Annual lecture & Presentation of the PhD Programme in Political Studies (POLS) 2024/2025

24 May 2024
h 11 - 13 (CEST - Milan time)
Room B - NASP Graduate School

11.15 Annual Lecture
Ideology, conflict and solidarity in the EU: moving forward?
Maurizio Ferrera (University of Milan, Member of the Faculty Board and President of NASP)

Abstract
During the 2010s the European Union entered into an existential crisis which almost entirely deplenished the "communal ethos" of inter-state relations. A key role in this development was played by ideology, in particular the failure of the main ideological families of the Continent to elaborate coherent visions about the EU as a political community. Visions and symbols are not only important, but also causally autonomous in shaping political and institutional development. Elaborating a shared view of the EU as a polity characterised by a modicum of commonality has been historically a demanding task, and systemic shocks typically tend to catalyse latent conflicts. But crises also provide fertile grounds for political imagination to revive togetherness feelings and cope with common challenges - as was eventually demonstrated during the COVID pandemic.

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