Crafting European cohesion from the bottom-up - Local Networks of Europe-related Action in Germany

Lunch seminar
DOROTHEE RIESE, Fern Universität in Hagen
Crafting European cohesion from the bottom-up – Local Networks of Europe-related Action in Germany

Online on Microsoft Teams

Abstract
What role does the local level play in political cohesion in the EU? Which actors shape local political cohesion and how do they interact with each other? And what are their ideas about Europe and their own role in terms of Europe-related local action? These are the questions the talk will explore. Based on a survey among German cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants as well as qualitative case studies in eight selected cities, networks of local European activities will be revealed. Drawing on findings from interviews with local administrations, mayors, associations, business and schools, the dominant Europe-related framings within these networks are identified and discussed. We can show that there are distinct patterns of material and normative frames that stress different dimensions of Europe and highlight different roles of the local level in the European framework.

Bio
Dorothee Riese studied political science at Leipzig University. After finishing her M.A. in 2013, she worked at the Institute of Political Science (Leipzig University, Germany) and coordinated the M.A. programme ‘European Integration in East Central Europe’. From 2018-2020, she was employed in the ERC-funded project ‘Democratic Secrecy’ at Leiden University (Netherlands). In 2021, she defended her PhD thesis entitled ‘Enclosing Executive Secrecy. Arguments and Practices in the German Bundestag’. Since the beginning of 2021, she has been working as a researcher in the project ‘Local authorities as anchors of cohesion in the European system of multilevel governance (KommZuEU)’ funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research. Her focus in teaching and research lies on Germany and the European multi-level system.