The Cohesion Dimension of the EU: Solidarity, Democracy and Competition

This section invites panel and paper proposals on all topics relating to the challenges of social and economic cohesion in Europe, including the changing nature of European Cohesion policy; the inclusion of civil society in policy-making versus the (arguably) technocratic nature of EU policy processes (across all policies, including cohesion, agriculture, transport, internal market, trade); the impact of these processes on visions of EU cohesion and solidarity (including cohesion across communities, including migrant communities); the territorial politics and independence challenges to cohesion; the inter-personal dimension of cohesion (social mobility, education, poverty); and the ways in which European cohesion is interpreted by different actors at sub-national, national and EU scales. Any proposal that aims to shed new light on how competing visions and realities of cohesion across and within the EU are affecting ‘the meaning’ of the European construct ‘for the people’, the current challenges being faced, and possible future scenarios would be well received. Proposals are welcome from a range of disciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches.