Invoking the past to shape the future. The shadow of the past in domestic debates about international openness

I am currently working on a new research project on the politicization of the past in contemporary political debates:

In 1980, one third of the world’s GDP was produced through international trade, but by 2022 this had more than doubled. While when the Berlin wall fell in 1989, the communist countries in Europe were economically isolated from the West, today, most of these countries are integrated into the European single market. At the same time, this timeframe has also seen processes of disintegration. But we know very little about how and why opening and closing borders has been justified at key historical turning points, such as the fall the communism, the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID crisis, or during the Russian war in Ukraine. In order to address this gap, this project analyzes data over the four decades between 1980 and 2022 in all current EU member states, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway.

The political economy of international openness in post-communist Europe

My book Parties, Power and Policy-making. From Higher Education to Multinationals in Post-Communist Societies makes a novel contribution to the political economy of international investment and skill formation. Empirically, it focuses on the ten former communist countries that have joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007. It shows how policies regulating higher education and international investment were steered by political parties in government in their attempts to provide the conditions conducive to economic growth. My research offers a new angle for understanding these emerging market economies, highlighting the relationship between higher education institutions and multinational companies. I show how these countries have become reliant on multinational companies (MNCs), given their governments’ strategies to attract foreign capital.

International negotiations

Another line of my research explains decision-making processes in international negotiations, focusing on the European Union (EU) and on the World Trade Organization (WTO). Substantially, I have analyzed the political decisions during the European financial crisis that have led to major reforms of the Economic Monetary Union. Empirically, I contributed to an innovative major data collection process and to making data available to the entire research community on a Horizon2020 project (EMU Choices). This work shows that the financial sector exposure of the different EU members informed their positions on European integration. In related work, I analyze the bargaining situations of countries during the financial crisis and argue that these negotiations have not produced clear winners and losers. Furthermore, many of the decisions have been driven by the executive branch, which poses questions about the democratic nature of the European integration process.

Values and interests in European politics

Another major research area focuses on the conflict between values and interests in European politics. I analyze this conflict from two angles.

First, I research the delegation of power to political representatives and to technocratic bodies as potential solutions to solving the trade-off between values and interests in the European Union. My work shows that the technocratic nature of the European Union has been overshadowed by the politics of its member states.

Second, I focus on the perception of this conflict globally. The project on European studies in Asia looks into how Europe is taught and researched about in selected Asian countries. One article in JCMS rests on fieldwork in Beijing and argues that knowledge production about Europe in China serves the political purposes of the Communist Party, which uses European conflicts to justify its own positions.