Annual lecture & Presentation of the PhD Programme in Political Studies (POLS) 2024/2025

24 May 2024 h 11 - 13 (CEST - Milan time)

Room B - NASP Graduate School

11.15 Annual Lecture: Ideology, conflict and solidarity in the EU: moving forward?

Maurizio Ferrera (University of Milan, Member of the Faculty Board and President of NASP)

Abstract: During the 2010s the European Union entered into an existential crisis which almost entirely deplenished the "communal ethos" of inter-state relations. A key role in this development was played by ideology, in particular the failure of the main ideological families of the Continent to elaborate coherent visions about the EU as a political community. Visions and symbols are not only important, but also causally autonomous in shaping political and institutional development. Elaborating a shared view of the EU as a polity characterised by a modicum of commonality has been historically a demanding task, and systemic shocks typically tend to catalyse latent conflicts. But crises also provide fertile grounds for political imagination to revive togetherness feelings and cope with common challenges - as was eventually demonstrated during the COVID pandemic.