The European Union at the Crossroads of Global Order (EUCROSS)

Through its unique network of high-level research institutions around the globe (EU, US, China, Russia India and Brazil), EUCROSS contributes to the global understanding of the need for cooperation between the EU and its key international partners in the contemporary world order. The overall objective of EUCROSS is to facilitate original academic interdisciplinary research in the area of EU external action and global governance among (senior and junior) researchers in the EU and the EU’s partner countries.

Project Lead:
Sven Grimm

Financing:
European Commission

Time frame:
2017 - 2020 / completed

Co-operation Partner:

versity of Leuven (Prof. Jan Wouters), University of Liege (Prof. Sebastian Santander), Queen Mary University (Prof. Valsamis Mitsilegas), Jagiellonian University (Prof. Magdalena Gora), Lund University (Prof. Thomas Gammeltoft), German Development Institute /  Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) (Prof. Sven Grimm), Chinese University of Hong Kong (Prof. Julien Chaisse), Jindal Global Law School (Prof. Kalyani Unkule), University of Florida (Prof. Amie Kreppel), American University-Washington DC (Prof. Jerome Sheridan), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Prof. André Luiz Reis da Silva), Institute of World Economy (Prof. Nadia Arbatova)

Project description

The Jean Monnet Network ‘The European Union at the Crossroads of Global Order’ (EUCROSS) investigates the challenges and opportunities that the European Union and its main international partners face in times when our conventional understanding of the global order is seen as as being "out of order", is put into question and multilateralism is ‘contested’. To conduct research on this issue, EUCROSS aims to bring international and interdisciplinary expertise together.
Several global and regional crises have put the international system under stress for more than a decade. At the same time, while the United States is the sole but, increasingly, unpredictable superpower in the international system, emerging powers  have become increasingly assertive and claim greater influence in international relations and the global order as a whole. In the light of these crises and shifts in power balances, the EU has to strategically reflect upon its role as a global actor as well as its engagement with the wider world.

For these reasons, EUCROSS focuses on two central themes:

  1. the EU’s strategic re-orientation in global affairs, taking into account its enduring support for a rules-based and cooperative international order; and
  2. the specific challenges and opportunities for the EU to foster bilateral and multilateral cooperation with its main international partners, i.e. the United States and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), while duly taking into account the latter’s recent actions and changes in strategic direction.


More specifically, EUCROSS will investigate these two themes through the lense of the following five policy areas: (1) Trade Policies, (2) sustainable development, (3) migration, (4) counter-terrorism and (5) human rights. Each of these components relate to the teaching, research and outreach activities in the network. The project will organise:

  • Three conferences in Asia, Europe and North America
  • Three junior scholars fora in Asia, Europe and North America
  • A series of live-streamed lectures at all partner institutions
  • A webinar
  • The EUCROSS webseite
  • A working paper series featuring junior scholars
  • The EUCROSS Blog
  • A final publication (edited volume)

 

At all stages, EUCROSS will foster the open exchange of ideas between Europe and its outside partners, include junior scholars and international players, and reach out to civil society organizations and citizens.

Project Coordination

Bettina Beer