Faculty/Departement : Institut d’études européennes (IEE)

Supervisor: Professor Amandine Crespy

Contract Type: International Post-doctoral Fellowship

Contract Length: 2 years (24 months)

Work Time: Full-Time

Start Date: September 2023

External Funding Source: RED-SPINEL (Horizon Europe-RIA n°101061621)

Remuneration: approx. 2600 €/month net (variation according to personnal situation & taxes + periodic indexation on inflation) 

The selected candidate will be hired for a 2 year contract as a full-time Post-Doctoral Fellow in the framework of Horizon project RED-SPINEL ('Respond to Emerging Dissensus: SuPranational Instruments and Norms of European democracy')

The selected candidate will take on a research & management mandate on external (EU) funding.

As part of the research team based at the Institut d’études européennes (IEE), the hired post-doctoral fellow will contribute to the research capacities dedicated to the RED-SPINEL research project, specifically those associated with the project’s Work Package 5 entitled EU economic governance instruments and the rule of law, under the supervision of Prof. Arnaud Waeyenberge (HEC Paris). WP 5 involves the Haute Ecole de Commerce (HEC) in Paris, A. Waeyenberge), University LUISS Guido Carli in Rome (T. Christiansen, C. Fasone) and Université libre de Bruxelles (A. Crespy).

The scientific input provided by the fellow will deal in particular with the following research line within the WP: the rise of conditionality (in its various forms) as the key governance device in the recovery agenda.

The hired Post-Doctoral Fellow will contribute to the following missions:

• Conduct research aiming to achieve the milestones and deliverables of the work package (including data collection and drafting of papers to publishable standard)
• Disseminate scientific results at various events
• Help in the coordination and organisation of work (and events) in the framework of Red Spinel WP 5 in relation with partner universities/colleagues

The Project

RED-SPINEL (https://redspinel.iee-ulb.eu/) is a 36-month long, 3.2 million euro, interdisciplinary, international and intersectoral project coordinated by the Institut d’études européennes of the ULB (PI Ramona Coman) involving seven higher education institutions: Université libre de Bruxelles, Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai, HEC Paris, Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu and the University of Warwick. They are joined in the consortium by four non-academic partners: Peace Action, Training and Research Institute in Romania, Milieu Consulting, Magyar Helsinki Bizottság / Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Stichting Nederlands Instituut voor Internationale Betrekkingen Clingendael across eight European countries.

The project will analyse the changing nature of dissensus surrounding liberal democracy and its implications for EU supranational policy instruments. It will unpack the inter-connected drivers of contemporary dissensus surrounding liberal democracy. The project will develop a range of scientifically informed policy recommendations and capacity-building efforts able to foster innovative democratic practices able to respond to the present-day dissensus.

Empirically, RED-SPINEL will focus on the key policy instruments and legal mechanisms shaping the EU’s efforts in support of democracy and the rule of law. The studied instruments include the EU rule of law toolbox, the neighbourhood and accession instruments, the European semester, fundamental rights, and judicial instruments, as well as citizen participation platforms. Furthermore, through a series of stakeholder events, RED-SPINEL will flesh out the implications of its findings for public policy stakeholders (i.e. legal professionals, policymakers, European youth) as well as EU instruments aimed at responding to said dissensus. The project’s concept-building effort will centre on the notion of ‘dissensus’ as it explores how contemporary dissensus surrounding liberal democracy differs from previous debates and which more fundamental questions it raises about future democratic practices and the rule of law. Ultimately, RED-SPINEL will provide a typology of said dissensus, map the principal actors of the dissensus in Europe and unpack its two underlying drivers – i.e., heightened internal contestation over liberal democracy and external competition from alternative illiberal models.

Coordinated by HEC, WP 5 on ‘EU Economic Governance Instruments and the Rule of Law’ will explore how, in response to the apparent ineffectiveness of the political protection of the rule of law and democratic procedures within the EU, the EU has launched a new strategy relying on a series of complementary instruments steeped in judicial and techno-managerial mechanisms rooted in European economic governance and the regulation of the EU’s Single Market. This partly involves the creation of dedicated mechanisms and partly the use of instruments developed in the context of the surveillance of national policies or the application of EU law.

Concomitantly, the instruments studied by WP5 have also increasingly integrated gender. As the European semester has explored gendered forms of budgeting it has become a further source of dissensus. Overall, WP5 will critically assess these new strategies and it will do this in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders involved in the European Semester, among first and foremost among which policymakers, experts, and the social partners at both the EU and Member State levels. The research will: (1) identifying the techno-managerial mechanisms mobilised; (2) analysing the consequences of this new approach for the protection of the rule of law and democracy within the EU; and (3) considering how the resulting executive arbitrage between the rule of law and the economic and fiscal objectives pursued by the Economic and Monetary Union have impacted the politicisation of EU governance.

Empirically, WP5 will focus on two aspects: 1) the use of economic instruments to achieve goals related to democracy and the rule of law within and outside of the EU, 2) the rise of conditionality (in its various forms) as the key governance device in the recovery agenda. Across both areas of investigation, dynamics of politicisation, and outcomes in terms of policy effectiveness and political legitimacy will be scrutinised. To this end, WP5 will: (1) identify the techno-managerial socio-economic governance mechanisms mobilised by the EU to equally monitor and promote liberal democratic principles, (2) analyse the consequences of a Single Market-driven approach to the protection of the Rule of Law and democracy within the EU, and (3) consider how the resulting executive arbitrage between the rule of law and the economic and fiscal objectives pursued by the Economic and Monetary Union have impacted the politicisation of EU governance (see Fig. 1.3.).

Work Environment and conditions

The Institut d’études européennes (IEE) at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) isa Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. As such, it is a recognised for its expertise in European Studies. The IEE-ULB carries out its own interdisciplinary research projects. At the same time, it promotes the work of its affiliated members on European issues within the associated research units and centres of its three partner faculties - the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Law and Criminology and The Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. The IEE-ULB develops an interdisciplinary research agenda established by the Institute’s Research Committee. The current agenda is based on four research themes that are articulated around political sciences, law, economics, history, values and global interactions: Europe as an area of freedom, security & justice; Europe as an area of economic & social regulation; Europe as a community of norms & values; and Europe in the world.

The hired Post-doctoral Fellow will be a member of an IEE-based research and management team coordinated by Professor Ramona Coman and dedicated to the implementation, coordination, and promotion of RED-SPINEL.

Research will be coordinated in collaboration with Prof. Amandine Crespy in connection with the team of colleagues at LUISS.

Additional information can be received by contacting amandine.crespy@ulb.be