Project Details
Description
Europe is undergoing its most far-reaching transformation in decades as it seeks to navigate the accelerating climate crisis, geopolitical
instability, and structural economic vulnerabilities. In response, the EU has developed a wide-ranging green transition agenda that
intersects with, and reinforces, broader objectives of resilience and strategic autonomy. This agenda encompasses climate legislation,
industrial policy, energy security, sustainability initiatives under the European Green Deal, new trade instruments, and changes to public
finance and State aid rules. LPE-GREEN examines how this evolving agenda reshapes the institutional foundations of the EU’s political
economy across three interconnected domains: production, natural resources, and finance. It develops and applies the methodology of
Law and Political Economy (LPE), a rapidly expanding field that investigates how legal frameworks constitute markets, structure power,
and enable or constrain socio-ecological transformation. Rejecting the idea of “natural” market dynamics, LPE highlights how legal
entitlements, institutional design choices, and underlying value commitments shape economic outcomes and condition the scope for
institutional adaptation, resilience, and structural change. LPE-GREEN fills a critical gap in European doctoral education by offering the
first structured programme dedicated to LPE and its application to the green transition within a reconfiguring EU political economy. The
DN equips researchers with a comprehensive analytical and methodological toolkit - combining legal analysis, political economy, socio
legal methods, and engagement with practitioners - to identify the systemic constraints that limit the effectiveness, equity, and resilience
of green transition policies. The DN will also train researchers to develop constructive proposals, or “non-reformist reforms,” that can
strengthen Europe’s capacity to pursue a just, sustainable, and socially grounded transformation.
instability, and structural economic vulnerabilities. In response, the EU has developed a wide-ranging green transition agenda that
intersects with, and reinforces, broader objectives of resilience and strategic autonomy. This agenda encompasses climate legislation,
industrial policy, energy security, sustainability initiatives under the European Green Deal, new trade instruments, and changes to public
finance and State aid rules. LPE-GREEN examines how this evolving agenda reshapes the institutional foundations of the EU’s political
economy across three interconnected domains: production, natural resources, and finance. It develops and applies the methodology of
Law and Political Economy (LPE), a rapidly expanding field that investigates how legal frameworks constitute markets, structure power,
and enable or constrain socio-ecological transformation. Rejecting the idea of “natural” market dynamics, LPE highlights how legal
entitlements, institutional design choices, and underlying value commitments shape economic outcomes and condition the scope for
institutional adaptation, resilience, and structural change. LPE-GREEN fills a critical gap in European doctoral education by offering the
first structured programme dedicated to LPE and its application to the green transition within a reconfiguring EU political economy. The
DN equips researchers with a comprehensive analytical and methodological toolkit - combining legal analysis, political economy, socio
legal methods, and engagement with practitioners - to identify the systemic constraints that limit the effectiveness, equity, and resilience
of green transition policies. The DN will also train researchers to develop constructive proposals, or “non-reformist reforms,” that can
strengthen Europe’s capacity to pursue a just, sustainable, and socially grounded transformation.
| Acronym | LPE-GREEN |
|---|---|
| Status | Not started |
| Effective start/end date | 01/03/2027 → 28/02/2031 |