TAPS 2025 Call for Papers

New Era, New Europe? Europe’s Bargain in a Changing World

Friday, February 21 2025

 

Submissions should be made via email, with all documents in PDF form, to taps@georgetown.edu with “Paper Submission 2025: YOUR SURNAME” as the subject line.

In the face of a radically changing international system, characterized by relative US economic decline and the rise of Japan Inc., European leaders in the 1980s moved to relaunch integration around the single market initiative, effectively recasting the original bargains on which the European project rested. The 1992 movement was designed to remove barriers to the movement of people, capital, and goods across the member states of the European Communities. The movement redefined the European project in the reality of a changing world order that exposed Europe’s geopolitical and economic vulnerabilities. 

In the present, the European Union is confronting urgent calls to redefine the structure and functioning of the European community in the face of global dominance by the United States and China and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Adapting Europe to these new geopolitical realities is precisely what former Italian Prime Ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta aimed to address in their respective reports, both published this year. Their calls for modernization were clear, with Draghi emphasizing, “It’s ‘Do this’ or it’s a slow agony.” These conversations calling for significant internal reforms are reminiscent of the late 1990s, which brought economic unity to the continent through the commitment to complete the Single Market and regional stability around a democratic consensus.

Over 30 years later, Europe again stands at a series of crossroads, catalyzed by political, social, and economic upheaval. Scholars within and beyond Europe’s borders are challenging Europe’s role in the new world order, and asking the following questions: does Europe again need to recast its bargain? What are the principal challenges currently facing Europe, and what must Europe do to solve them?

The 2025 Transatlantic Policy Symposium asks you to consider these issues within the context of this new geopolitical era. You may consider what are the biggest economic, security, political, or social challenges in Europe, and how should Europe deal with them? We invite papers on any and all of these issues or beyond as they relate to the above context and Europe or EU affairs. We welcome analysis and expertise from your respective academic discipline (Political Science, Business, Economics, History, Cultural Studies, or others).

  • First Stage: Submit an abstract by Friday, 15 November 2024 that clearly states your research question and your corresponding argument. Please also indicate which academic discipline(s) you are drawing from. Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words in length.
  • Second Stage: If selected, your participation in the conference will be contingent on the submission of a full paper by Friday, 10 January 2025. Full papers should be at least 3,000 words in length. Both abstracts and full papers must be in English using Chicago style citations. 
  • Participation is open to currently enrolled Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral students. 
  • Please include a resume or CV in English with your abstract submission. 
  • The conference will take place on Friday, 21 February 2025.
  • We are happy to offer travel grants to individuals selected to participate in TAPS 2025! Please do not let travel costs preclude you from applying.