Jean Monnet Chair in Global Actor EU: The International Relations of the European Union in a Competitive and Fractured World (GLOBALEUTY)
28 March 2025. Global Actor EU talks. JMC Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués presented her early findings on the evolving security thinking in France and Germany in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how radical Left and Right political forces affect these countries' re-thinking of the European security order.
JMC Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués together with Malgorzata Jakimów (European Commission) discussed the shifting relations between the EU and the US, as well as the EU and China is a complex global context in which friction among EU-US-China is spanning diplomacy, trade, and security. The roundtable also took questions on EU-China relations in the view of the European Green Deal and Chinese green technology push, how tension among the global powers would play out for Türkiye, as well as international trade on critical raw materials. The event, held in person as well as online, drew 25 plus participants, from IBEI’s MA students, alumnis and faculty.
28 March 2025. Global Actor EU talks. JMC Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués participates in the ‘War Fatigue’: The Politicisation of the Ukraine War workshop, co-organized by the University of Edinburgh and IBEI.
JMC Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués presented her early findings on the evolving security thinking in France and Germany in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how radical Left and Right political forces affect these countries' re-thinking of the European security order.
10 March 2025. Global Actor EU talks. Karolina Pomorska and Marianna Lovato presented "Preserving the ‘pecking order’ in Europe’s diplomatic hierarchies: comparing the place of Central Eastern Europeans in the EU and NATO" in the framework of 2024-2025 IBEI Research Seminar Series. The event was co-organized with GLOBALEUTY and chaired by JMC Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués.
Karolina Pomorska and Marianna Lovato discussed how Russia’s war of aggression made it abundantly clear that the world should have listened to Poland, the Baltics, and other Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) member states, who for years had been sounding the alarm about Russia’s expansionist ambitions. So why did the warnings from the CEEs fall on deaf ears? One of the principles supposedly underpinning multilateral cooperation is that of sovereign equality: international organizations (IOs) should act as great levelers, where every country’s voice counts equally. In practice, however, some voices seem to count more than others and some countries appear to be more equal than others. Why do institutions designed to ensure equal representation end up nonetheless being structured by social hierarchies? How are these hierarchies challenged, changed and reproduced? This paper sets out to investigate how informal diplomatic hierarchies in multilateral IOs work and the extent to which they might lead to suboptimal outcomes in international cooperation. We focus on the role and standing of the CEEs in the European Union and NATO, before and after 2022 Russia’s war of aggression, asking whether and how the conflict might have (re)shaped the diplomatic pecking order in both organizations. We argue that exogenous shocks and preconceptions that member states hold about each other play a key role for the recognition of diplomats’ competence claims. Depending on whose competence claims are recognized, dismissed or outright reprimanded, existing hierarchies within the organization will either be reinforced or challenged.
6 March 2025. GLOBALEUTY team member Andrea Noferini presented his report "The Mediterranean region and the new international context: Current trends and future challenges" to the day of reflection and exchange Estratègia Mediterrània de Catalunya, MedCat 2030, organized by Institut Europeu de la Mediterrània (IEMed) at the Palau de Pedralbes, Barcelona.
Andrea Noferini detailed the many complex and unfortunate trends which afflict the region. At the global level he signalled among others the repercussions of the decline of U.S. leadership, the rise of China, hyper-globalisation and the opportunity and challenge of digital technology. At the regional level the impact of nationalist and populist movements, a reverse of individual and collective freedoms as well as the 2023 Gaza conflict have also contributed to the fragile situation in the region at the present. These global and regional trends have caused set-backs on the implementation of the 2030 SDGs in the Mediterranean region. The event counted on representation from the Generalitat de Catalunya, Union for the Mediterranean, the Spanish government as well as local authorities, non-governmental organizations as well as academics working on Euro-Mediterranean issues. The JCM Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués was among the participants. Read the full open-access report here.
12 February 2025. JMC Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués and Francesca Leso celebrated in Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS) Scholar Spotlight, as having made a significant contribution to European Studies.
In their contribution to JCMS’ January Issue, they examine the EU’s assistance to Ukraine through the lens of critical geopolitics, assessing whether the EU has become more geopolitical in its thinking and actions. Their research finds that while the EU’s perception of Eastern Europe and its own role has evolved, there is limited evidence that its foreign and security policy has fully embraced a geopolitical approach. Read the full open-access article here.
10 February 2025. JMC Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués participates in a roundtable organized by IBEI , titled Consequences and Perspectives of the fall of Assad in Syria.
JMC Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués discussed with Susana Galán (IBEI) and Gabriel Garroum (UPF) the different stages which led up to the fall of the Assad regime in 2024, as well as what is likely to lie ahead for the country and its population in the near to medium future. The roundtable also took questions on the changing regional as well as international context which might prove decisive as Syria sets out of its post-Assad path. The event, held in person as well as online, drew 30 plus participants, from IBEI’s MA students and alumnis.
11 December 2024 - Jean Monnet Chair Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués participates in a roundtable organized by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Fundación Bertelsmann and IBEI, with collaboration of IEMed, titled Estranged neighbours? Perspectives for the Euro- Mediterranean partnership
Jean Monnet Chair Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués debated together with Hauke Hartmann, Senior Expert, Bertelsmann Stiftung and Jan Völkel, BTI regional coordinator MENA (Middle East & North Africa countries), Bertelsmann Stiftung on the factors which explains the failure of political and economic transformation in the Middle East and North Africa, compared to the rest of the world. The roundtable also discussed what the European Union had done as well as what it could do to address the downturn on democracy, economic welfare as well as governance in the region. The event drew 50 plus participants, with representation from the European Commission, local and regional government, main Euro-Mediterranean NGOs based in Barcelona as well as higher education students. 📷 https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBUY8y
12 November 2024 - Jean Monnet Chair Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués participates together with Adam Holesch (IBEI) in a podcast episode with the CERCA Knowledge Transfer Project
The podcast features a conversation between the Jean Monnet Chair and IBEI researcher Adam Holesch on the various changes that are happening in the European Union as a consequence of the Ukraine war, both in terms of political fragmentation and the rise of right-wing populism, as well as the EU's support for Ukraine and what it says about the future of the EU's foreign, security and defense policy.
11 October 2024 - Jean Monnet Chair Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués participates in a podcast episode with the EU-VALUES Network.
The podcast features a reflection on EU values in part based on Elisabeth’ recent article, co-authored with Francesca Leso, titled “Geopolitical EU? The EU’s Wartime Assistance to Ukraine”. The discussion is centered around how the EU’s leadership views the war as not only a military conflict but a symbolic struggle for democratic values and human rights. The EU’s support for Ukraine represents a commitment to principles like sovereignty and the rule of law, which are increasingly under threat by authoritarian regimes worldwide. Listen in to hear more on the implications of this conflict for the EU’s global standing as a foreign and security actor, and how the war represents an indication that broader shifts in international relations and global values might coem to pass.