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‘The External’ by EU-RENEW keeps you up to date on the latest scholarship on Europe in the World. EU-RENEW is a Jean Monnet Policy Debate project funded by the European Union’s Erasmus Programme.
24 Episodes
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In an analysis of French companies in response to the French Duty of Vigilance Law, Dr. Bernhard Reinsberg and Dr. Christoph Valentin Steinert assess whether compliance with mandatory due diligence laws impacts businesses' profitability. Their findings of their article 'The French duty of vigilance law: reconciling human rights and firm profitability’ published in the Review of International Political Economychallenge widespread industry claims that such regulations threaten competitiveness and provide crucial evidence for policymakers considering similar legislation worldwide.
In their article, ‘From Constructive Ambiguity to Escalating Commitment: The Evolution of the Bangladesh Accord as a Transnational Institution for Collective Action’ in Administrative Science Quarterly, Juliane Reinecke and Jimmy Donaghey uncover how strategic ambiguity in international agreements can paradoxically strengthen rather than weaken collective action. Their eight-year study of the Bangladesh Accord for Fire and Building Safety demonstrates how deliberately vague language that initially enables difficult negotiations can evolve into robust, expanding commitments that exceed original expectations. Tune in for a summary of their key findings.
Research from Dr Aikaterini-Christina Koula at Manchester Metropolitan University reveals how legal systems are increasingly being weaponized to silence human rights defenders, particularly in Europe. Her work introduces a taxonomy of violations perpetrated through the legal system and demonstrates how these tactics deviate from human rights standards, offering valuable insights for academics, practitioners, and defenders alike.Episode 24 of the External presents a concise summary of her paper (2024) 'Human Rights Violations Committed Against Human Rights Defenders Through the Use of Legal System: A Trend in Europe and Beyond’ in Human Rights Review.
In Episode 23, we are joined by Dr. Nicolás Pose-Ferraro (University of the Republic of Uruguay) to discuss his 2025 article in the Journal of Common Market Studies, ‘Between Geopolitics and Political Economy: The European Union–Mercosur Negotiation to Form a Trade Agreement’, which explores the reasons behind the latest push to conclude the EU-Mercosur agreement and what threatens its completion.
In ‘International Attention and the Protection of Human Rights Defenders: Campaigning for Agents of Change’ (Routledge 2023), Dr. Janika Spannagel (Freie Universitat Berlin) seeks to address the question of whether and how international attention can protect and enable domestic human rights activists in authoritarian settings.In episode 22, Janika Spannagel joins the External to discuss the key insights from the book.
In his new book Europeanization and Informal Networks in Southeastern Europe (2025, Routledge), Alexander Mesarovich (European University Institute) considers the impact of political culture, including informal rules which regulate political behaviour, on formal political processes. Exploring the EU accession processes of Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia, Mesarovich identifies how the working and social culture of political elites enabled and/or constrained the ability of the respective legislatures to pass the reforms necessary to become members of the EU.
In episode 21, Alexander Mesarovich joins the External to discuss the key insights from his research.
The EU has been widely criticized for its approach to migration. It has been accused of being cynical, negligent and even ‘illiberal’. But are these allegations correct?
In episode 20, Michela Ceccorulli and Sonia Lucarelli join the External to discuss the key findings of their recent paper (co-authored with Enrico Fassi) "An illiberal power? EU bordering practices and the liberal international order", in International Affairs.
Research by Claudia Ituarte-Lima and Radu Mares at Lund University examines how a pioneering environmental agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean introduces new ways of protecting nature and human rights. Their study reveals both opportunities and challenges in how this regional treaty interacts with European Union trade laws, offering insights into how different regions can work together to protect the environment and strengthen democracy.
This podcast summarizes the key findings of the article
Claudia Ituarte-Lima and Radu Mares, Examining the interplay between Escazu Agreement’s innovations and EU economic law’ published in Earth System Governance
Research for this paper was funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency as part of the Biodiversa+ and Water JPI project Protecting Biodiversity through Regulating Trade and Business Relations.
What effect does the institutional design of international organizations have on their domestic support? In their recent article, Bernd Schlipphak, Constantin Schäfer & Oliver Treib focus on interactions between citizens’ social identity and institutional characteristics that may have the potential to polarize citizens’ attitudes owardnational organizations. This podcast summarizes the key insights of the article - happy listening!
Read the article (open access): Bernd Schlipphak, Constantin Schäfer & Oliver Treib (2024) ‘Cosmopolitan identity, authority, and domestic support of international organizations’ The Review of International Organizations
Episode 17
Voluntary Sustainability Standards have emerged as influential tools to promote sustainable practices in global value chains and are becoming increasingly relevant in the context of new legislation by the European Union and other governments for the promotion of sustainable development. A comprehensive review led by Axel Marx at KU Leuven examines the evolution, impacts, and
challenges of these standards, offering insights into their role in global governance and sustainable development.
Read the article (open access): Marx, A., Depoorter, C., Fernandez de Cordoba, S., Verma, R., Auld, G., Bemelmans, J., Bennett, E., Boonaert, E., Brandi, C.,
Dietz, T., Fernandez Araoz, M., Fouilleux, E. Grabs, J., Gulbrandsen, L., Harrison, J., Heilmayr, R., Hernandez, A., Hoekman, B., Lambert, R., Lambin, E., Li, L., Maertens, M., Mortara Batistic, P., Michida, E., Nakagawa, J.,
Negi, A., Pérez-Pineda, J., Ponte, S., Rueda, X., Schleifer, P., Thorstensen, V. & H. van der Ven (2024) ‘Global Governance through Voluntary Sustainability Standards: Developments, Trends and Challenges’, in, Global Policy. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13401
Read the article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1758-5899.13401
Can leadership within the European Commission shape the EU's response to global crises?
In Episode 16, The External explores the decisive leadership of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, during the first ten weeks of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It features the insights from the research of Professor Elena Baracani (University of Bologna) on how von der Leyen's strategic framing and principled ideas shaped the European Union's unified and swift response to the crisis, helping to position the EU as a more assertive global actor.
Read the article (open access): Elena
Baracani (2024) 'Ideational agenda-setting leadership: President von der Leyen
and the EU response to the invasion of Ukraine'. Western European Politics, 54(3-4): 1451-1474
Summary
The European Parliament has the ability to play a key role in shaping the European Union's international agreements. But how exactly does it get involved in these complex negotiations? Researcher Marine Bardou from the University of Louvain has conducted a comprehensive study to answer this question, revealing surprising patterns in the Parliament's activities.
Is Europe effectively leveraging Chinese investments to enhance its strategic interests within the liberal international order?
In Episode 14, The External discusses the political intricacies of Chinese investments in Europe with Jappe
Eckhardt, co-editor of Rising
Power, Limited Influence: The Politics of Chinese Investments in Europe and the
Liberal International Order. The interview explores the absence of an overall Chinese external investment strategy and how Europe navigates these investments, assessing whether they represent strategic opportunities or challenges to European policies and positions within the global order. The book is co-edited with Indrajit Roy, Dimitrios Stroikos, and Simona Davidescu.
Is EU trade policy primarily a market tool or a
geopolitical instrument?
In Episode 13, we delve into the complex interplay between market objectives and geopolitical strategies in EU trade policy, guided by research from Dr. Andrea Christou and Professor Chad Damro at the University of Edinburgh. Their study, featured in the Journal of Common Market Studies, investigates the extent to which the EU's Directorate General for Trade maintains its market-focused approach amidst increasing geopolitical pressures.
Read the article (open access): Andrea
Christou and Chad Damro. Frames and Issue Linkage: EU Trade Policy in the
Geoeconomic Turn. Journal of Common Market Studies 62(4): 1080-1096
Is there a ‘Brussels effect’ through
international investment dynamics? In Episode 12, The External provides insights
from a recent article in Labour - Review of Labour Economics and Industrial
Relations by Dr Patrick Wagner (University of Konstanz) and Professor Damian
Raess (Catholic University of Lille) which investigates whether Brazilian
direct investment in Europe leads to improved working conditions back in
Brazil.
Read the article (open access): Patrick Wagner
and Damian Raess. South to north investment linkages and decent work in Brazil. Labour -
Review of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations 37(1): 122-159.
Are identity politics preventing the upgrading of supranational institutions as part of the EU’s response to the War in Ukraine?
In Episode 11, The External provides an overview of a recent article in Journal of Common Market Studies by Professor Tanja Börzel (Freie Universität Berlin) considering the reasons why member states have upgraded common interests in supporting Ukraine without granting the EU additional supranational power.
Read the article (open access): Tanja A. Börzel,
European Integration and the War in Ukraine: Just Another Crisis? Journal of Common Market Studies 61(S1):14-30.
International organizations change over time, expanding into new areas and abandoning original programmes of work. But are these changes always at the behest of member states?
In Episode 10, The External brings in Dr. Kseniya Oksamytna (City, University of London) to discuss the key findings of her new book Advocacy and Change in International Organizations: Communication, Protection, and Reconstruction in UN Peacekeeping (Oxford University Press 2023), and especially the role of advocacy as a source of change.
In a changing geopolitical landscape, the EU and its member states have introduced novel mechanisms for screening foreign direct investment for national security risks.
In Episode 9, The External provides an overview of a recent article in Global Policy by Professor Sarah Bauerle Danzman (Indiana University) and Professor Sophie Meunier (Princeton University) exploring the factors that explain the rise of national Investment Screening Mechanisms in Europe and comparing the different features of these mechanisms.
Read the article (open access): Danzman S & Meunier S (2023) Naïve no more: Foreign direct investment screening in the European Union, Global Policy 14(S3)
The high seas, the polar regions, the atmosphere, outer space, and cyberspace... these areas beyond national jurisdiction have become increasingly contested, especially in an era of rising geopolitics. What role does the EU play in the governance of these areas?
In Episode 8, The External is joined by Professor Joris Larik and Professor Simon Schunz who discuss the growing importance and contestation of 'global spaces' and how the EU approach compares with other key players in the governance of these spaces based on the collective findings from their special issue, edited together with Sieglinde Gstöhl, The European Union and the Governance of Contested Global Spaces in an Era of Geopolitics, in the Journal of European Integration. The special issue also includes contributions from Marianne Riddervold, Andreas Raspotnik and Adam Stępień, Giulia Pavesi and Jan Wouters, and Hanna Smith.
While the COVID-19 crisis had an economic impact worldwide, different states and regions responded with different macroeconomic policies and with very different results.
In Episode 7, The External is joined by Prof Bernadette Andreosso-O'Callaghan and Prof Woosik Moon who compare these different global responses and discuss the key results from their edited volume Economic Policy and the Covid-19 CrisisThe Macroeconomic Response in the US, Europe and East Asia, published by Routledge in 2022.
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