Whereas the EU is generally depicted as polity based on consensus (or even unanimity), this assumption can be questioned with respect to various evidence for contention and conflict within the EU. Directly or indirectly, political conflict is related to what the EU is, should be or how it functions. Beyond the unsatisfying notion of “euroscepticism”, the aim of the panel is to explore resistance to certain aspects of European integration by various actors and institutions. Regarding the great amount of academic literature about euroscepticism within political parties, the objective of the panel is to discuss new empirical as well as theoretical perspectives on the issue of resistance to European integration. Hence, we will favour papers which deal with other topics than
euroscpeticism within political parties, such as “contentious episodes” in EU politics, forms of conflict within the EU policy making, actors and discourses contesting the (bureaucratic, centralizing, etc) nature of the EU, conflict within the EU policy making, theoretical reflections on resistance to EU integration, alternative representations of the EU, etc.

Three papers will be selected in order to be included in a proposition for the corresponding panel in Riga. The panel itself will be then submitted to a selection procedure; hence we cannot guarantee that it will be accepted. However, the organization of this panel is closely related to the project “Resisting Europe” which is being conducted at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Therefore, in case where the panel should be rejected by Riga organizers, some of the paper authors could be invited to take part either in a similar panel at the ECPR Graduate Conference (Barcelona, 25-27 August 2008) or in a workshop which would take place at ULB.

Deadline for proposals: 17 February 2008
Panel convenor: Amandine Crespy, PhD/research fellow at Cevipol (ULB)
Panel chair: Jean-Michel De Waele, Director of Cevipol (ULB)

Contact and applications:
Amandine Crespy acrespy@ulb.ac.be