Institutions of Europe: Political Legacy, State Capacity, and Future Challenges

Jan Vogler from the University of Virginia analyzes the European Union as a polycentric governance system. He is particularly interested in the question of whether this institution with multiple layers of decision-making and a mix of shared and individual responsibilities of governments at different levels can effectively respond to the many challenges it faces today, from Brexit to the international refugee crisis. Another topic discussed in the podcast is which factors determine citizens’ views of the EU’s central administrative institutions. Since the average EU citizen does not have a lot of exposure to the EU bureaucracy, Dr. Vogler suggests that their perceptions of how the EU’s bureaucracy performs are shaped by domestic experiences with comparable institutions, i.e. domestic local and central bureaucracies. To what extent does this phenomenon explain Euroscepticism and inform us about possible reforms that the EU may need? We also discuss multiple other topics, including the legacies of imperialism and colonialism with respect to the structure and functioning of public administration and differences between democracy in Europe and the United States. Another interesting aspect of Dr. Vogler's research that was not covered in the podcast is about the impact of the Black Death on democracy in Central Europe, which potentially answers some questions about the long-term impact of Covid-19 on politics and political institutions. Dr. Jan Vogler is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Political Economy of Good Government in the Woodrow Wilson Dept of Politics at the University of Virginia. Born and raised in Germany, he served in the German Federal Defense Forces and received his bachelor’s degree from the Free University of Berlin. He went on to earn a master’s degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a PhD from Duke University in Political Science with a specialization in Political Economy and Political Methodology.