Politics and Culture in Europe

Contact: Prof. Hylke Dijkstra (Director) and Dr. Toon van Overbeke (Academic Secretary)

Founded in 2003, Politics and Culture in Europe (PCE) is an interdisciplinary research programme at Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Maastricht University. It brings together 50 political scientists, historians and philosophers. The process of European integration since 1945 and questions of European democracy, governance, and foreign policy are central to the PCE research agenda. PCE researchers study the European Union and Europeanisation, yet they also contribute to debates on multilateralism and the global order, and take an interest in transnational history. Methodologically rigorous, the emphasis of PCE is on fundamental research with societal relevance.

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Research clusters

PCE works in four research clusters:

European Policy and Governance
Europe and the Crisis of Rule-Based Global Order
Democracy in Europe: Past and Present
Political attitudes and behaviour in Europe

European Policy and Governance

The cluster European Policy and Governance concentrates on the contemporary events, developments and debates related to the European public policy process.

For more information about this cluster, please visit the research clusters webpage.

Europe and the Crisis of Rule-Based Global Order

The cluster Europe and the Crisis of Rule-Based Global Order examines the ability of the EU to promote rules-based order in the European neighbourhood and global governance.

For more information about this cluster, please visit the research clusters webpage.

Democracy in Europe: Past and Present

The cluster Democracy in Europe: Past and Present focuses on the evolution, the dynamics, the institutional forms, and the contested nature of democracy across time and space.

For more information about this cluster, please visit the research clusters webpage.

Political attitudes and behaviour in Europe

The cluster Political attitudes and behaviour in Europe focuses on topics such as political attitudes, political behaviour, representation, responsiveness, policy preferences, legitimacy, citizenship, and emotions in politics.

For more information about this cluster, please visit the research clusters webpage.