Panel proposal for the ECSA-C Biennial Conference, Ottawa, May 2024

Panel title:

Nordic Perspectives on the 2024 European Parliament Elections: Between Progressive Europeanism and (Post-truth) Populist Euroscepticism

Panel organizer: Maximilian Conrad, University of Iceland

Panel co-organizer: TBD

Panel abstract:

Ahead of the 2024 European Parliament elections, the European Union is torn between what might be labelled progressive Europeanism on the one hand, and populist Euroscepticism on the other hand. Both within the European Parliament or within the member states, pro-European forces advance claims for a new “constituent moment” that urges treaty reform by means of a new European convention. At the same time, anti-EU populism and nationalism continue to be on the rise in many states across the EU post-Brexit. Such tensions can also be observed in the Nordic countries. Traditionally considered to be reluctant Europeans, the Nordic states have tended to emphasize intergovernmental integration and limit the development of the EU’s supranational powers. More recently, however, countries such as Denmark or Sweden have witnessed a profound turn towards promoting the deepening of European integration, while claims for EU membership have resurfaced in countries like Norway and Iceland. Still, all Nordic countries also feature profoundly – and politically relevant – Eurosceptic parties that agitate against joining the EU. Against this backdrop, this panel invites papers that address the 2024 European Parliament elections from the perspective of the Nordic countries and that investigate the development of stances on European integration within those countries. In particular, we welcome papers that emphasize the development of Eurosceptic populism as such in these countries, or that analyze the role and relevance of post-truth politics in the rise of Eurosceptic populism. Correspondingly, we also welcome papers that address the development of progressive Europeanism (broadly defined) in the Nordic countries. Comparative analyses are as welcome as case studies of individual countries, political parties or pro- or anti-EU movements or civil-society organizations, but they need to be written in the specific context of the European Parliament elections.

The panel aims to publish the presented papers as a special issue in Scandinavian Political Studies.

Paper proposals (including the authors’ names, institutional affiliation, paper title and abstract) should be sent to Maximilian Conrad (mc@hi.is) by January 15, 2024. Proposals submitted after this date may also be considered.