Sciences Po is the leading French research university in political science, international relations and sociology, according to the recently published QS rankings of international universities by discipline. Sciences Po hosts 60 full-time professors, more than 200 researchers, 80 foreign professors invited each year and 400 academic partnerships with universities around the world. It offers 7 graduate programmes. Based on a multi-disciplinary approach, it associates and combines skills and know-how from the different social sciences.
The Centre d’études européennes is a research centre which has been founded at Sciences Po in 2005 to fulfil three main missions: to develop research on European questions at Sciences Po; to facilitate Sciences Po’s insertion in European research networks; to foster the European debate on the future of Europe.It is currently bringing together 27 full-time researchers and professors, about 40 PhD students, and a large number of research associates. The Centre’s researchers are affiliated with four departments (political science, sociology, law and history), as well as with the Paris School for International Affairs (PSIA). Researchers at the CEEare closely involved in the teaching programmes at Sciences Po: undergraduate, professional and research Masters and Ph.D. The CEE is more specifically associated with the definition of teaching programs and the management of the Masters of European Affairs and Urban Affairs, the Master in Comparative political sociology as well as Ph.D programs in law and political science. The range of teaching covers the majority of field study in political science and sociology: European studies, comparative politics, political sociology, policy analysis as well as qualitative and quantitative methods.
The CEE’s scientific project, which combines basic and applied research, focuses on four main areas:
- A cross-cutting approach to European studies which pairs traditional European studies (institutions, integration, etc.) with analysis of the effects of European integration on public policy, state structures, and societies.
- The interlinkage between participation, democracy and government which focuses on the significant changes both in the policymaking and in the engagement in politics.
- Election analyses aiming at addressing social and political developments that have affected the determinants of voting (weakening hold of ideological markers; individualization of the relationship to politics; new forms of exclusion, militancy and proselytizing; the emergence of new cultural, religious and environmental challenges, etc.).
- The restructuring of the state and public policy. This area of research explores the changing methods and scope of state intervention, asking how the State’s regulatory, oversight and social steering capacity is transformed.
The Centre d’études européennes is a highly internationalised research centre with a growing international dimension. First, the team has become increasingly multinational in recent years. Second, most of the research includes an international and/or comparative dimension and is carried out in partnership with foreign universities. Third, the CEE is hosting many programmes funded by European institutions. In 2014, the CEE is hosting and supporting two European Research Council grants (ERC Advanced Grant to Paul-André Rosental and ERC Starting Grant to Jenny Andersson) and hosts one Marie-Curie Fellowship (Paul Stephenson). Since 2005, the CEE hosted different European programmes (International Training Network, collaborative programmes, ORA programmes, etc.). Moreover, our team members regularly serve as visiting researchers at partner institutions, especially through the many international networks the CEE is involved in, like the Theseus programme or the OXPO partnership between Sciences Po and Oxford.
The Centre d’études européennes is also strongly engaged in the development of applied research dedicated to the French, the European and the international society. The CEE regularly undertakes programmes that are publicly funded or implemented in partnership with public authorities, producing knowledge that informs debates on societal issues and contributes to public policy reform at both the European and national levels. Examples include the recommendations that flowed from the Recwowe project: Reconciling Work and Welfare in Europe, Zaki Laïdi’s participation in drafting the 2007-2008 white paper on European foreign policy, and the Silicosis project recommendations. Institutional partnerships have been developed, both with public and private entities and covering a wide range of issues like energy policies, mobility policies or health care. CEE researchers are also frequently commentators for the media. One of the most recent examples of their participation to the public debate is the analysis of the 2014 European elections, both during the campaign and after the results.
The Centre publishes prolifically in the form of monographs, collective works, manuals, and articles. The CEE also edits a series of working papers, Les Cahiers européens de Sciences Po, as well as an E-Print collection that makes unpublished research papers publicly available.
More information about the Centre d’études européennes at Sciences Po