Discover the podcast from the European RESONANCE project!
In this pilot episode, Alix and Neli, students on the Master’s in International and Security Politics at ESPOL, discuss a key issue in European governance with Professor Johannes Karremans: how can institutional accountability be reconciled with democratic expectations?
This is the central question of the first episode of the RESONANCE – Responsiveness and Responsibility in European Governance podcast, produced with ESPOL students and Professor Johannes Karremans.
In this first episode, ESPOL students speak with Johannes Karremans, Professor at ESPOL, about a key challenge facing European governance: how can the European Union strike a balance between institutional responsibility and democratic responsiveness?
The European Union provides a particularly interesting setting for exploring this tension. Decisions taken at European level often need to address long-term challenges, while also responding to the short-term expectations and political constraints faced by Member States and their citizens.
Throughout the episode, Johannes Karremans discusses the role of European fiscal rules and the European Semester, which shape and influence national economic and social policies.
The episode also looks back at the experience of austerity during the Great Recession, and what it can tell us about questions of democratic legitimacy within the European Union.
The first episode also introduces the RESONANCE project, which explores the relationship between responsibility and responsiveness in European multilevel governance. The project examines how European institutions and national governments respond to democratic demands while maintaining the rules and commitments needed to ensure long-term political and economic stability.
Building on the research of Professor Johannes Karremans, RESONANCE looks at how this balance evolves over time and across European countries. Through research and discussion, the project explores what these tensions mean for European governance and democratic legitimacy, both today and in the years to come.
