Open research questions in European Union Policy and Governance

What the literature leaves open

• There is a lack of understanding about how Greek parties' stances on climate change align with EU goals. The paper identifies a gap in the analysis of Greek parties' public stances on climate change. The study aims to fill this gap by providing an in-depth analysis of Greek parties' stances.

  Greek parties’ stances on climate change: revisiting Europeanization · 2025 · DOI

• While EU efforts have succeeded in strengthening European capabilities, these are still insufficient to prevent major disruptions in the face of conflict or prolonged crises.

  Running in Circles: How Europe’s Quest for Autonomy Creates New Dependencies · 2026 · DOI

• Theories of workplace democracy argue participation should not be limited to the ballot box, but should also include other voices with views on how an organisation is run.

  The value of poll-worker voice in the delivery of elections · 2025 · DOI

• The single market has long been the center of the project of European integration, but its relationship to most Europeans has also long been ambiguous. The Monnet method employed market integration as a mechanism to circumvent Europeans' presumed nationalist reflexes, but its success in terms of public support is unclear.

  New or old politics? Understanding public preferences for the EU single market · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should investigate the causal mechanisms behind the relationship between postmaterialist values and support for the single market. Further studies should examine the role of national identities in shaping public support for the single market.

  New or old politics? Understanding public preferences for the EU single market · 2026 · DOI

• Phenomenon-driven research (PDR) establishes when a phenomenon warrants investigation but offers little structured guidance on diagnosing why a state change occurred or which aspect of the phenomenon drove it.

  Analysing State Changes: A Diagnostic Framework For Phenomenon-Driven Research · 2026

• Future research should continue to explore the dynamics of European solidarity using panel data and longitudinal designs. The study's findings suggest that transnational political orientation is a key factor in shaping European solidarity, and that future research should examine this factor in more detail. Future research should also consider the implications of the study's findings for policymakers and practitioners working in the field of European integration and social policy.

  What drives European solidarity? Evidence on identity-based, value-based, and utilitarian explanations · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in existing research on European solidarity, which has primarily used single or repeated cross-sectional data. The paper highlights the need to explain why some individuals maintain their solidarity while others change it, particularly in the context of recent crises. The study addresses this gap by using German panel data to examine the dynamics of European solidarity.

  What drives European solidarity? Evidence on identity-based, value-based, and utilitarian explanations · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies the challenge of understanding the complex and nuanced nature of global politics. The author highlights the need to develop new theoretical frameworks to study the multilateral hub.

  The Multilateral Hub: Brussels as the EU’s Hidden Center · 2026 · DOI

• Further research on the EU's role in the global order and its implications for how we think about Europe's political and economic order. More work on the decolonial analytic of the EU's globality. Research on the ways in which the EU's externalization policies interact with and reinforce anti-Black racism via its externalization policies.

  Who Is the EU for? Race, Europe, and the Global Order · 2026 · DOI

• The gap between the EU's founding promises of peace, convergence, and multilateralism and its current practices. The lack of engagement with Europe's colonial and racialized constitutive role in sustaining global inequalities.

  Who Is the EU for? Race, Europe, and the Global Order · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of a European Constitution makes it difficult to define the existential identity of the European citizen. The need for a balance between enhancing European citizenship and valuing Europe's diverse identities.

  European Citizenship between Legal Standardization and Identity Factor: Pathways for an Intercultural Citizenship · 2026 · DOI

• The question of whether we are witnessing the emergence of a genuine European Private International Law. The lack of an autonomous European Private International Law.

  European Private International Law? Landmarks on its Position in the Law of the European Union and the Correlation with International Commercial Law · 2026 · DOI

• Speculation about future developments is always delicate, yet the likelihood that the problem of algorithmic discrimination will continue to raise attention is high.

  Non-Discrimination in the Current Digital Era in Relation to the Legal Framework of the European Union · 2026 · DOI

• The challenge ahead is to guarantee a uniform level of protection against discrimination for people irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, disability, age, or sexual orientation. Despite these difficulties, there is a renewed determination throughout the EU to advance the fight against discrimination.

  Non-Discrimination in the Current Digital Era in Relation to the Legal Framework of the European Union · 2026 · DOI

• Ensuring human dignity requires not only robust legal frameworks but also a clear understanding of how it is experienced by individuals. The conditions for dignity are at risk in some areas. There are gaps in justice and fundamental rights across EU Member States.

  Using Empirical Data to Diagnose Gaps in Justice and Fundamental Rights in the EU · 2026 · DOI

• The gap is in the understanding of how human dignity is experienced by individuals in their everyday lives. The gap is in the operationalization of human dignity in people's daily lives.

  Using Empirical Data to Diagnose Gaps in Justice and Fundamental Rights in the EU · 2026 · DOI

• The complexity of EU healthcare policy. The diversity of cultural expectations. The lack of clear-cut power to regulate human or individual health.

  The Promotion of Human Dignity Through the Envision of an EU Legal Framework on the End-of-life: An Impregnable Matter or a Concrete Possibility of Legislation for the Union? · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of standardised guidelines and proper legal acts on end-of-life matters in the EU. The need to clarify the EU's power to regulate end-of-life matters.

  The Promotion of Human Dignity Through the Envision of an EU Legal Framework on the End-of-life: An Impregnable Matter or a Concrete Possibility of Legislation for the Union? · 2026 · DOI

• Future research could explore the impact of the EU's conditionality framework on other Western Balkan countries. Future research could also examine the role of domestic reform capacity and external conditionality in shaping the pace and credibility of European integration in other regions.

  Same Path, Different Destiny? The European Integration Journey of Albania and North Macedonia (2001–2025) · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the literature on the European integration of the Western Balkans, particularly in terms of the comparative analysis of Albania and North Macedonia's integration trajectories.

  Same Path, Different Destiny? The European Integration Journey of Albania and North Macedonia (2001–2025) · 2026 · DOI

• Future research could explore the long-term implications of Brexit for the EU's CSDP. Future research could also examine the potential for the EU to develop a more robust and autonomous defence capacity.

  Security without London: EU Army Debates, Evolution of CSDP and Brexit · 2026 · DOI

• The gap in understanding the role of national choices in constraining the EU's private capital mobilisation. The lack of a comprehensive analysis of the impact of national choices on the EU's private capital mobilisation.

  The Missing Foundations of EU Private Capital Mobilisation · 2026 · DOI

• Further research on the impact of global transformations on economic development and sustainability. Investigation of the relationship between strategic objectives, institutional capacity, and the mechanisms for their effective implementation.

  Economic Development, Sustainability and Policies in the Context of Global Transformations: Realities and Prospects · 2026 · DOI

• The gap between formally adopted policy frameworks and their real possibilities for execution. The lack of clear regional profiling, stronger institutional capacity, and better policy coordination.

  Economic Development, Sustainability and Policies in the Context of Global Transformations: Realities and Prospects · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in European Union Policy and Governance

• A Postfunctionalist Theory of European Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus · British Journal of Political Science · 2008 · 2,018 citations
• Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms? · JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies · 2002 · 1,957 citations
• Nine Second-Order National Elections – A Conceptual Framework For The Analysis of European Election Results · European Journal of Political Research · 1980 · 1,667 citations
• Preferences and Power in the European Community: A Liberal Intergovernmentalist Approach · JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies · 1993 · 1,133 citations
• Does Left/Right Structure Party Positions on European Integration? · Comparative Political Studies · 2002 · 1,080 citations
• Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union Revisited: Input, Output and ‘Throughput’ · Political Studies · 2012 · 946 citations
• THE JOINT‐DECISION TRAP: LESSONS FROM GERMAN FEDERALISM AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION · Public Administration · 1988 · 879 citations
• Why There is a Democratic Deficit in the EU: A Response to Majone and Moravcsik · JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies · 2006 · 787 citations
• The Path to European Integration · Comparative Political Studies · 1996 · 773 citations
• European Integration from the 1980s: State‐Centric v. Multi‐level Governance* · JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies · 1996 · 731 citations

Most recent work

• Unequal by Design? Reclaiming Digital Access as a Fundamental Right in the EU · Białostockie Studia Prawnicze · 2026
• The politicisation of European integration on politicians’ social media: which aspects of political opportunity structure matter? · Journal of European Integration · 2026
• Unpacking Endogeneity: Growth, Discontent and Cohesion Policy in the EU Regions · Growth and Change · 2026
• Film promotion across the EU member states and abroad: institutional practices in Denmark, Finland and France in an evolving policy and technological architecture · International Journal of Cultural Policy · 2026
• Promoting Nordicness through prizes: Regional soft power in speeches at the Nordic Council Prizes award ceremonies (1962–2012) · Cooperation and Conflict · 2026
• Towards operationalisation of ‘Europeanisation’ at the sub-national level: a review and proposal of indicators · Journal of European Integration · 2026
• The Missing Foundations of EU Private Capital Mobilisation · Intereconomics · 2026
• Feminist epistemic justice: reimagining knowledge and power in EU politics · Journal of Gender Studies · 2026
• Digital Development and Participation in EU Digital Governance: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe · Journal of International Relations and Foreign Policy · 2026
• (Dis-)united in diversity: the European Parliament’s response to Russia’s war against Ukraine · Journal of Contemporary European Studies · 2026

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