Institut d’Études Européennes

For 60 years, the Institut d’études européennes of the Université libre de Bruxelles (IEE-ULB) has been at the forefront of the study of the European institutions and the evolutions of European integration. The interdisciplinary research at the IEE-ULB is based on the contributions of researchers and academics representing 13 disciplinary research centres and units from across 5 Faculties: the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences; the Faculty of Law and Criminology; the Faculty of Arts, Translation, and Communication; the Faculty of Psychology, Education Sciences and Speech Therapy; and Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management.

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As a scientific platform at the crossroads of several departmental research centres, the IEE conducts, coordinates, promotes, facilitates and publicizes specific interdisciplinary activities on European issues. Overall, understanding the institutions, policies and dynamics of integration associated with the EU requires considering them in the context of globalization. This has seen the IEE’s approach evolve into a so-called concentric one. This concentric research agenda is organized along four transversal research themes grouping researchers from all of the aforementioned disciplines:

• Europe as an area of freedom, security and justice – Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the maintenance and development of an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice has been one of the European Union’s objectives. The IEE-ULB’s first crosscutting area of research is devoted to studying this objective.
• Europe as an area of economic and social regulation – The IEE-ULB’s second area of research addresses European policy-making by dealing with the most important areas in view of an understanding of European integration: economic governance, territories and regional policy, common market and social issues.
• Europe as a community of norms and values – The IEE-ULB’s third crosscutting area of research focusses on cooperation processes, processes of identification and conflict generated by European integration and their role in the legitimization of the EU as a political entity.
• Europe in the world – The IEE-ULB ‘Europe in the World’ crosscutting area of research examines the European Union in terms of global governance; i.e. the interactions between global policy and European policies.