Send us your pitches on Europe’s transformations faced with the crises of recent years and what Europe means to the movements and people fighting to change it.
Ever since its inception from the ashes of World War II, the European project has been distinguished by its post-national and democratic elements. These elements are today simultaneously advancing and fraying.
On one hand, the EU has acted more decisively than many could have predicted in the last years, with the pandemic and the war in Ukraine confirming the old adage that Europe is forged in crisis. Social movements have also brought the EU forward: the demands of the climate movement contributed to what has become a central pillar of the European project for the years ahead. The Green Deal is evidence of their democratic power.
On the other hand, these examples of unity are not without setbacks, nor are they irreversible. Executivism in decision-making too often sidelines democratic processes and debate, corruption and lobbying scandals have tainted the image of EU politics, and the hard right rising throughout the continent is reviving visions of a “Europe of Nations”.
The legitimacy of the European project, Étienne Balibar wrote in 2014, “can only result from Europe becoming the framework for social, ideological, passionate conflicts about its own future”. Today we can say that Europe as a construction is there, but as a democracy not quite.
Our issue will set around filling this democratic void, doing so not by demanding and detailing technical reforms and institutional fixes but channeling the visions, ideas and understandings of what Europe should do and could be.
If the European project is forged either through crisis or contestation, it is on these two elements that we should focus. First, by understanding the effects of recent and ongoing crises, then by looking ahead to how movements and people are shaping the future of Europe in their struggles and demands, hopes and aspirations.
Through examining both Europe’s transformations and a diversity of visions for its future, we’ll show what is at stake ahead of the European elections.
What should I write about?
Here are some ideas of what you could cover:
- Europe and the crises (Covid-19 pandemic, the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brexit and its aftermath)
- Europe as a post-national democracy (European versus national public spheres; attempts to “democratise” the EU institutions)
- Green Deal as a political and social project (the European Green Deal versus Green New Deals; democracy and participation in the Green Deal)
- Social movement and community visions and understandings of Europe (Social Europe, Europe as a space of migration and mobility, transnational organising across Europe)
- Geographical Europe versus political Europe (accession of new members, the debate over a multispeed Europe, federal versus intergovernmental Europe)
- Historical and futuristic visions for Europe (what has Europe mean at different moments in history, future-oriented imaginings of what Europe could look like)
Editorial requirements
We do not just publish theoretical or academic articles in the Green European Journal. All kinds of texts that stimulate debate, reflection, and imagination are welcome and we accept formats from more classic articles and interviews to photo essays, infographics and comics.
Pitches should be sent to jamie.kendrick@gef.eu and alessio.giussani@gef.eu.
We welcome contributions from everyone. Contributions from those belonging to the following groups are especially encouraged: women, people of colour, people with a physical or mental disability, LGBTQI+ individuals, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities. Contributions from southern and eastern Europe and from outside the European Union are particularly welcome. If you would like to make a submission but require some support to do so, we contact us directly.
Send us a summary of your proposed contribution and introduce yourself before submitting a draft. We’re happy for contributors to write in a language of their choosing. Before contacting us, check our editorial guidelines carefully. Submissions may be published in print or online.
The deadline for pitches is 25th August 2023.