The ESPOL-LAB Research Centre for European and International Politics is composed of a team of researchers analysing public decision-making processes and contemporary transformations in the political sphere. Questioning the boundaries of politics and the relationship between politics and society is at the heart of ESPOL-LAB’s scientific project. What is the actual impact of political decision-making? What are its drivers? To what extent do policies still refer to the regulation of society?
The apparent fragility of the contemporary state, in conjunction with the fragmentation of identities, growing globalisation of economies, and the emergence of new forms of violence highlight the difficulty of organising social relations and giving meaning to societal life. Yet, while the modern state may no longer be seen as the exclusive framework within which common rules are developed and transformed, it nevertheless retains an unparalleled appeal and ability to guide and organise societies.
In this context, ESPOL-LAB research aims to help inform political decision-making processes, their normative underpinnings and the constraints they face, also including their continuously transforming relations to territory and violence. Our research team is composed of specialists in various political science fields, such as public policies, international relations, comparative politics, history of political ideas, and political theory.
1) The quality of democracy
Representative democracy has been put to the test for several decades, in Europe as in the rest of the world. Understanding the multifaceted causes of this crisis is one of the major challenges of social sciences and, more particularly, of contemporary political science. The role of political parties and governments is changing. In a globalized world, the position of nation states, including in the European Union is evolving. The forms and arenas of political participation are diversifying. The rise of so-called ‘populist’ movements challenges the political elites.
Based on a reflection of the fundamental principles of democracy, this thematic research area aims to analyse the formal and procedural conditions of democracy, the capacity of political institutions to meet these criteria as well as the causes and consequences of democratic transformation. The research conducted on these issues goes beyond a strictly legalistic reading of democratic rules to include a theoretical reflection on the criteria of good governance with an empirical analysis of political processes.
Using the tools of political philosophy, political sociology and public policy analysis, the work of this research area focuses specifically on:
– political representation, such as elections, parties and parliaments,
– new spaces of democracy, especially economic democracy,
– e-democracy.
2) Regulation and governance
This research area of ESPOL-LAB focusses on the transformation of the regulation of society. Adopting a broad definition, this term refers to the production and implementation of standards and action programmes in a given territory by institutions holding a certain legitimacy. In this sense, regulation includes both government activity and private norms aimed at organising a sector of society or social relations. Far from being a neutral or purely functional activity, regulation basically implies material and ideational conflicts which are underlying this development and/or result from it, which need to be analysed.
Questioning politics by regulation implies a triple interrogation in terms of players, arenas of regulation, and finally, instruments. Regarding the stakeholders, the question is Robert Dahl’s famous “who governs?” , questioning the players influencing the production of standards and their implementation. These new players are also pushing regulation to change the arenas of government and governance, with the growing importance of infra-, supra- and transnational levels, and the development of public-private or private standards alongside national or international regulations. Public regulation at the national level, which has prevailed for a long time, is challenged by the importance of new global issues (for example, international conflicts, migration, environmental change, economic globalisation, etc.).
The research carried out at ESPOL-LAB focuses on this evolution of governance to analyse how the players themselves bring in and pursue their issues, but also to analyse the consequences of these public-private stakeholder constellations.
Finally, the form and nature of regulation depends on the issues at stake. Consequently, the modes of coordination between players as well as the instruments of regulation evolve. Among the sources of change, our research analyses the role of certain norms, such as neoliberalism or participative democracy, in changing these regulations. The fields of application are diverse: Security and defense, economy, environment and agriculture are all areas of regulation studied in ESPOL-LAB.
The work of this axis focusses in particular on:
– advances and limits of governance: in emerging areas (e.g. the environment) as in sovereign areas (e.g. as security and defense),
– reconfigurations of international law,
– the role of cultural policies in internationalization, especially in the construction of Europe,
– the legitimacy of international regulations.
3) Reconfigurations of the International
This ESPOL-LAB research area explores the contemporary transformations of the international stage. The latter is traditionally understood as an abstract space without an own territory where political and social phenomena would evolve either completely outside the state or between states. The International can however also be understood as a certain regime of limits, historically contingent, articulated around the spatial division between the internal and the external. From this, a whole series of normative and structuring distinctions of political practice and the very understanding of politics could be elaborated: a distinction between the citizen and the foreigner, between domestic and foreign policy, between crime and war, between the criminal and the enemy, between internal security and national defence, between the police and the armed forces etc.
The International has always been put to the test and also has continuously been transformed in the process of global integration, as suggested in the literature about the advent of a ‘global and borderless world’. Yet, the International has never totally dissolved in ‘world politics’ that would disregard or override the states. Rather than disappearing, the State is being transformed and, in this context, the International is also undergoing a transformation.
This third research area analyses the contemporary reconfigurations of the International. In a critical and reflexive perspective, these research works particularly question the reorientation of the historical construction of the modern state, the evolving notions of space, borders and the enemy, the contested (and yet continually reaffirmed) procedures of legitimising state sovereign authority and the transformation of the conditions for the exercise of violence. The topics that drive the work of this research area are in particular:
– international security and regional and international security organisations,
– armed conflicts, war and military strategy,
– terrorism and anti-terrorism.
ESPOL-LAB is a partner in the RECONNECT (Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law) project. This 4-year multi-disciplinary project funded by the European Union under the framework programme H2020.
JUSTCONSERVATION is a 3-year research project led by ESPOL and funded by the Centre for the Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity (CESAB) of the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB).
ESPOL-LAB participates in the ‘Collaborative Observatory on Terrorism, Anti-Terrorism and Violence’ (O.C.T.A.V.). This is an initiative of scientists from various disciplinary backgrounds, supported and funded by LabToP-CRESPPA-Paris8-CNRS, ESPOL-ICL, REPI-ULB and CERI-SciencesPo/CNRS.
Project “Reviving democratic participation in Europe: lessons from the crisis”
Professor Michael Holmes (Liverpool Hope University) completed a research stay at ESPOL-LAB, funded by the Regional Council Nord-Pas de Calais under their ‘Invited researchers’ programme. During his stay in Lille throughout the year 2017, Michael Holmes pursued a project on the impact of the Euro crisis on political parties as agents of democratic participation. Results of this work is an edited volume (to be published by Manchester University Press) to which Julien Navarro and Antonella Seddone contributed, and to the organisation of an international conference on Brexit in November 2017. Michael Holmes continues to collaborate with ESPOL-LAB as associate researcher.
Project “Between personalization and democratization”
From September 2015 to August 2017, ESPOL-LAB hosted a post-doctoral researcher, Antonella Seddone, to conduct her research project ‘Between personalization and democratization: the changing role of members within political parties’. As part of the ESPOL-LAB research area ‘Quality of democracy’, this project was funded under the programme ‘Accueil de Jeunes Chercheurs 2015’ by the Conseil Régional Nord – Pas de Calais. During her stay at ESPOL, the post-doctoral researcher published widely in collaboration with members of the research unit, especially with Giulia Sandri. Antonella Seddone continues to work with several colleagues as an associate researcher of ESPOL-LAB.
The ESPOL-LAB team consists of 16 faculty members working on the transformation of European and global politics: twelve Associate professors, a Professor (HDR), a Lecturer, three Post-doctoral researchers. ESPOL-LAB is headed by Sabine Weiland (Director) and Thierry Chopin (Deputy Director).
ESPOL has also eight associate researchers. We welcome applications of interested researchers to become associated with ESPOL.
ESPOL-LAB is member of the ECPR (European Consortium for Political Research), the principal political science research network in Europe. The ESPOL-LAB team supports the Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée and the Politique européenne journal.
ESPOL welcomes researchers to become associated with the School and, more specifically, with ESPOL-LAB, our Research Centre. The association of researchers serves the purpose of enriching the academic and intellectual life at ESPOL. We invite researchers with a scientific profile matching the research topics pursued at ESPOL to join us as associate researchers.
More information can be found below
24 janvier 2019 – Séminaire général ESPOL-LAB
“Weapons of Mass Destruction and Global Security”
Paolo Foradori – Associate Professor, University of Trento
11 avril 2019 – Séminaire général
“Pour une sociologie des inégalités environnementales”
Dr. Valérie Deldrève – Directrice de la recherche, IRSTEA Bordeaux
18 janvier 2018 – Séminaire général
“Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” Popularity Gains as an Incentive to Legislate Frantically?”
Etienne Farvaque et Mamadou Boukari – LEM, Universités de Lille
25 janvier 2018 – Journée d’étude
“La séquence électorale du printemps 2017”
25 janvier 2018 – Conférence
“Constructivism and World Politics Today”
Oliver Kessler – Erfurt University
8 février 2018 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Quasi-states in IR”
Françoise Mengin – Researcher at CERI, Sciences Po Paris
15 février 2018 – Conférence
“L’Europe face au défi de la mondialisation : de la crise pétrolière au marché unique (1973 – 1986)”
“Présentation de l’ouvrage « Governing Europe in a Globalizing World. Neoliberalism and its Alternatives following the 1973 Oil Crisis » (Routledge 2018)”
Laurent Warlouzet – Professeur d’Histoire, Université du Littoral-Côte d’Opale (ULCO)
29 mars 2018 – Conférence
“Les ressorts et limites de la primarisation de la vie politique française”
Rémi Lefebvre – Professeur de Science Politique, Université de Lille 2 (CERAPS)
28 septembre 2018 – Conférence
“International Relations and Contemporary Global Problems”
Prof. Thomas J. Biersteker – Gasteyger Professor of International Security, Director, Policy Research, The Graduate Institute (Geneva)
4 octobre 2018 – Journée d’étude
“Retour sur la sequence électorale française du printemps 2017”
Caterina Froio – Sciences Po Paris – Nonna Mayer – CNRS Sciences Po Paris – Julien Talpin – CNRS Université de Lille – Annie Laurent – CNRS Lille 2 – Clémentine Berjaud – Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne – François Briatte et Giuila Sandri – ESPOL
29 novembre 2018 – Conférence
“China’s Outward Investment: Direct and Indirect Issues for Europe”
Jean-Marc Blanchard – Distinguished Professor, School of Advanced International and Areas Studies, East China Normal University (ECNU – Shanghai, China)
14 septembre 2017 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“EU Energy Policy in Contemporary Context”
Dr. Lyubimka Andreeva – Chief Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Sofia University
7 novembre 2017 – Conférence
“Financialization and Inegality in the World Economy”
Timo Walter – Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Erfurt
9-10 novembre 2017 – Conférence internationale
“Europe after Brexit: New Opportunities for Democratic Politics?”
16 novembre 2017 – Conférence
“The fate of IR in a rapidly changing world”
João Pontes Nogueira – Professeur de Relations Internationales, IRI / PUC-Rico (Rio de Janeira, Brésil)
14 janvier 2016 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Political Parties between personalization and democratization”
Antonella Seddone – Post-doctoral Researcher, ESPOL
4 février 2016 – Conférence
“La fracture politique de l’Europe : crise de légitimité et déficit politique”
Thierry Chopin – Directeur des études, Fondation Robert Schuman
25 février 2016 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Violence and the Modern International: an Archaeology of Terrorism”
Philippe Bonditti – Associate Professor, ESPOL
10 mars 2016 – Conférence
“Présentation du livre « Thinking about Political Reform: How to fix, or not fix, American Government and Politics »”
John Johannes – Professor of Political Science, Villanova University
28 avril 2016 – Conférence
“Le financement de la vie politique française. Quelques stratégies des candidats et des partis”
Abel François – Professeur à l’Université Lille 1 (LEM), chercheur associé au LIEPP Sciences Po Paris et au LARGE Université de Strasbourg
1er juillet 2016 – Journée d’étude
“Sciences Po Quanti”
7 juillet 2016 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Saisir l’Etat par les statistiques : le cas du « nombre des fonctionnaires » en France au XIXe et XXe siècles”
Emilien Ruiz – Maître de conférences en Histoire Contemporaine, Université de Lille 3
12 février 2015 – Conférence
“Présentation du livre « L’égalité au nom du marché ? Emergence et démantèlement de la politique européenne d’égalité entre les hommes et les femmes »”
Sophie Jacquot – Sciences Po Paris
5-7 mars 2015 – Colloque international (avec l’ULB)
“The Quality of Democracy: the Challenges of a New Research Agenda”
2 avril 2015 – Conférence
“L’insécurité culturelle”
Laurent Bouvet – Université de Versailles Saint Quentin
17 septembre 2015 – Conférence
“Religion et politique dans l’Union européenne”
François Foret – Professeur de Science Politique, Université Libre de Bruxelles
1er octobre 2015 – Conférence
“La revanche des perdants ?”
Olivier Rozenberg – Associate Professor, Sciences Po Paris
5 novembre 2015 – Conférence
“Présentation du livre « Le tournant environnemental de la politique agricole commune »”
Matthieu Ansaloni – Post-doctorant au Centre Emile Durkheim, Université de Bordeaux
12 novembre 2015 – Conférence
“Présentation du livre « Capitalismes agraires. Economie politique de la grande plantation en Indonésie et en Malaisie »”
Stéphanie Barral – Chargée de recherche en Sociologie, INRA / UMR LISIS
26 novembre 2015 – Conférence
“L’Europe créée par les traducteurs”
Domenico Cosmai – Chef d’unité, Conseil économique et social européen
16 janvier 2014 – Conférence
“Politiques de l’engagement : Sartre, Aron et Camus”
Aliocha Wald-Lasowski – Maître de conférences en philosophie, Université Catholique de Lille
23 janvier 2014 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Vertus, conditions et limites de la démocratie délibérative : retour sur l’expérience Parlement & Citoyens”
Claire de Chessé – Philosophe, responsable « Théorie, méthodes, recherche » de l’association Smartgov, vice-présidente de Philolab et membre fondateur de Parlement & Citoyens
6 février 2014 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“L’utopie de l’Islam : la religion contre l’Etat”
Leïla Babès – Professeur de sociologie des religions et d’islamologie, Université Catholique de Lille
20 février 2014 – Conférence
“Agriculture et mondialisation : un atout géopolitique pour la France”
Thierry Pouch – Assemblée Permanente des Chambres d’Agriculture de France
6 mars 2014 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Les thèmes de l’extrême-droite à l’agenda de la presse écrite : une comparaison France-Pays-Bas-Finlande”
Gaël Villeneuve – Enseignant-chercheur en communication politique, ISCOM / LCP
20 mars 2014 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Le gouvernement représentatif vidé de son contenu ?”
Ioannis Papapopulos – Professeur à l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques et Internationales, Université de Lausanne
3 avril 2014 – Journée d’étude
“Démocratiser la sélection des candidats : quelles conséquences ?”
22 mai 2014 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Giving impact to evaluation practice, an analytic narrative of three EC evaluations”
Samuele Dossi – Policy analyst, European Commission
12 juin 2014 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Are equality of opportunity and equality of outcome substitutable? Individual-based evidence”
Raul Magni-Berton – Lecturer in Social Science, Sciences Po Grenoble
2 octobre 2014 – Conférence
“Resisting soft law in the EU”
Sabine Saurugger – Professeur, Sciences Po Grenoble
10 octobre 2014 – Conférence
“Le travail parlementaire est-il récompensé dans les urnes ?”
Julien Navarro – ESPOL
30 octobre 2014 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“The Merits and Perils of Intra-Party Democracy: Assessing the Effects of Party Organisational Reform in European Parties”
Felix Freiherr von Nostitz – Université d’Exeter
6 novembre 2014 – Conférence
“Le pouvoir de l’inaction : les sauvetages bancaires en comparaison”
Cornelia Woll – Professeur, Sciences Po Paris
14 novembre 2014 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Serial Transnational Activism: Grafting a Social Media Footprint Remotely onto Contemporary Protest Events”
Dan Mercea – Lecturer, City University London
27 novembre 2014 – Conférence
“Parlements, Démocraties et Gouvernance économique entre 2008 et 2014”
Philippe Poirier – Université du Luxembourg
22 janvier 2013 – Conférence
“Démocraties libérales : le pouvoir des citoyens dans les pays européens”
Raul Magni-Berton – Sciences Po Grenoble
5 février 2013 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Evaluation économique de la loi du 31 décembre 1970 réprimant l’usage et le trafic de stupéfiants : l’illustration par le cannabis”
Christian Ben Lakhdar – Maître de conférences en Economie, FGES
12 février 2013 – Conférence
“Le Front National : mutations de l’extrême-droite”
Pascal Delwit – Université Libre de Bruxelles
19 mars 2013 – Conférence
“L’Etat de la démocratie en Italie”
Giulia Sandri – Maître de conférences en Sciences Politiques, ESPOL – Luca Tomini– Université Libre de Bruxelles
29 mars 2013 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“The use of digital technologies in social movement protests”
Dan Mercea – Senior Lecturer in Politics, The Hague University
11 avril 2013 – Conférence
“Le Passage à l’Europe : Histoire d’un commencement”
Luuk van Middelaara – Cabinet du Président du Conseil européen
30 avril 2013 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Parties and party system in Poland”
Maciej Hartlinski – Lecturer in Politics, Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie
14 mai 2013 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Le cosmopolitisme de Bentham, un cosmopolitisme sans citoyen du monde”
Benjamin Bourcier – Chercheur au Département d’Ethique, Université Catholique de Lille
24 septembre 2013 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“The EU as an environmental actor in the Black Sea region”
Tatiana Coutto – American Graduate School in Paris
1er octobre 2013 – Conférence
“Les partis politiques européens : evolution institutionnelle et politique après le Traité de Lisbonne”
Francesco Cerasani – Docteur de l’Université La Sapienza (Rome) & assistant au Parlement européen
8 octobre 2013 – Conférence
“Lutte contre le cancer et bureaucratisation de la maladie : une comparaison France-Angleterre”
François Briatte – ESPOL & Sciences Po Grenoble
12 novembre 2013 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Avons-nous un problème avec la démocratie parlementaire ? De Carl Schmitt au « mariage pour tous »”
Esther Abin – Docteur en philosophie politique, Keele University
19 novembre 2013 – Colloque
“Néo-libéralisme(s) et démocratie”
Béatrice Hibou – CNRS-CERI / SciencesPo – Catherine Hoeffler – ESPOL – Vincent Valentin – Université Paris 1 / CERAP – François Briatte – ESPOL – Olivier Godechot – ENS / Centre Maurice Halbwachs – Franck Van de Velde – Université Lille 1 / CLERSE – Serge Audier – Université Paris 4 / IUF – Gwendal Châton – Université d’Angers / CJB – Jean Solchany – IEP de Lyon / LARHRA – Sébastien Carré – ESPOL – Gilles Campagnolo – CNRS / GREOAM & Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques, Université Aix-Marseille – Renaud Filieule – Université Lille 1 / CLERSE – Daniel Mansuy Huerta – Université de los Andes – Daniel-Louis Seiler – IEP d’Aix-en-Provence et ESPOL
29 mars 2012 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Sous les outils, le sens : Ethiques environnementales et instruments de lutte contre la pollution”
Sébastien Carré – Directeur de la licence en Science Politique, ESPOL
18 septembre 2012 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Les élus valorisent-ils le cumul des mandats ?”
Abel François – Maître de conférences en Sciences Economiques, Université de Strasbourg
16 octobre 2012 – Conférence
“L’intervention armée peut-elle être juste ?”
Jean-François Rioux – Université Saint-Paul à Ottawa
23 octobre 2012 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Elections nationales et régionales : la territorialisation du vote en Italie”
Giulia Sandri – Maître de conférences en Sciences Politiques, ESPOL
20 novembre 2012 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Démocratie économique et démocratie de marché”
Pierre-Yves Néron – Chercheur au Département d’Ethique, Université Catholique de Lille
11 décembre 2012 – Conférence
“Pierre Bourdieu : Quand l’intelligence entrait enfin en politique ! ”
Jean Baudouin – Université Rennes 1
11 décembre 2012 – Séminaire ESPOL-LAB
“Les Chrétiens d’Orient, entre la peur de disparaître et le risque d’exister ”
Isabel Rück – ESPOL
