Research Program
I. Overall Direction
The Institute for European Integration Research (EIF) is the only institute in Austria dedicated to political science basic research in the field of European integration.
Research at the EIF focuses on the policies of the European Union and the direct and indirect effects of Europeanization on both the national and global levels. We analyse, in particular, the EU’s competences and regulatory activities with regard to problem-solving capacities in the multi-level European system.
Within this analytical field, the Institute will lend itself to three closely related and mutually non-exclusive research areas:
- Internal EU policies, including justice, finance, energy, mobility and social policies
- The EU as an externally-oriented and global actor in various policy areas
- The implementation of the various forms of EU law and the resulting effects of Europeanization
The EIF employs the strictest scientific standards in all its activities. Staff members contribute to the progress of political science, and at times the social sciences more broadly, in the context of theory construction as well as relevant empirical research.
II. Specific Approach to Research: Focus on EU Policy Areas
European integration is not a uniform, standardized phenomenon. An integral characteristic of EU integration is the existence of significant differences between individual policies. This applies even to the most fundamental factors, including:
- The division of competences between national and supranational polities (e.g. exclusive authority in areas of competition and foreign trade; no or sluggish initial activity of the EU alongside that of member states with regard to defence policy, or in cultural issues and spatial planning)
- The rules of decision-making, most importantly in the EU’s Council of Ministers (e.g. majority voting for internal market liberalization, the need for unanimity in issues of social security and social protection of the labour force)
- The inclusion of the European Parliament (e.g. approval needed for enlargement, hardly even non-binding consultation in foreign and security policies)
- The degree to which typical steering tools are binding (e.g. compulsory minimum requirements in EU environmental law, non-binding recommendations in employment policy)
- The degree of formalisation of the so-called “new modes of governance” (e.g. collective agreements between the social partners even formally recognised in the Treaties for EU social policy, while there are only informal consultations of private actors in many other policy areas)
Considering these and other policy area-specific differences, systemic comparative analysis of various activities of the European Union will allow for a better understanding of the European multi-level system. Central questions can thus be more easily analysed in cumulative, variable-oriented studies, including:
- What determines problem-solving capacity as well as efficiency and effectiveness of the EU?
- Which specifics of the division of competences or decision-making result in joint-decision traps and regulatory gaps?
- Under what circumstances can integrative effects of long-term cooperation solve stalemates in EU decision-making?
- In which policies does the EU act as a significant independent actor at the global level, and on which factors does the EU’s influence depend?
- To what extent are the EU’s actions and decision-making abilities touched by international organizations?
The differentiated analysis of individual EU policies and their structured comparison is today an indispensable tool in European integration research, and is therefore expressly used by the EIF in order to further the development of theories of political steering and of problem-solving in multi-level systems.
III. Research Fields
The EIF works as a largely coherent group as well as cooperates in flexible combinations of staff in project-based initiatives. The studies can be loosely divided into three separate thematic areas that at the same time intertwine. Two groups of EU-policies can be distinguished on the basis of either the member or third states being the main addressee. Consequently, each group is subject to characteristically specific conditions and dynamics. At the same time, EIF focuses on the (non-)implementation of EU policies and the effect of these measures in practice, which in turn vary according to sector and selected policy instrument.
Research Fields:
IV. Specific Research and Publication Strategies
Regarding research and publication strategies, the EIF pursues a targeted policy that combines innovation and consolidation.
Present-day political science, including EU research, can be seen to face major challenges: a) undue growth of publications with diminishing informational content and innovation; b) over-specialisation on specific issues, quantitative vs. qualitative methods, and/or the use of theoretical lenses; c) growing hurdles to the availability of publications for researchers outside the most wealthy research institutions due to the pricing policy of market-oriented publishers.
In view of these challenges, the EIF will also serve the scientific community by performing an aggregating function:
- One example is our journal Living Reviews in European Governance. It is associated with the German Max Planck Society and solicits reviews on crucial sub-fields of EU studies by high-ranking international researchers. These texts condense knowledge of a specific area and transcend state-of-the-art research in EU studies by highlighting controversies and consensus, as well as indicating avenues for further research. They hence offer orientation in an increasingly complex research field. The published works are rigorously peer-reviewed and are freely accessible to the public via the internet.
- EIF collaborative research projects involve the entire core staff and, where suitable, also external experts. They strive to combine cumulativeness of research on core issues of European integration research with progress in terms of empirical and theoretical analysis. The 2009-2011 project is on the “joint-decision trap” and the resulting book will be published with OUP in early 2011 - read more...
- Additionally, the EIF’s website will host data bases that also aim to collect and aggregate European integration research. In particular, two projects with Dimiter Toshkov from Leiden University offer an analytical synthesis of ALL known quality research with either quantitative or qualitative methods in the field of implementation of EU policies.
Through such common goods - oriented and consolidating activities, the EIF intends to serve the scientific community in the field of European integration.
