News 2013
31 December 2013: Highest number of SSCI publications since the foundation of the Institute
The Institute for European Integration Research achieved a top performance with 11 articles published in prestigious journals which are included in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). In both the Journal of European Public Policy and the Journal of International Migration, two contributions have been published. Other articles have appeared in the Common Market Law Review, the European Union Politics, the Journal of Common Market Studies, the West European Politics, the European Urban and Regional Studies, the Europe Asia Studies and the Journal of Regional Studies.
9 December 2013: Inter-departmental workshops
The EIF organizes inter-disciplinary events on EU-related topics, bringing various faculties and departments together. In 2013, the Institute conducted 7 inter-departmental workshops on current issues like EU Social Policy, Competition Law, European (Dis-)Integration, and Human Rights and Refugee Policy. In 2014, the EIF will continue its cooperation with other departments to establish a broader public discussion on scientific issues related to European integration.
4-9 November 2013: Visiting Professor Sciences Po
Gerda Falkner is a Visiting Professor at the most prestigious centre of excellence in French political science: Sciences Po in Paris. This is a joint appointment with LIEPP, the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for the Evaluation of Public Policies, which has been selected as a ‘Laboratoire d’excellence’ to be financed for the next 10 years by the French government. It brings together more than 55 researchers from Sciences Po specialised in 4 disciplines and affiliated with 4 of its research units. In her lecture, EIF’s Director presents current problems of European integration and participates in an international workshop on “new modes of governance” in the EU. Gerda Falkner’s paper on this issue ‘Is the EU a non-compliance community? Towards "compliance for credibility" and EU action for the protection of democracy in Europe’ is available online at Les Cahiers européens de Science Po, 01/2013, pp. 1-58: http://www.cee.sciences-po.fr/fr/publications/les-cahiers-europeens/2013.html.
4-7 September 2013: 7th ECPR General Conference
The Institut d'études politiques de Paris (shortened as Sciences Po) and the independent, scholarly association European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), organized a conference on current research issues in Bordeaux, France. Four EIF staff members contributed to the conference: Guido Schwellnus presented a paper which offers a solution to a yet untackled problem in fuzzy-sets within Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), namely the inclusion of irrelevant cases. Ariadna Ripoll Servent chaired and Florian Trauner was the discussant in a panel on policy changes and how EU institutions respond in the area of freedom, security and justice. They also presented a joint case study asking if supranational institutions matter in the field of EU asylum. Vessela Hristova contributed her paper on the regulation of genetically modified crops in the EU to a panel discussing federalism as an institutional order and public policy regime.
25 - 27 June 2013: CES International Conference of Europeanists
Cornell University’s Council for European Studies (CES) held a conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Five EIF staff members participated: Gerda Falkner discussed multi-form non-compliance in the EU relating to the current crisis and chaired a panel focused on the collaborative book project of the institute, EU Policies In a Global Perspective: Shaping or Taking International Regimes? Within this panel, co-editor Patrick Müller discussed the conceptual framework for the project, Guido Schwellnus spoke about his chapter on social rights, Zdenek Kudrna addressed banking and accounting regulation, and Gerda Falkner presented the comparative conclusions of the project. Guido Schwellnus also presented his paper on uploading EU social standards to ILO Conventions, and Zdenek Kudrna discussed an additional paper on the banking union and new member states as well. Marcin Dabrowski chaired a panel on the effects of the crisis on cohesion policy and the implications for regional governance, and presented a paper during the panel on financial engineering instruments for urban development in a time of austerity.
2013: Austrian Research and Technology Report
The Austrian Research and Technology Report of 2013 positively mentions the two open access journals (OAJ) published by EIF, the Living Reviews in European Governance and the European Integration online Papers. Regarding the development of open access journals in Austria, the report states that a total of 40 OAJs were being published by the end of 2012, the most well-known and respected of which are the Living Reviews in European Governance, European Integration online Papers, Myrmecological News, and the Vienna Yearbook of Population Research.
Forschungs- und Technologiebericht 2013
9 - 11 May 2013: EUSA Thirteenth Biennial Conference
The European Union Studies Association (EUSA) held a conference in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Six EIF staff members participated: Vessela Hristova presented a paper which considers the extent to which national diversity is accommodated in the integration process of the EU and discussed her contribution to the collaborative book project - the role of the EU in setting international food safety standards. Ariadna Ripoll Servent chaired a panel and presented a paper on the EU’s migration polices; she also spoke about her paper on institutional constructivism and the Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice. Florian Trauner was the discussant on two panels and presented a paper on the impact of EU migration policies on African nations. Marco Botta and Guido Schwellnus presented their joint paper on the effectiveness of conditionality regarding EU State Aid in candidate countries. Peter Slominski discussed his paper on the legal norms surrounding Frontex.
6 May 2013: JCMS Annual Review Lecture
This year, the Journal of Common Market Studies’ Annual Review Lecture was held by EIF’s director, Gerda Falkner, at the University of Bratislava. Falkner asked, “Is the EU losing its credibility?” and voiced some bold policy recommendations that could move the EU towards “compliance for credibility.” In a situation of increasingly centrifugal forces and great instability, a growing perception that the EU might be a “non-compliance community” could indeed be disastrous. Nonetheless, non-compliance with EU policies is multiform and has recently happened at an increasing number of different levels, with rising frequency on at least some of them and with great visibility to a broad audience. Falkner argues that if the EU wants to safeguard its reputation, then the commitments it makes must be seen to be real and therefore, urgent action is imperative. Considering recent suspicions of non-compliance with even the basic democratic values of the EU in some member states, such as Hungary and Romania, campaigning and acting for the rule-of-law and democracy in Europe could help the EU build up a more positive image in the long run. Falkner’s paper will be published in the JCMS Annual Review in August; a longer version with a wealth of data is also forthcoming as a working paper (available upon request, eif@univie.ac.at).
19 April 2013: EIF's Director Full Member of Academy of Sciences
In recognition of her achievements, the Austrian Academy of Sciences elected EIF's Director Gerda Falkner as a Full Member (Wirkliches Mitglied).
March 2013: EIF at the International Studies Association Convention
Several EIF staff participated in the 54th ISA Annual Convention in San Francisco, California, USA - the major event in international relations.
A panel organised by Gerda Falkner and Patrick Müller presented the findings of the EIF project on "EU Policies in a Global Perspective" with presentations of the chapters on trade (Dirk De Bièvre, Antwerp), environment (Katharina Holzinger, Kostanz and Thomas Sommerer, Stockholm), agriculture (Christilla Roederer-Rynning, University of Southern Denmark) and finance (Zdenek Kudrna, University of Vienna).
January 2013: Routledge offers book contract
EIF's collaborative research project on “EU policies in a global perspective”, bringing together EIF staff and international experts for policies not covered by the internal staff, has resulted in a book manuscript to be published with this renowned international publisher in late 2013.
