Europe’s Futures - Ideas for Action

Research Programs

Europe finds itself confronted with challenges of a magnitude it has not experienced since the crises of the 1930s. Trust in institutions is faltering, social capital is eroding, economic growth is in question, demographic decline is pronounced in some countries, nationalism is growing and the fear of the “other” in whichever guise is seen as endangering one’s sense of community and identity. Citizens of Europe are feeling that they are losing what Machiavelli called the vivere civile, vivere libero: civic participation coupled with a sense of possibility to voice their views in the sphere of the political. It is of the essence to create a space to understand the current dynamics and to bring people from the different corners of Europe to speak and listen to each other on the enumerated challenges. Beyond reacquiring a sense of certainty it is imperative to open the path to a future, to solutions that can make these societies prosperous again. Keen to explore some of those paths, in 2018 IWM and ERSTE Foundation (Vienna) entered a partnership to create the Europe’s Futures—Ideas for Action project as a novel resource at the intersection of academia, civil society and politics. 

IWM Permanent Fellow Ivan Vejvoda directs the Europe’s Futures—Ideas for Action project and its program of in-depth research leading to policy proposals, publications or direct action on topics of interest such as deterioration of rule of law and democracy in the European Union, the nexus of migration and borders and the unfinished enlargement of the European Union. In the academic year 2022/23, Europe’s Futures—Ideas for Action welcomed its fifth cohort of fellows, expanding the network of closely-knit and committed Europeans brought together by the project to 39 exceptional individuals.

On Europe's Futures—Ideas for Action we also undertake to add quality to the public debate in Austria, other EU member states and candidate countries on issues crucial to the future of Europe. To this end and in cooperation with fellows, alumni, and a network of institutional partners, the project organizes and supports conferences, debates, expert meetings and other impactful public events.

Video: the annual symposium of the 2019/20 Europe's Futures fellows, held Monday 29 June 2020

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The “Europe's Futures—Ideas for Action” program contributes to the IWM’s partnership with the Dahrendorf Programme at the European Studies Centre, University of Oxford.

Contact

Dino Pasalic
Europe’s Futures Project Manager
https://www.europesfutures.eu

Fellowships

  • Implications of Russia’s war on Ukraine and on the Neighborhood , -
  • Bringing Back Meritocracy to the EU Accession Process, -
  • Voters 2024: Who Is the Future? , -
  • Implications of the War in Ukraine for European Integration, -
  • Ukraine on the European Path and Its Adversaries, -
  • Wartime EU: Consequences of the Russian–Ukrainian War on the Enlargement Process, -
  • The Politics of Creating a Resilient, Independent and Green Europe, -
  • Dealing with a Weaker Russia: Analysis and Implications, -
  • Reinvigorating the European Integration of the Western Balkans: Policy Development and Advocacy, -
  • A History of Turkey’s Future and its Implications for Europe, -
  • Future Europe as a Superpower: Voices from CEE, -
  • Weaponizing Society vs. Building Collective Resilience, -
  • Outcomes of Chinese Engagement in Southeast Europe: Potential Scenarios, -
  • Need for Speed? Europe, China, and the Competition for the Green Tech Transition, -
  • The Rise of Ultra-Conservatism in Central Europe and the Decline of Women’s Reproductive Rights, -
  • Internal and External Understanding of EU’s Strategic Autonomy: How to Adapt to the New Realities, -
  • How Can the EU's Green Agenda Go Global?, -
  • The Structure of Pseudo-Scientific Revolutions, -
  • Stateness and Democratic Consolidation: Lessons From Former Yugoslavia, -
  • Judges Under Pressure: Europe’s Unfinished Transformation, -
  • Narrative Making in the European Capital, -
  • The EU Periphery and Revisionist Powers, -
  • Eroding Trust: Serbian Democracy from 5 October 2000 to COVID-19, -
  • Learning from the Prespa Agreement: Is there a ‘Southeast European way’ of settling disputes or should there be one? Lessons for the European Union., -
  • Missing Pages of European History: The EU’s Historic Role in Why Western Balkans Enlargement is Stuck, -
  • Who is Telling Us What? Why? And How? The Media in Central and Eastern Europe in 2020, -
  • People of the Mountain: Stories from a Balkan Ecosystem, -
  • Solidarność / Solidarität Europa, -
  • “Double Bind: Geopolitical Europe in times of Covid-19”, -
  • Protest in a time of pandemic, -
  • Drivers of citizen political participation in the European Union in times of Covid-19, -
  • Illiberal Regression of Democracy as an Opportunity for Political Extremism: The Case of Slovakia, -
  • Western Balkan Diaspora—Untapped Potential and Global Asset for the Region, -
  • Where does Europe end? The Political Significations of Europe’s Uncertain Geographies, -
  • How Liberal Narratives Could Challenge European Status quo and Fight Back National Populism, -
  • Towards an EU that Protects and Projects, -
  • Principles and Values: What Future Role in EU Peacebuilding?, -
  • The Many Faces of Sustainable Work, Wealth, Health, and Welfare, -
  • The European Inferno, -
  • Bye Bye Balkans, -
  • Europe’s democratic recession and its global role , -
  • EU migration policy, the reform prospects of the EU and EU foreign policy, -
  • Ideas and Causes - and a Small Crusade for the Rule of Law in Europe, -
  • The Generation that Betrayed Hungarian Democracy, -
  • The Polish Lesson: The European Union's Rule of Law Revolution, -

Fellows

Fellows' Publications