The Prof. Francesco Amoretti, of the University of Salerno, organize a panel/mini symposium for the XXII Conference of Europeanists that will be held in Paris, at Sciences Po, on 8-10 July 2015.

The European Union is facing one of its most dramatic crisis, investing economic, institutional, and social aspects of its existence. The crisis has highlighted the fragile foundations of EU’s democracy and has challenged its social cohesion, leading to questioning the idea of Europe itself. The difficulty in overcoming the current impasse has emphasized the inconsistency of the European project itself, dramatically bringing to the fore the question of how the EU has been designed. The issue of how strategies, visions and projects of EU integration are defined has become, consequently, crucial. More than the outcome of a precise political design, the EU itself seems rather the product of the action of economic, political and bureaucratic elites, of pressure and interest groups and of opinion movements that, from the 1950s onwards, have pursued their own visions of Europe, leading to complex and often contradictory policies and strategies.

This panel/mini symposium sheds light on the ways in which projects concerning Europe have been shaped and how have been implemented from the beginning of the integration process to present day. From a theoretical, social and historical perspective, it considers a variety of actors operating in complex decision making processes; as well as the processes and the architectures affecting the design of the EU.

The purpose of the panel/mini-symposium is to address questions such as:

• How do infrastructural needs affect visions about Europe?
• How does the Internet affect EU political projects and strategies?
• Governing by Internet architecture: what kind of European policy in the geopolitical arena?
• How did the EU’s institutional architecture affect the responses to the crisis?
• How does the perception of economic, political and institutional crisis influence the creation of EU strategies?
• What has been and what is the role of Eurobureaucracies in defining projects of European integration?
• Does evaluation affect the legitimation of EU’s policies and the strengthening of European integration?
• How has the role of intellectuals changed, from the early twentieth century to today, in shaping projects of European integration?
• How has the role of politicians, business men, engineers, bankers and bureaucrats impacted on European social and political life?
• What impact have the old and new media in defining projects about the EU?

The panel seeks to bring together scholars from different backgrounds and experts of various disciplines such as political scientists, political theorists, historians, sociologists, philosophers, legal theorists and economist. We encourage a variety of methodological approaches and we particularly welcome the submission of papers and proposals that are interdisciplinary in nature.

If you are interested in presenting a 15 minute paper for this panel/mini-symposium, part of the XXII International Conference of Europeanists, please send a title, an abstract of no more than 350 words and a short bio to Prof. Francesco Amoretti amoretti@unisa.it

Limited funding to help towards registration fees for the XXII International Conference of Europeanists is available.

Deadline for submission is 26^th September 2014.

The selection of the abstract and the committee’s decision regarding funding will be made by 7^th October 2014.