2004) as well as two original data sets, which are the most commonly used source of data on political parties and European integration, cited in over one hundred scholarly articles. The project extends the data collection to the enlarged EU for 2006.

Virtual Transatlantic Forum on Enterprise and Innovation

Project for business and local government run in collaboration with the Cardiff Business School and the Institute for Emerging Issues at NCSU. Regional economic development is a common challenge across North America and Europe, but the policies that address this challenge vary on each side of the Atlantic. This variation represents a tremendous opportunity for experts and practitioners to learn from each other. The Virtual Transatlantic Forum on Enterprise and Innovation is designed to take advantage of this opportunity and to enhance each side's understanding of the other.

Enlarging Social Europe: The Open Method of Coordination and the EU's New Member States

This ongoing research project brings together a group of prominent academic researchers and policy practitioners from both old and new Member States, as well as the European Commission, to discuss the promise, pitfalls, and prospects of the OMC (Open Method of Coordination) as a new governance tool for an enlarged Social Europe.

Europe's Expanding Social Dimension

This group explores the practical impact of expansion on the Member States, and draws out potential lessons for policy and practice in the US and elsewhere. The theme's five components include: Europeanization and the Reform of National Welfare States, EU Gender Mainstreaming as a Policy Instrument for Equality, Public Health and Comparative Health Policy: A Transatlantic Dialogue, Consumerism and Environmentalism in the Expanding European Union, and Transportation and Environmental Sustainability in the EU: Lessons for the US.

Welfare States and Social Policy in Southern and Eastern EU Member States

The study of welfare states and social policy has been central to Europeanists for over a century. Recently, globalization, European integration and transformations in Central and Eastern Europe have reinvigorated and redirected political and scholarly debates about the structure, meaning and future trajectories of welfare states in Europe. At the same time, cross-disciplinary dialogues have focused attention on the implications of public welfare provisions for social and economic outcomes as diverse as economic growth and fertility, on linkages between welfare regimes and labor market dynamics and, more generally, on linkages between welfare regimes and production regimes.

Exploring Frameworks for TransAtlantic Cooperation

This is a conference series for young professionals on both sides of the Atlantic, which engages current themes in the Transatlantic relationship. The conference fosters discussion, bridges the transatlantic divide, and helps young professionals build personal networks among like-minded Atlanticists. Conference topics, such as Defense and Diplomacy, Trade and Aid, and Immigration and Jobs, represent related themes that are often seen as contradictory, but are areas with great potential for transatlantic cooperation. Organized by a small group of graduates from our Transatlantic Masters program, the program is supervised by Sarah Hutchison, TAM Student Services Director. The project will integrate graduates from our sister program, Euromasters, and other young professionals with interest.

Transatlantic Governance in the New Global Order

This group addresses the central importance of transatlantic relations and the significant role that the EU plays as a key actor in confronting global governance challenges. Specific topics include new security issues, trade and regulatory governance, current account stability and monetary relations.