European Fiscal Policy, Banking Union and Collective Goods Theory.

This SEP grant constitutes the fourth year of a PhD-trajectory, subsequent to a three year EU grant in the framework of the Innovative Training Network PLATO on the Post-crisis Legitimacy of the European Union. This 4th year extension grant has several significant benefits for the research already conducted, the further career plans of the PhD researcher Philipp Lausberg in question, and for follow-up research project applications to the benefit of the University of Antwerp. The timetable of a three-year ITN scholarship which finishes in December 2020 is extremely tight, to the point that it is hardly possible to go into as much depth in research as would be desirable. The prolongation thus serves to produce an even better-researched and more extensive thesis, improving career prospects in the academic world and beyond, as well as improving publication output in the interest of the university. The additional year will serve to plan next career steps more thoroughly, namely write an FWO junior postdoctoral grant proposal, as well as apply for other such opportunities. Within the current, tight timeframe, it is nearly impossible to produce a comprehensive application realizing the potential at hand, since all-time needs to be invested in finishing the PhD thesis in time. Strategically planning this kind of application also includes publishing journal articles. Currently, we are awaiting the acceptance of a co-authored article submitted to the highly ranked Journal of Common Market Studies and for the publication of a single authored book chapter in an edited volume (edited by Chris Lord, Dirk De Bièvre, Ramses Wessels and Peter Bursens) destined for the prestigious ECPR Press. The SEP grant will allow to prepare a postdoc application with these two pieces already published. Moreover, it will provide time to produce a further article for publication in a top journal. The novel approach of analyzing several post-crisis institutions of economic and financial governance in the EU using a collective goods perspective lends itself very well to such a publication strategy. Finally, the additional year of funding will also be used to submit grant and research project proposals together with other faculty at the University of Antwerp. Recently, the Politics and Public Governance research group became part of one the Centers of Excellence with a focus on 'Trust and Distrust in Multi-level Governance'. GOVTRUST will perform cutting-edge and cross-disciplinary research at international frontier domains. Research expertise on institutional reforms in EU governance and their legitimacy fits well within the scope of the Centre. Hence, a cooperation could be highly stimulating and beneficial for both sides. Grant proposal writing in cooperation with this Centre of Excellence will therefore constitute the third activity to be developed in this 4th year of PhD funding by the University of Antwerp Special Research Fund, not least because GOVTRUST could provide the context to apply for larger-scale collaborative European research programs.

Keywords:POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, EUROPEAN UNION

Disciplines:European union politics, Institutions and regimes, Political economy, Multilevel governance not elsewhere classified, Collective choice and common goods