Cohort: POLS 40

Topic of the thesis: European Integration, Polity Perspective, Rule of Law

Abstract: What can explain the EU Commission's puzzling reaction to the Rule of Law crisis? Following recent developments in literature, I focus here on which possible 'internal strategy' could explain the Commission's behavior in the last decade. So far, scholars' attention has mainly oriented towards the Commission's deliberate under-enforcement of EU law, theorizing the presence of an institutional strategy of forbearance. However, a closer examination of recent developments suggests that something more complex may be at play: a potential resurgence of enforcement, although 'under different guises'. To account for the puzzling pattern of forbearance and enforcement, I draw on the Polity Perspective literature and theorize a strategy of 'politysensitive' enforcement by the Commission. A strategy deliberately aimed at balancing the under-utilization of highly-politicizable instruments with the creative development (and utilization) of 'less visible' tools of enforcement. This, resulting in an effort of 'polity self-maintenance' ultimately aimed at the preservation of the EU: an effort made possible by the peculiar characteristics of EU binding authority and boundaries structure. Finding evidence of the theorized strategy would add to the literature a useful and still-missing concept able to explain why and how enforcement and forbearance may strategically play out together.

Research interests: European Studies 

Graduated from: University of Milan (BA); University of Milan & University Vita-Salute San Raffaele (MA)

Degrees obtained: BA in Political Science; MA in Science of Politics 

E-mail address: davide.caprioglio@unimi.it