Tillsammans med italienska Compagnia di San Paolo och tyska VolkswagenStiftung har RJ gjort satsningen Europe and Global Challenges. Satsningen har ambitionen att stimulera europeiska forskare att i större utsträckning än hittills samarbeta med kolleger i andra delar av världen i forskning om vår tids stora utmaningar. Medel har utlysts i två omgångar och totalt har 10 forskargrupper beviljats medel.

2012

Totalt 76 ansökningarna lämnades in från forskgrupper spridda över hela världen. Av dessa gick 15 vidare och fyra beviljades medel då besluten fattades i juni 2012. Läs hela utlysningen här.

Med i den panel som beviljade projekten var:

Stefano Sacchi, University of Milan, Political Science
Ivan Krastev, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, Political Research
Carsten Hefeker, University of Siegen, International Economics
Helene Sjursen, Centre for European Studies (ARENA), Oslo, Political Science
Andrew Geddes, University of Sheffield/EUI, International migration
John Vogler, Keele University, International relations
Florian Becker, University of Kiel, International Law
Nigel Arnell, Walker Institute for Climate System Research, University of Reading

Beviljade anslag 2012:

• Thomas Diez, professor vid universitetet i Tübingen. Hans forskargrupp har fått 700 500 euro från Compagnia di San Paolo för att studera The EU, regional conflicts and the promotion of regional cooperation: A successfull strategy for a global challenge?

Summary: Regional conflicts are a core global challenge in that they threaten international peace and affect global actors either because of economic and strategic interests or because of challenges to normative claims. The European Union (EU) has been seen as a normative power able to help transform such conflicts. A prominent strategy in this has been the promotion of regional integration through various forms of support for regional integration projects and strategies, from the Andean Community to the African Union. REGIOCONF aims at assessing this strategy by comparing EU involvement in different cases in the Mediterranean, Africa, Latin America and East Asia. It will explain the persistence of this strategy and the choice of particular instruments, assess its implementation, analyse local responses and the interaction with the global community and determine the conditions under which a regionalisation strategy as an instrument of conflict transformation may be successful. In doing so, it will enhance our understanding of a crucial part of EU external policy, make a contribution to the debate about sustainable peace strategies, and put forward policy recommendations about how to assist the transformation of regional conflicts more successfully.
 

• Thorsten Benner, ledare för Global Public Policy Insitute i Berlin. Hans grupp har beviljats 954 900 euro från VolkswagenStiftung för projektet Human security and the dynamics of norm competition.

Summary: Born out of the international community’s failure to help stop mass atrocities in Rwanda or Srebrenica,the agenda of “human security” has challenged the normative foundations of the global order. Emphasizing the security of individuals and societies rather than states, it stands in tension with theprinciples of sovereignty and non-interference. Which norms prevail in this competition is crucial indetermining how Europe and the world respond to atrocities and violent conflict within and beyondstate borders. Beyond the vital policy relevance of this challenge, a review of recent scholarship revealsour understanding of processes of norm competition in a multipolar age is deeply insufficient. In
the proposed project, a group of young as well as established researchers from four European and three non-Western institutions collaboratively seek to close this gap. The project will: (1) jointly develop a theoretical framework of norm competition in international politics that takes seriously the equal interaction between rising and established powers, (2) establish an evidence base on the development of the normative orientations and advocacy strategies of six major powers on human security since 2001, and (3) investigate how norm competition between these major powers affects the application of human security norms in practice. This project advances the study of global norms both conceptually and empirically and produces relevant insights for more informed policy-making.

• Jann Lay, knuten till German Institute of Global and Area Studies i Hamburg, leder en grupp som fått 850 000 euro från VolkswagenStiftung för Climate change mitigation and poverty reduction – trade-offs or win-win situations?

Summary: Climate change mitigation by curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is one of the biggest global challenges. Decarbonising economic development in fast-growing middle income countries is a necessity to meet this challenge. Decarbonisation may, however, have adverse effects on economic growth and hence poverty reduction. Advocates of green growth, in contrast, claim that mitigation policies will produce win-win situations. These different views will be examined in the proposed multi-disciplinary project that investigates whether the mitigation-poverty reduction nexus is characterized by trade-offs or win-win situations. We approach this question from a political science, economics and international relations perspective. For three middle income developing countries, Mexico, South Africa, and Thailand, we analyse (1) the domestic climate and poverty governance systems to identify “feasible mitigation policies”, (2) the poverty and distributional impacts of these policies, and (3) the global discourse on the mitigation-development-justice nexus.

• Neil Powell, knuten till Stockholm Environment Institute, vars forskargrupp RJ beviljat 900 000 euro för projektet Climate change adaptation and water governance: Reconciling food security policies, renewable energy and the provision of multiple ecosystem services.

Summary: This proposal to the Europe and Global Challenges Call, “Climate change adaptation and water governance: reconciling food security, renewable energy and the provision of multiple ecosystem services” (CADWAGO), aims to develop the knowledge base and capacity to adapt to climate change through improved water governance approaches. Many global challenges are interrelated, and while this proposal is focused on the nexus between climate change and water security, it has implications for other global challenges. There is a crucial link between good water governance, food security, renewable energy and the provision of multiple ecosystem services in contexts characterized by controversy and uncertainty. CADWAGO brings together 10 partners from Europe, Australasia and North America who have extensive social science research experience in climate change adaptation and water governance issues, thereby extending the collective global knowledge base through sharing methods
and findings. CADWAGO builds on the lessons from ongoing research cases to create a forum and dialogue between researchers and stakeholders at different scales. The lessons from the cases will be synthesized and used in the adaptation of key European policy processes and governance actions that have a global impact. High impact peer reviewed publications and practitioner orientated publications will also be focused on as key project outputs.
 

2010 års utlysning:

Europe and Global Challenges utlystes först som ett planeringsanslag. De tre stiftelserna mottog inte mindre 138 ansökningar om planeringsanslag. Av dessa beviljades 9 planeringsanslag och en handfull grupper uppmuntrades särskilt att inkomma med fullständiga ansökningar. Totalt inkom 79 fullständiga ansökningar om forskningsmedel. Av dessa kortlistades 15 för hearingar. Den expertpanel som sammansatts, med svensk representation i form av Rutger Lindahl och Thommy Svensson, enades om att prioritera sex programförslag. Av dessa finansierar RJ två stycken, varav ett är placerat vid Lunds universitet.

De sex beviljade projekten i 2010 års utlysning: 
 

Cristina Chaminade, Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE), Lunds universitet
RJ beviljar motsvarande 940 000 euro
The challenge of globalization: Technology driven foreign direct investment (TFDI) and its implications for the negotiation of International (bi- and multilateral) Investment Agreements
In the past, the discussion on international investment regimes has always begun with an institutional and organizational template — that of the GATT — and adjusting it to the needs of investment. Furthermore, it has considered almost exclusively traditional forms of foreign direct investments (FDI) linked to the exploitation of advantages rather than on its acquisition. The later is the main driver of tech-based FDI (TFDI). This approach has systematically led to a failure of negotiations. A preferable approach is to first identify the key characteristics of TFDI as well as those institutional aspects that require concerted international action before placing them within an organizational framework. This is the approach chosen in this project. The project involves partners from Europe and Asia with an extensive network in Latin America (Brazil) and Africa (South Africa) to analyze the determinants of TFDI in order to inform policy makers negotiating international investment agreements.

Dirk Messner, German Development Institute, Bonn
RJ beviljar motsvarande 925 000 euro
Technological trajectories for climate change mitigation in China, Europe and India
The global challenge which this project concentrates on, is the need to mitigate climate change through technological innovation. Europe is in a strong position to advance the relevant technologies. However, Europe’s ability to make a difference to climate change depends on involving China and India in the search for an application of technical solutions. This is difficult because the economic conditions and political pressures in India and China are very different from those in Europe. This project examines a) how and why the emerging technological trajectories in Europe, China and India differ, b) how there trajectories affect complementarity and competition between Europe, china and India, and c) the implications for co-operation between Europe and China and India at the governmental and enterprise levels. This will be done by drawing and integrating different disciplines and by concentrating the empirical analysis on two sectors: wind energy and electro mobility.

Claudia M. Buch, Institute for Applied Economic Research, Tübingen
VolkswagenStiftung beviljar anslaget
Europe’s Global Linkages and the Impact of the Financial Crisis: Policies for Sustainable Trade, Capital Flows, and Migration
Successful integration into global markets is widely viewed as a precondition for sustainable economic growth in Europe. The financial crisis since 2007 has damaged Europe’s global linkages in the form of international trade, direct investment, capital flows, and labor migration. The threat of a lasting setback presents the policy community at the national, European, and global level with the challenge of creating favorable conditions for a return to growth-enhancing global economic integration, beyond the financial sector reforms currently discussed. To inform such policies, our proposed research addresses three closely related questions: (i) How are international trade and direct investment affected by financial integration and potentially tighter restrictions on bank lending due to the financial crisis? (ii) How are international banking operations emerging from the crisis? (iii) How is international labor migration related to international trade and investment, and how will tighter immigration policies since the crisis affect trade and investment?

Michèle Knodt, Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Darmstadt
VolkswagenStiftung beviljar anslaget
Challenges of European External Energy Governance with Emerging Powers: Meeting Tiger, Dragon, Lion and Jaguar
The project focuses on two major global challenges that the EU is currently facing: First, the establishment of a multipolar world order with emerging powers as prospective cooperation partners; and second, the strategic and ecological shortcomings of the EU’s External Energy Policy. Research will be carried out in three steps: 1) Identifying differences in the normative orientation, governance and bargaining strategies of the EU’s energy policy towards China, India, Brazil and South Africa. 2) Explaining these differences with reference to the EU/member states and private actor’s interests, different Directorate General responsibilities, emerging powers policy styles and exit-options of the emerging powers through regional/multilateral embeddedness. 3) Offering recommendations for a future “Good External Energy Governance”. Here, we will outline concrete policy options for “decarbonization strategies” in an increasingly multipolar world. Therefore, our project strongly emphasizes close connections between academia and policy consultancy and involves experts of European and overseas think tanks.

Ferruccio Pastore, Forum Internazionale ed Europeo di Ricerche sull’Immigrazione, Turin
Compagnia di San Paolo beviljar anslaget
Which labour migration governance for a more dynamic and inclusive Europe
The global economic crisis interrupted a period of strong expansion of labour migration flows to (and within) the European Union. However, regardless of how slow the recovery may be, the structural needs for foreign labour in Europe will regain volume and urgency. How can European countries actively manage legal immigration flows once again in the post-economic crisis context? This is a vital question for the future competitiveness and cohesion of European societies. Member states are yet to be persuaded of the advantage of pooling powers at EU level. Yet, simply reviving the heterogeneous spectrum of national approaches, which have shown their limits in efficiency and sustainability, may not be the answer. A fundamental rethinking of labour migration governance thus emerges as one of the key challenges for Europe’s future. Through a combination of comparative policy analysis and quantitative research, this project aims at exploring innovative approaches in this field.

Harald Müller, Peace Research Institute, Frankfurt
Compagnia di San Paolo beviljar anslaget
The Post-Transatlantic Age: A Twenty-First Century Concert of Powers?
The three year project inquires overlapping and contrasting interests among the major powers: the US, China, the EU, Russia, and India. It then analyses the historical example of successful security governance of great powers, the “Concert of Europe” that kept peace for forty years in the early nineteenth century. The rich treasure of historical studies cert will be revisited to extract the factors that enabled the Concert to function. Next, it explores the current applicability of the Concert model. The commonalities and differences between then and now will be analysed. An adapted concert design for a multilateral security governance structure among the great powers will be developed. Finally, it defines a strategy for the EU for promoting this new type of multilateralism. The study group consists of eight senior scholars and eight postdoctoral scholars, eight from Europe and two from each the US, Russia, China, and India.
 

Den första utlysningen finns att läsa här.

Uppdaterad 2012-09-13