ECSA-CH 2017 Annual Conference

The notion of “integration” has long fascinated scholars of the European Union (EU), and this has been true across all disciplinary boundaries. While the union was meant to become “evercloser”, the ways to get there have been progressively conceived to be more or less differentiated, both on the inside and on the outside, and even at the periphery. Following the post-2005 constitutional disenchantment and the recent string of crises, it has become urgent to take stock and reflect critically on the nature, scope and legitimacy of the European integration project. Post-Brexit, talk of “disintegration” has actually become common, and EU scholars need to get their minds around what this could mean concretely. More generally, proposals to de-construct and reconstruct the European project need discussing as there should be no dearth of creative and constructive thinking in 21st Century European studies. The search for alternatives should not be discredited as a critique of the European project (Joerges/Kreuder-Sonnen 2016: 27). Needless to say: Swiss EU scholars are ideally situated to contribute to this debate given the idiosyncratic form of “integration” Switzerland has been pursuing with the EU since the late 1990s.
The conference intends to reflect the best of current Swiss multi-disciplinary research in European studies (whether in law, political and social sciences, history, philosophy or economics) and to foster dialogue between those different perspectives on the EU.