PhD The politics of reforming Europe’s economies (2 x 0,8-1 FTE) (# of pos: 2)

The research group on European and Global Governance at Erasmus University offers two PhD positions to study the politics of reforming European economies. The positions are part of the project “Towards a resilient European Union? Post-pandemic economic governance amidst politicization”, financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

The project takes as starting point that member state compliance with reform recommendations from the EU has been poor. It sets out to investigate whether linking the European Recovery Fund (NextGeneration EU) to compliance lead to more reform efforts or whether forces such as Euroscepticism hold member states back.

You will get the chance to conduct inspiring research based on theoretically-informed comparative case studies on economic policy reforms in areas such as the labor market, public pensions, and tax policies. You will be able to analyze factors like public opinion, actor preferences and coalitions, politicization strategies, and bargaining dynamics, for two of the following member states: Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain. Research methods may include, but are not limited to, process tracing, document analysis, and interviews with key actors from the EU and the member states. Research visits to Brussels and a research stay in the relevant member states are also considered. An outline of the project is provided here.

You will have the opportunity to present your research at international conferences that will culminate in a dissertation based on a set of research articles. You will also be involved in organizing workshops with the international advisory board of the project and social impact activities.

You will work in close cooperation with Prof. dr. Markus Haverland and a daily supervisor and you will be embedded in the vibrant, internationally-oriented, and caring research group on European and Global Governance at the Department of Public Administration and Sociology. Training will be offered by the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities and the research school Netherlands Institute of Government (NIG). Additional training at international post-graduate programs is also possible.