Research
The Centre for European Legal Studies provides a focus for research in the Law Faculty in the fields of European Community law, European Union law and European comparative Law.
CELS seeks to encourage individual and collaborative research of the highest international quality on matters falling within its remit. CELS research projects often obtain funding from external grants or sponsorship and involve collaboration with other academic institutions, research centres and think-tanks.
CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS
AHRC Research Project on European Legal Development
The AHRC has awarded CELS a grant of £254,520 to fund a three-year research project on European Legal Development. The project will focus on how western legal systems develop with a specific emphasis on the dynamics of legal change in different systems. This research is of particular importance in the context of the current harmonising and codification efforts of different areas of law in Europe and the assumption held that, once the code is enacted, the legal systems in different states would inevitably work in parallel. The hypothesis of the study is that there are important differences in the way different legal systems develop, even where there are strong similarities between the social and economic factors that are fuelling the change. However, these important external factors are not in themselves sufficient to explain the dynamics of legal change. Professor J. Bell, Co-Director of CELS, and Professor D.J. Ibbetson are leading this research project.
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PAST RESEARCH PROJECTS
The Enlarged European Union and its Institutions
CELS and the Centre of International Studies are organizing an inter-disciplinary conference on “The enlarged European Union and its institutions: ‘Looking out and looking in’ under the new Constitutional framework”. This conference will focus on the constitutional issues arising from the Treaty, notably in terms of EU-level democracy and the role of national parliaments from both legal and political science perspectives. Particular attention will also be given to the European foreign & security policy and social policy. This conference is being funded by the Cambridge Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES). Mr. Angus Johnston is one of the organizers of this conference.
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ESRC Lisbon Strategy Seminar Series
Over the course of 2004-2005, the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, London, and Birmingham are organising a series of four seminars on the Lisbon Strategy. The aim of this seminar series is to analyse, from an inter-disciplinary perspective, the evolution of the Lisbon Strategy since 2000. The seminars analyse the substantive policies and the processes of governance involved through the lenses of law, political science and economics and through the eyes of academics, policymakers, social partners and civil society actors. Three seminars were held in 2004: ‘The Lisbon Strategy: Elaborating the European Economic and Social Model’ (27 February 2004, University of London); ‘The Open Method of Co-ordination – The Role of Objectives, Targets and Indicators’ (21 July 2004, University of Cambridge); and ‘Policy Learning Inside and the Open Method of Co-ordination’ (26 November 2004, University of Birmingham). The seminars are funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Dr. Claire Kilpatrick and Dr. Joanne Scott are core participants of the seminar series.
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CELS AND THE EU CONSTITUTION
The EU Constitution under the Microscope
Over the course of 2005, CELS and the Centre for European Reform will be organising a series of six seminars on the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe. The seminar series offers an opportunity for the detailed study of controversial aspects of the constitutional treaty, such as the EU/member state relationship under the constitutional treaty and the implications for parliamentary sovereignty; the practical impact on member states of the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; the new framework of Justice and Home Affairs; and the policy on external relations, security and defence under the constitutional treaty. The seminar series is organised by Professor Alan Dashwood.
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New Governance and Constitutionalism in Europe and the U.S.
The comparative project on New Governance and Constitutionalism in Europe and the U.S. brought together leading European and American scholars to discuss some of the most fundamental, challenging, and systemic legal and policy problems in Europe and the U.S. The general framework of the project was the examination of ‘new governance’ and its legal implications for constitutionalism and legal theory in Europe and the U.S. More specifically, the project examined how the objectives of good governance have been realised in a number of fields, including the environment, education and, employment policy. A publication New Governance and Constitutionalism in Europe and the US, edited by Gráinne de Búrca and Joanne Scott, of the contributions to this project is forthcoming with Hart Publishing. This project was supported by the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy and the European Union Center (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and by the Jean Monnet European Chair of European Social Integration. The CELS Scholars involved in this project were Dr. Joanne Scott, Dr. Claire Kilpatrick and Dr. Catherine Barnard.
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The EU Constitution Project
The EU Constitution Project was launched with the aim to make a valuable contribution to the Convention on the Future of Europe. The Project was commissioned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and resulted in a comprehensive report, which was submitted to the Convention on the Future of Europe. The contributors to the report were: Alan Dashwood, Michael Dougan, Angus Johnston, Eleanor Spaventa, and Christophe Hillion. The report examined to what extent the draft Treaty should incorporate the existing Treaties. Among the key findings and recommendations were: the European Communities should merge with the European Union; police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters should be dealt with under the EC Treaty; and the common foreign, security, and defence policy should remain distinct.
The report is available in html-format or PDF-format. |
