WORPOL - the European Union in World Politics: what power? What leadership? A multidisciplinary approach

Scientific manager: Prof.ssa Giuliana Laschi

Project typology: Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence

Unibo structure involved: Punto Europa – Campus di Forlì
Unibo Team: Prof.ssa Francesca Fauri, Prof. Giulio Ecchia, Prof. Marco Balboni, Prof. Marco Borraccetti, Prof.ssa Sonia Lucarelli, Prof. Paolo Zurla, Prof. Mauro Maggiorani, Prof. Carlos Eduardo Pacheco Amaral, Prof. George Contogeorgis, Prof.ssa Raphaela Averkorn, Prof.ssa Maria Manuela Tavares Ribeiro, Prof. Alexis Vahlas, Prof.ssa Ana Maria Rabelo Gomes, Prof. Alexandre Mendes Cunha, Prof. Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak, Dott.ssa Michela Ceccorulli, Dott. Fabio Casini, Dott.ssa Elisa Pinelli, Dott.ssa Angela Santese, Dott.ssa Federica Fantini

Thematic Area:

  • EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy
  • International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation
  • Research and innovation

Website: www.puntoeuropa.eu

Project Duration in months: 36
Start Date: 01/09/2014
End Date: 31/08/2017

Budget: 128.050 euro

Description
This project is directed to the study of patterns concerning the European Power in relation to the rest of the world. The topic will be addressed through five subthemes closely interrelated: migration, security, development cooperation, social economy and human rights. If the literature deals with each of these themes separately, the aim here is to understand them in their interrelations and by adopting a truly interdisciplinary (law, history, economy and political science) perspective. This will guaranty a constructive dialogue and will foster a significant cross fertilisation with international project partners such as Azores, Germany, Greece, Portugal, France and Brazil.

This research is particularly important and timely for several reasons. The EU is widely appreciated for its specific international stance (as a sort of civilian power of a new sort), but few consider it to be a world leader. An exploration of the reason of this and the comparison between strengths and weaknesses will therefore be undertaken. In addition, the project explores the possible internal impact of the EU’s external stance: as well as the interaction with the external environment can be considered as a gradual result of the integration process.

The general aim of the project is to show how and why the EU has come to assume the status of a global power, and to what extent this status affects the international context. The activities foreseen include research, teaching and the organisation of several events and outputs. Given the high importance of the theme of research, an impact in the international academic community and in the local civil society is envisaged. The meetings of general monitoring of the ED Scientific Committee, the percentage of conference’s lecturers going on with the research activity, the attendance forms and the questionnaires for the general public and the number of viWebsiters of the website will constitute the main indicators of achievement.

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union