The project will deal with the notion of crisis in the European Union. It will focus on the definition of crisis in the European system, as it evolved historically in its various components (institutional, political, economic, social, and moral) and discuss the outcomes of crisis. The project is multidisciplinary in nature. It will, however, articulate in several more specific areas of research, all interconnected. The historical dimension will revolve around the comparison of the features of the crisis in the 1970s and nowadays, reflecting on the factors that suggest opposite responses - more Europe vs less Euro(pe). Specific focuses will include the changes in structural element of European integration, and especially the national dimension of redistributive policies, the development of technocratic transnational networks and specialised systems of knowledge, the definition of European citizenship and the entitlement to differentiated degrees of protection of rights, the perception of a democratic deficit and the prospects of solution.

Research Team

Luisa Antoniolli, Matteo Borzaga, Gustavo Corni, Giorgio Guido Fodor, Sara Lorenzini, Carlo Ruzza, Jens Woelk

Post-doc Fellow

Umberto Tulli (until December 2015)

Recent publications relevant to the project

In light of Europe’s prolonged state of crisis, this book reassesses the challenges and prospects of the European integration process. Scholars from diverse disciplines reflect on various types of integration by analyzing political, economic and sociological variables, while also taking legal and cultural constraints into account. Readers will learn about the dilemmas and challenges of the European transformation process as well as political reforms to overcome these challenges.

  • Bonatti L., Fracasso. A. (2019). "Policy inertia, self-defeating expectations and structural reforms: can policy modelling cope?" Journal of Policy Modeling,41(5), 943-962,doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2019.04.004
  • Tulli, U. (2017), "Un Parlamento per l'Europa. Il Parlamento Europeo e la battaglia per la sua elezione (1948-1979", Le Monnier.
  • Borzaga, M. (2017), "The Italian Social Security System after the Recent Economic and Financial Crisis and the Related Reforms: Are Austerity Measuresthe Right Answer?", Journal of Social Security Law, Issue 2.
  • Tulli, U. (2017), “Challenging Intergovernamentalism and EPC. The European Parliament and Its Actions in International Relations, 1970-1979”, Journal of Contemporary European Research, Vol.13, Issue 2.
  • Tulli, U. (2017), “The Limits of the European Political Cooperation? The EC Members at the Belgrade CSCE Review Conference”, in G. Clemens (ed.)  G. Clemens (ed. by), The Quest for Europeanization / Die Suche nach Europäisierung, Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2017, pp. 71-86.
  • Tulli, U. (2016), "The EC Identity between External Relations and Institutional Evolution", Contemporary European History.
  • Lorenzini, S. (2016), “Ecologia a parole? L’Italia, l’ambientalismo globale e il rapporto ambiente-sviluppo intorno alla conferenza di Stoccolma”, in Contemporanea DOI:doi: 10.1409/84112. pp.395-418. In CONTEMPORANEA - ISSN:1127-3070 vol. 2016 (3).
  • Tulli, U. (2016),"The Search for a European Identity in the Long 1970s: External Relations and Institutional Evolution in the EC”, Contemporary European History, Vol.25, Issue 3.
  • Lorenzini S. (2016), “Ace in the hole or hole in the pocket? The Italian Mezzogiorno and the story of a troubled transition from development model to development donor”, Contemporary European History , DOI:10.1017/S0960777316000576. pp.1-23. In Contemporaru European History - ISSN:0960-7773 vol. 2016 (26, I).
  • Tulli, U. (2016), “Electing the European Parliament. Some Historiographical Notes”, The International History Review, Vo.38, Issue 1 (2016).
  • Tulli, U. (2015),“A Salutary Shock? The 30 years struggle for the introduction of European Elections”. SIS Working PaperWP02/2015.
  • Borzaga M. (2015), "Il decentramento “controllato” della contrattazione collettiva nella Repubblica Federale Tedesca come antidoto alla crisi economica: realtà o mito?", in Giornale di Diritto del Lavoro e di Relazioni Industriali, 2015, 2, 146, p. 275-293.
  • Borzaga M. (2014), "Contratti collettivi in deroga, crisi economica e dinamiche occupazionali nella Repubblica Federale Tedesca: spunti di riflessione per il caso italiano", in M. Barbera e A. Perulli (a cura di) Consenso, dissenso e rappresentanza: le nuove relazioni sindacali, CEDAM, Padova, p. 23-32.
  • Borzaga M. (2014),  "Luci e ombre delle più recenti riforme del mercato del lavoro tedesco agli occhi del giuslavorista italiano", in Lavoro e Diritto, 1, p. 17-33.
  • Lorenzini S. (2014), "Modernisierung durch Handel. Der Ostblock und die Koordinierung der Entwicklungshilfe in der Ständigen Kommission für Technische Unterstützung", in: Martin Aust/Julia Obertreis (Hg.): Osteuropäische Geschichte und Globalgeschichte, Stuttgart, Steiner-Verlag, S. 225-240;
  • Lorenzini S. (2012), “Comecon and the South in the Years of Détente: A Study on East-South Economic Relations”, European Review of History, 2/2014 "Sviluppo e strategie di guerra fredda: il contagio difficile" in Storica, 2012, n. 53 (2012), p. 7-37;
  • Ruzza C. (2014), "Civil Society Actors and EU Fundamental Rights Policy: Opportunities and Challenges", Human Rights Review 15 (1):65-81;
  • Ruzza, C. (2012), "Sociedad civil buena, sociedad civil mala", Puente@Europa, 2 (December);
  • Lorenzini S. (2012), "L’aiuto allo sviluppo: un capolavoro della comunicazione politica?" in La comunicazione nella politica dal Medioevo al Novecento, Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2012, p. 209-229. - (Studi sulla comunicazione politica);
  • Lorenzini S. (2012), "The Dilemmas of Solidarity: East German Policies in Africa in the Age of Modernization " in Die eine Welt schaffen: Create One World, Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsanstalt, 2012, p. 57-72. - (ITH Tagungsberichte);
  • Ruzza, C. (2011), "Social Movements and the European Interest Intermediation of Public Interest Groups", Journal of European Integration, 33 (3);
  • Ruzza, C. (2011), "The international protection regime for minorities, the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the EU: new challenges for non-state actors", International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 18 (2): 219-234.

Other related activities

  • GOGLOB: Going Global. The History of EC/EU External Relations.
  • Tulli U., Settembre 2015: Partecipazione alla conferenza, “Frontiers of Research at the SIS”, Scuola di Studi Internazionali, Università di Trento.
  • Tulli U., Settembre 2015: Missione di ricerca presso gli Archivi Storici dell'Unione Europea (Firenze).
  • Tulli U., Aprile – Maggio 2015: Missione di ricerca presso gli Archivi Storici dell'Unione Europea (Firenze).
  • Tulli U., Febbraio 2015: Partecipazione alla conferenza internazionale  Europeanization of Foreign Policies. International Socialization in Intergovernmental Policy Fields, Università di Amburgo (Germania).
  • Tulli U., Febbraio 2015: Missione di ricerca presso CARDOC – Archivi Storici del Parlamento Europeo (Lussemburgo).