Through its “example” of regional governance, its role in international cooperation and its policies of association and pre-accession, the European Union already exercises governance beyond its formal boundaries. Furthermore, it is affected by a globalised economy and the unstable world order at different dimensions of polity, politics and policies.

The PhD student seminar of December 2005 will focus on a paradox: on the one hand, the EU is considered to be the most democratic international regime, not only by applicant countries and partners in Europe and beyond but also by outstanding scholars. On the other hand, we are witnessing a political crisis of the EU construction provoked precisely by an internal democratic and legitimacy deficit. The seminar will explore this question on the basis of various paradigms of International Relations theories and approaches, including regime theory, new institutionalism, constructivism, cosmopolitanism, comparative analysis of regional integration and of interregional regimes. The programme also aims to develop a dialogue between the world of research and the European union institutions based in Brussels. The seminar will bring together an outstanding international group of scholars and PhD students coming principally from the GARNET network.

The PhD workshop is divided into sessions devoted to a specific topic. These topics are:

• Research Theme 1: The EU, regional & global governance: the ironies of democratic legitimacy.
• Research Theme 2: The global governance dilemma: realist, institutionalist and cosmopolitan views.
• Research Theme 3: New regionalism as democracy stabilizer? The comparative dimension.
• Research Theme 4: EU external policies and democracy.
• Research Theme 5: Inside/Outside: the constitutional Treaty debate and its international implications.
• Research Theme 6: Could the EU improve the legitimacy of the global regulation framework?

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