Jcms-Journal of Common Market Studies最新文献

Following the 2024 European elections, the European Union (EU) has pursued a strategy of institutional continuity to address growing geopolitical instability and intensifying domestic contestation, especially from populist and radical-right forces. By doing this, the EU prioritised leadership stability, preserved its pro-European parliamentary majority and reaffirmed its core policy agenda (Baldini et al., 2024). However, beneath this surface of continuity, cracks in the political and normative foundations of European integration have widened. Across the continent, mainstream parties continue to lose ground to an increasingly diverse array of challengers who question the EU's trajectory and, more specifically, its compatibility with national interests. Although no major political force currently advocates EU withdrawal, the commitment to further integration has become notably more fragile. In keeping with the tradition of the Annual Review (AR) of the EU of the Journal of Common Market Studies, this editorial reflects on the geopolitical, institutional and electoral developments shaping the Union in 2024 and the first half of 2025. The increasingly complex and overlapping nature of contemporary crises complicates the distinction between retrospective analysis and forward-looking reflection. Much of what has unfolded cannot be understood as a series of isolated events. Instead, these developments represent the intensification of structural transformations that have been reshaping the EU for over a decade (Fabbrini, 2019; Schimmelfennig, 2024). Whilst presenting the main developments and dynamics that have characterised the EU during 2024, this editorial introduces additional topics and issues to be explored in detail in the next AR.

The 2024-focused AR maintains almost unchanged the structure inaugurated in the previous issue. It opens with the keynote lecture by Malešević (2025), held by the author on 5 June 2025 at the London School of Economics and Political Science, which challenges the dominant view that Europe is unlikely to face renewed interstate war or resurgent nationalism. The author contends that such presentist interpretations overlook the longue durée dynamics of nationalism and organised violence. Drawing on comparative historical sociology, Malešević shows that nationalism and warfare remain deeply embedded in Europe's structural and societal conditions. His contribution convincingly situates the recent return of interstate conflict and the renewed salience of nationalism within broader historical continuities. This general overview provides the toile de fond for the more specific analyses of EU institutions (Part 1), EU policies (Part 2) and electoral developments in the member states and beyond (Part 3). The new ‘Quo Vadis Europa?’ section intermediates the transition to these parts, presenting some reflections on the New Intergovernmentalism (NI) u

The article explores the European Union's (EU) regulatory power through supply chain initiatives, in the context of shifting market dynamics towards China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Focusing on the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR) and the cocoa sector in Ghana as a most likely case study, the article employs qualitative data from semi-structured interviews to analyse the presence and potential of a Brussels effect. The findings suggest that whilst the EUDR could serve as a catalyst for ongoing sustainability and transparency efforts, emerging compliance structures contribute to the fragmentation of supply chains, reinforcing market segmentation. Moreover, the article argues that unilateral market access requirements tend to prioritise formal compliance over addressing substantive issues. The article highlights the complexities of externalising EU regulations, critically discussing the lack of normativity in the theoretical framework of the Brussels effect and raising questions about North–South relations in global regulatory power dynamics.

What are the long-term effects of populism on foreign policy? This aspect has not been addressed yet by the burgeoning literature on the international consequences of populism. In this contribution, we hypothesise that the two distinctive features of populist foreign policy-making, mobilisation/politicisation and personalisation/centralisation, leave a long-term imprint on foreign policy. We carry out a first plausibility probe of our hypotheses by addressing the legacy of Silvio Berlusconi on Italy's foreign policy. To that end, we trace elements of continuity and change in subsequent populist and non-populist governments. We find that the politicisation of foreign policy that was distinctively promoted by Berlusconi has remained a feature of Italian foreign policy across all successive governments. This concerns especially Italy's approach to the European Union and migration policies. Moreover, the personalisation of politics initiated by Berlusconi and the trend towards a strengthening of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers were taken over by successive Italian governments, including by technocratic ones.

EU-wide policy-making can potentially involve considerable variety in the styles of policy implementation response across member states. This is one manifestation of Europeanisation: how EU membership impacts member states. This variety across member states has been sustained, as EU policy-making expands into new policy areas, alongside developments in experimentalist modes of governance. In this study, we offer new insights into Europeanisation by exploring the issue of national culture as developed by Geert and Gert Jan Hofstede. We analyse how cultural variation can have a profound impact on preferred local policy-making styles, demonstrating how a culturally sensitive lens highlights different policy means being adopted to achieve common policy goals. To explore this empirically, we analyse interview data from experts in renewable energy system development, specifically around how they perceive the implementation approaches for the relatively new concept of positive energy districts (PEDs) in Amsterdam, Lisbon and Vienna. We develop an analytical framework drawing together key enabling elements of PEDs with different implicit cultural models. We find that expert insights into PED development align with the theoretical lens of cultural variation. We conclude that cultural variation can have a significant impact on how member states respond to and implement EU-level policy goals.

The Eurosystem is built on a compelling promise: shielded from national politics, ECB Governing Council members would be better positioned to deploy their science-based expertise. Far from embodying this ideal, scholars have documented central bankers' opportunistic engagement with the ideas underpinning monetary policy. Whilst studies have often attributed this to reputation management strategies, we show how deeply entrenched national preferences – whether hawkish or dovish – shape how central bankers frame inflationary developments and prescribe policy solutions. Based on a quantitative and qualitative study of Eurozone central bank governors' speeches from 2014 to 2023, we reveal patterns of selective engagement with economic data, strategic scepticism regarding theories and indicators and weaponised uncertainty to support or cast doubt on monetary policy action. Crucially, these rhetorical strategies are leveraged conditionally on the inflation season, leading doves and hawks to act as migrating birds, embracing the other camp's position when economic circumstances change. Casting further doubt upon the proclaimed science-based neutrality of central bankers, our study shows that central bank speeches should not be merely studied as reflections of policy learning or as instruments of reputation management but also as rhetorical tools to achieve national policy preferences.