The Political Utilization of EU-Funded Research in EU Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding

The article analyses the political utilization of EU-funded research in support of EU conflict prevention and peacebuilding. By an institutional and empirical analysis, it seeks to assess the extent to which EU-funded research in this ‘high politics’ area is utilized in EU policy-making. The institutional analysis shows a highly complex and path-dependent EU institutional structure for research policymaking, marked by spill-over dynamics and supranational entrepreneurship. The empirical analysis is focussed on Horizon 2020 research projects as the main EU research policy outcomes. The direct political utilization of project results at the EU level is limited and fits the concept of ‘knowledge creep’. EU-funded research projects have contributed indirectly to the development of concepts which are in use in EU policy-making, such as civilian capabilities and gender mainstreaming. Project research outcomes have also been used internally in the scientific domain in terms of accumulation of scientific capital. The empirical results show a very limited level of EU research integration in this cross-sectoral area with clear horizontal differentiation between Western and Eastern Europe. European Union (EU), research utilization, knowledge creep, conflict prevention, peacebuilding, Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)