From Rules to Power? Europe’s Search for Sovereignty in a
Fragmenting World
EUSA TWENTIETH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE
Washington, DC – May 20-22, 2027
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center
Program chairs:
Alison Johnston (Oregon State University), Craig Parsons (University of Oregon), and
Matthias Matthijs (Johns Hopkins University)
CALL FOR PAPERS AND PANELS
The European Union is entering a new phase. Long understood as a rules-based project
grounded in law, markets, and multilateralism, the EU now confronts a world
increasingly defined by geopolitical rivalry, economic coercion, and technological
competition. Russia’s war in Ukraine, intensifying US–China competition, and the
weaponization of interdependence have all accelerated a shift in how European
policymakers think about integration, sovereignty, and power.
Across a wide range of policy domains—from industrial strategy and trade policy to
defense cooperation and enlargement—the EU and its member states are rethinking longstanding assumptions about openness, interdependence, and the limits of integration.
Initiatives on economic security, supply chain resilience, defense industrial policy, and
strategic autonomy suggest a quickly evolving understanding of the EU not just as a
regulatory actor, but as a geopolitical one.
This conference invites scholars to examine how European integration is adapting to
these structural changes. What does sovereignty mean in a union of states? Is the EU
developing the institutional and political capacity to act strategically in a fragmented
international order? How are shifts toward security, resilience, and industrial policy
reshaping the balance between markets and states? And what are the implications for
democracy, legitimacy, and the future trajectory of integration?
We welcome contributions from across disciplines—including political science,
economics, law, sociology, history, and related fields—that engage with these questions,
whether directly or indirectly. As always, EUSA seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue
on the EU’s past, present, and future.
CONFERENCE CATEGORIES
Proposals are invited in, but not limited to, the following areas:
- Political Behavior: Politicization and Euroscepticism
- Democracy, Rule of Law, and Parties
- Migration, Citizenship, and Identity
- International and Comparative Political Economy (including geoeconomics,
industrial policy, and economic security) - The EU and the World: Foreign, Security, and Defense Policies
- European Integration and International Organization Theory
- EU Institutions, Public Policy & Law
- European and Transnational Interest Groups, Lobbying, and Social Movements
To submit a proposal, please visit https://www.eustudies.org/conference . The deadline
for submissions will be October 5, 2026