Project

In a context of heightened geopolitical pressures and heightened competition for technological dominance, the EU has adopted a series of instruments to protect itself from economic coercion. Yet, internal divisions are becoming acute when implementing these new measures. So, what drives support or opposition to geoeconomic policies in the EU?

Geoeconomic FaultLines examines how the geoeconomic turn is transforming the coalitional politics within the EU. Our research focuses on mapping and explaining the political cleavages activated by these new instruments. By understanding these patterns of consensus and contestation, we aim to identify the political barriers for the EU to develop strategic autonomy in a world of mounting competition..

Team

Anna Herranz Surralles

Associate Professor of International Relations
Maastricht University View profile

Anna’s research concentrates on EU energy policy and global energy governance. Some of her recent work has examined the emergence of EU energy diplomacy and green industrial policy, the (geo)politicization of energy investments and infrastructure, or the changing paradigms and practices of energy cooperation in the EU’s relations with neighbouring countries. Her core expertise on energy policy gives our project solid grounding in the internal aspects of economic statecraft.

Johan Adriaensen

Associate Professor of European Public Policy
Maastricht University View profile

Johan’s research focuses on European institutional politics and trade policy, with specific attention to the intersection of both topics. His recent works have examined institutional divisions of power in the EU, geoeconomic motives in free trade agreements, and institutional power shifts in the EU’s geoeconomic turn. His extensive expertise in the role of national governments in the field of trade and investment contribute to the external side of statecraft of our project.

Odile Feltkamp

PhD Candidate
Maastricht University View profile

Prior to her PhD, Odile worked with Anna as a research assistant, preparing the groundwork for a closer analysis of party-political contestation in geoeconomic trade measures. She accrues significant expertise on the new geoeconomic instruments as her MSc thesis unpacked the trilogue negotiations of new geopolitical instruments. As part of her MSc in European Studies, she also received rigorous methodological training.

Research Assistants

We would like to gratefully thank our research assistants Jelle Paalman and Lorenzo Pellegrini for their assistance with the data collection.

Note on our illustrations

Our project is all about the political fault lines in EU geoeconomic policies.
To create a visual identity representing this topic, we partnered with illustrator Kirstin Bone. Her art can be found on the website www.kirstinbone.co.uk and on Instagram: @kirstintheartist.