Collaborative Leadership in European Governance

Together with Femke van Esch (Utrecht University)

In this research project, co-conducted with Femke van Esch (University of Utrecht), we study the role of collaborative leadership in the European Union, arguing that it has stood at the center of European politics since its inception. We examine the nature, conditions, and consequences of EU leader-leader interactions based on theories of collaborative leadership. Using cognitive mapping, our research on the leadership trios (1) Mitterrand-Kohl-Delors, (2) Chirac-Schröder- Prodi, (3) Sarkozy-Merkel-Barroso, and (4) Hollande-Merkel-Juncker showed that cognitive proximity in leaders’ economic understandings and vision on the finalité of European integration are essential for successful leadership collaboration in the European Union.

This research has thus far culminated in a special issue with the title “The Role of Leadership in EU Politics and Policy Making” in West European Politics (43(5)/2020).

This collection of contributions cross-fertilizes the academic domains of European studies and leadership studies in order to better understand the role and impact of leadership in EU politics and policymaking.

It opens with a discussion of the contested concept of leadership in the context of the European polity and its politics, challenging the conventional view that leadership is necessarily a matter of hierarchy. Moreover, it argues that rather than being leaderless, the EU is an intensely ‘leaderful’ polity.

The Role of Leadership in EU Politics and Policy Making
Special Issue, West European Politics, 2020, 43(5)
Co-editors: Henriette Müller and Femke van Esch

The Contested Nature of Political Leadership in the European Union: Conceptual and Methodological Cross-Fertilisation
Müller, Henriette, and Femke van Esch (pp. 1051-1071)

The Myth of German Hegemony in the Euro Area Revisited
Schild, Joachim (pp. 1072-1094)

Tracing Leadership: The ECB’s ‚Whatever It Takes‘ and Germany in the Ukraine Crisis
Schoeller, Magnus (pp. 1095-1116)

Collaborative Leadership in EMU Governance: A Matter of Cognitive Proximity
Müller, Henriette, and Femke A.W.J. van Esch (pp. 1117-1140)

Political Leadership in Times of Crisis: The Commission Presidency of Jean-Claude Juncker
Tömmel, Ingeborg (pp. 1141-1162)

Beliefs of Political Leaders: Conditions for Change in the Eurozone Crisis
Swinkels, Marij (pp. 1163-1186)